11

A.—3a

industrial life of the people, such as carpentering, perhaps blacksmiths' work, &c. In fact, the school should be a school that aims at industrial more than literary training. This I believe to be the great need of the Islands. There is no doubt that many of the children and young men are bright and intelligent. I met one or two who had been trained at Tereora, and they struck me as being very capable indeed. One or two Europeans will be required to start the training of the pupils in industrial work, but soon there would be a possibility of getting the Natives trained as teachers. In every village I visited there was a demand that schools should be established. The Natives had heard what had been done for the Maoris in New Zealand, and they were exceedingly anxious that they should have the same advantages as their race was enjoying in our Islands. I. Appointment of an Auditor. There was some reference made to the appointment of Mr. Twiss as Auditor. He was appointed only as a temporary auditor, and was paid the sum of £25. He did his work well, and since then an official of the Post Office from New Zealand visited the Islands and audited all the accounts, and found that Mr. Twiss's audit was correct. I was informed that the accounts up to the end of the financial year had been audited by this postal official. The only other question that I may refer to is a suggestion that too much money had been spent on the Residency. I visited the Residency once, and failed to see any evidence of undue expenditure of money on the building or its surroundings. The house is not better than some of the Native houses, and did not seem either large or extravagant. I understand that the titles of one or more of the islands arc not yet finally settled, and there is therefore need of a Judge to deal with them. Assuming that in ordinary circumstances it is wise to have the Resident Commissioner also the Judge —an opinion with which I do not agree —there is a special reason why, for some time to come, an officer should be appointed to perform purely judicial functions. He should, in my opinion, have had either Magisterial or Native Land Court experience. His duties may entail on him a considerable stay on islands other than Rarotonga, and it cannot be expected that the head executive officer whose duty calls him to Rarotonga can perform such judicial work. It will be noticed from the speeches made and addresses delivered by the Natives that they desired a Judge. I have so far dealt with all the complaints or- charges that have been made against the Administration, and with some suggestions as to education and judicial administration. I now desire to add something about the outlook of the race. It is perfectly apparent from what has taken place in Samoa and the Society Islands and in the Sandwich Islands that the Polynesian race is decreasing. In Samoa labour has been brought from Melanesia, and is, I understand, to be brought from China. In the Society Islands and the Paumotu Group Chinese have been largely introduced. To such an extent is this the case that almost all the retail trade, at all events, of Tahiti is now in the hands of the Chinese. Even on the steamer on which I went from to Rarotonga there were about sixty Chinese going to some of the islands of the Paumotu group. Some had been there before—they could speak Tahitian. There will soon be few true Polynesians left in the Society Islands. In the Sandwich Islands there are thousands of Japanese, and also a considerable number of Chinese. Some of the Chinese have intermarried with the Polynesians, and, as has been pointed out lately by Mr. J. Liddell Kelly, a new race has been created. It seems to me that the time is within measurable distance when there will be few Polynesians in the islands to the east of Rarotonga. If, however, the present laws of the Cook Group arc maintained the Polynesians will still be found in the Cook Group. No Japanese or' Chinese are admitted to the Cook Group, and, though there is some admixture of whites with Polynesians, there are still thousands of pure Polynesians left. The question really arises, how is this Polynesian race to be preserved? It can only be preserved by maintaining the present laws excluding the coming of various tropical races into the group. From what I have seen even of Rarotonga, which is one of the coolest islands of the group, it does not seem to me that these islands can be the home of a pure-white race. The men who have been a long time in the islands are white, pale, and old-looking for their age. The women are even more affected by the climate, and the white children I saw were very few and looked puny and weak. These Islands can only be the home of a race that has been trained for centuries to a tropical climate. The Polynesians are a fine race, and it would be a sad thing if they were to perish. In order that they may live, attention will have to be paid to their health, and to the prevention of many diseases that are now rife in all the South Sea Islands. Attention is being paid to some extent in this direction in the Cook Group, and the past and present Resident Commissioners deserve great credit for having provided clean, pure water for some of the villages, and thus greatly promoted the public health. Steps are, I