11

E.—3

Secondary Education. Secondary education for Maori girls and boys is afforded at the following schools which various denominational bodies have established : Queen Victoria School for Maori Girls, Auckland ; Turakina Maori Girls' School, Wanganui; Hukarere Girls' School, Napier; St. Joseph's Convent School, Napier ; Te Waipounamu Girls' School, Canterbury ; St. Stephen's Boys' School, Auckland ; Waerengaahika College, Gisborne ; Te Aute College, Hawke's Bay ; Hikurangi Boys' College, Carterton ; Otaki College, Wellington Free places at several of the foregoing institutions are granted to Maori pupils possessing the requisite qualifications. The number i f pupils on the rolls of these schools at the end of the year was —Boys, 221 ; girls, 250 : total, 471 : and of this total 45 boys and 58 girls were the holders of free, places. The girls' colleges afford a training of a very useful character in domestic duties, and exert a very considerable influence in shaping the career of the girls. Cookery, dressmaking, and housewifery generally, including instruction in first aid and nursing, form important features of the curriculum. In the boys' schools prominence is given to woodwork and elementary practical agriculture. Owing to the influenza epidemic the annual examinations of these schools had to be, abandoned. Arrangements were made, however, whereby it was possible to appraise the work and attainments of the candidates for proficiency certificates. Scholarships. The regulations relating to Native schools provide for the granting of a limited number of free places each now of the value, of £30 per annum and tenable at a number of the secondary schools referred, to above, to such Maori scholars as are qualified. At the end of the year 1918 the, number of free places current was 103. Senior free places for boys take the form of industrial scholarships ; no such scholarships were awarded during the year. For girls who are qualified and are anxious to take up nursing, nursing scholarships are awarded. At the end of the year there were three girls in training as day pupils and one girl as a probationer, on the staff of one or more hospitals. Two girls who had entered upon their term as probationers at the Auckland Hospital were eventually found unsuitable. At Napier Hospital two girls who had begun their elementary training as day pupils were compelled on account of ill health to give up their course. Te Makarini aml-Buller Scholarships.- -The examinations for these scholarships had to be, postponed, unfortunately, in accordance with the instructions issued by the Health Department during the influenza epidemic It was thought that arrangements could be made to hold them in the early part of the current year, but such a course was found impracticable, and accordingly no examination will be held until the usual time, when the candidates affected will be allowed to compete for the unawarded scholarships. Concluding Remarks. On account of the influenza scourge which swept from one end of the. Dominion to the other towards the close of the year, Native schools in common with other schools were closed down as a precautionary measure against the disease. Tn the case of many Maori settlements the isolation created great difficulties in coping with the epidemic, and as a consequence the Maori people suffered severely. The schools in many places were utilized as hospitals, and the teachers assuming control worked in many instances night and day, without medical assistance, in nursing those who were stricken down. Magnificent work in organizing relief and attending to the sufferers was done by the teachers, who, with few exceptions, responded to the call of duty, and there is no doubt that by their knowledge of the conditions, their standing in the, communities, and by their self-sacrificing efforts many lives were saved. The Maori people, on the other hand, carried out instructions and advice given as faithfully as circumstances permitted, and in some settlements where a system of quarantine was rigorously enforced they escaped the, visitation. While it is the experience of the Department that teachers of Native schools have always done valuable work during outbreaks of sickness in the settlements in which they are located, it is extremely gratifying to learn from the reports of medical men and others that their work during the recent epidemic was worthy of special commendation. The trying experiences of those dark days revealed on the part of the teachers a devotion and a spirit of self-sacrifice which bespeak a high conception of their duty towards the Maori people. I have, &c, Jno. Porteous, The Director of Education. Inspector of Native Schools.