A.—4

Tn framing a syllabus of education for Native schools it has to be borne in mind that the Samoan gets no further opportunity for improving his education once he has returned to his village. In Samoa practically every Native boy must look to the land for his future, and he must therefore receive agricultural training during his schooldays. For this reason agriculture must be the first and most important subject around which most of the remaining instruction should centre, by practical work in school plantations, in the cultivating of all kinds of crops suitable to the soil of Samoa, by teaching the fencing of plantations, care and breeding of cattle, how to improve the quality of copra and other products, and to make the fullest and best use of the land. Carpentry, for which a good equipment of tools has been supplied to each Government school, plumbing, and other useful crafts should be taught by competent teachers, and this technical instruction should also be extended to the mission schools as soon as possible, to enable the Samoans to become more self-reliant in the making and improving of their villages. Those individual pupils who display special ability and character should be assisted to the utmost to obtain the highest qualifications and sent to New Zealand should it be considered that they would benefit by a secondary education. They could be absorbed on their return to Samoa in suitable vocations. I am pleased to say that the building-up of character has not been overlooked in the school curriculum, which includes instruction in the ideals of the Samoan boy movement, called the Fetu o Samoa, to which all pupils belong. At the four Government schools the members of the teaching staff are, without exception, able and enthusiastic. I am indebted to several local citizens who have voluntarily given their time to hold technical classes of instruction in plumbing, electricity, carpentry, and wireless operating for the boys of the Government school at Malifa. The excellent work produced by some of these pupils is proof of what the Samoan is capable of when properly taught. I desire to place on record the fact that the very great extension of education throughout these islands which has been carried out would not have been possible but for the financial assistance rendered by the New Zealand Government. Agriculture. If the New Zealand policy in regard to health and education is actively maintained it will result in improved agriculture, increased production, and greater prosperity for all residents of this Territory. The Director of Agriculture has reported that there is already a great improvement in the condition of the Native plantations, and that the Natives now more readily respond to the efforts of himself and his staff to carry out instructions; but it will take many years before they can be induced to keep all their plantations in good ordei as judged by European standards. Efforts are now being made tojnduce the Natives to fence in their plantations ; to breed cattle, and so reduce labour in keeping down weeds ; to cut the whole of their copra, a large portion of which is now wasted ; to produce a higher grade of copra ; to increase the . area of their plantations in districts where this can be done ; and to cultivate cotton and other crops for export. The Inspectors, two in Savai'i and two in Upolu, who are constantly travelling around the districts, educate and help the Natives in these matters, and give instruction in agriculture at the district schools. V am hopeful that when the Samoans realize the benefits they can derive from this policy they will exert themselves to carry it out. The main obstacle to progress is their communistic ownership of land, L. refer later in this^report. I am pleased to report that the production of copra by the Natives for 1924 has exceeded that for the previous year. As is the sole source of wealth of the Native, the following graph may be assumed to indicate progress and development of the Samoan race : —

Copra-production by Natives, showing Average for Three-year Period.

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