HAWAIIAN MISSION CHILDREN’S SOCIETIES LIBRARY COLLECTED BY GOVERNOR GEO. R. CARTER “Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God glveth thee — ” “Religion Is not an end but a means.” Hawaiian Mission Centennial Celebration 1820-1920 HONOLULU, APRIL 11-19, 1920 HAWAIIAN MISSION CHILDREN’S SOCIETIES LIBRARY COLLECTED BY GOVERNOR GEO. R. CARTER “Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God glveth thee — ” “Religion Is not an end but a means.” Hawaiian Mission Centennial Celebration 1820-1920 HONOLULU, APRIL 11-19, 1920 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https://archive.org/details/hawaiianmissioncOOtayl Hawaii’s Literary Treasure House By Albert P. Taylor. H ave you seen former Governor George R. Carter’s library which he collected for the Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society, popularly known as “Cousins’ Society ?’’ He tells this interesting story of its origin. When Governor of the Territory of Haw'aii in 1903-1907, he was shown an early report of the Department of Education which told of works printed in the Hawaiian language and said that many of the earlier editions of the school books, printed by the Missionaries, had disappeared and it was impossible at that time to present a list of them ; and Mr. Carter thought if it was impossible around 1860 to make a list of bibliography of Hawaiian publications, it might not now be impossible. Any way, it presented an interest- ing problem and offered an interesting hobby to divert a busy man. Books in Hawaiian The Hawaiian language is disappearing and some day works in Hawaiian will be a curiosity. Mr. Carter began the collection of them as well as the records of their publications, and for a time items in Hawaiian were the only things that interested him, with the result that his collection of these works is the largest in existence ; among them he has some exceedingly interesting material. Of course, the earlier ones are closely identified with the Missions, for the language was reduced to writing by the missionaries and the Mission Press did most of the government printing in those early days. His interesting items in Hawaiian are many, among which is the Hymn Book of 1823. This little volume with tortoise shell covers, which you can put into your pocket, and evidently pre- pared for royal use, Mr. Carter foimd on a back shelf at the library at Yale University, not even indexed, and the librarian refused to either sell or exchange other books for it. The next day, when the Governor was seated on the platform, during the 1907 commencement exercises, President Hadley handed him the little volume and asked him to accept it as a gift from the University. The pllection has the first three editions of the Bible, the first being that huge fat volume, almost as thick as it is tall, printed in 1838, and the second edition of 1843, which is said to contain the choicest and purest Hawaiian, and, finally the third, rare edition ^of 1843, printed in Honolulu in double columns, of which only 500 copies were made. There is also the first edition 4 of the Hawaiian Testament. Parts of the Testament were print- ed separately, and it was not brought together into a single edi- tion until about 1836. The first part of the earliest edition, made up of the Gospel of Matthew, was printed in Rochester, N. Y., in 1828, and in 1837 there was issued a complete new edition. In Hawaiian laws, the collection contains a number of broad- sides or edicts of the chiefs, before constitutional government was established. One of the Hawaiian Historical reports contain- ed a prepared list of works in Hawaiian, and in that the author states that the first popular collection of Hawaiian laws was in 1840. But Professor Howard M. Ballou, who collected the larger portion of Governor Carter’s library for him, found in a second-hand book shop in New Haven a little Hawaiian pam- phlet, printed in 1834, containing a collection of laws, which so far as known is the only copy in existence. Mr. Carter has tried to collect all the Hawaiian school books, and perhaps others who may read this will be equally in- terested, and can add to the collection. The collection is par- ticularly strong in vocabularies and grammars. So far as known all of the works in the latter line are in the collection, and to this is added the vocabularies of many of the South Sea Islands or other dialects of the Polynesian people. During Governor Car- ter’s service with the Red Cross in France, he was able to obtain the first Polynesian vocabulary, printed in French, an exceed- ingly rare work. He has gathered together all the information possible about the language of the Hawaiian people, for, as he says, not only Captain Cook but many other early visitors to Hawaii were struck by the advancement of this race over all others in the Pacific. The Hawaiians understood the value of a contract ; they kept their bargains better than other races, an in- dication of progress and advancement. Their irrigation work showed the capacity for community or united action, not only for economic purpose — and this step in advance of those who would only learn united action for the purpose of defense or war. Early Printing Turning from Hawaiian to the early printing in English, Gov- ernor Carter’s collection has some exceedingly interesting and rare items, so much so that the Hawaiian Historical Society had published in one of its papers illustrations of a number of the items. When the first printing press was set up in 1822, Captain James Hunnewell gives an account of the incident, and says that the Premier, or leading chief, turned the press and struck off the first sheet of printing material this side of the Mississippi in 1822, and this was a single sheet containing the alphabet. The 5 first impression was taken by the chief, the second by Mr. Bing- ham, and that he (Mr. Hunnewell) took the third and later gave it to’ the American Board of Foreign Mission in Boston. This copy has been lost. Any way. Governor Carter is of the opinion that any one of these little sheets may yet be discovered. The first periodical or publication this side of the Mississippi River was “Ka Lama Hawaii,” a little weekly paper published at Lahainaluna, and appeared first on February 14, 1834. The first volume contains twenty-five numbers, and is one of the collection’s most valued items. Turning from Protestant publication to Catholic literature, the collection contains the first Catholic publication, a catechism printed in Macao in 1834 and bound in tapa cloth, — a rare and exceedingly interesting item. Professor Alexander told Mr. Car- ter that at one time the French government, interested in the spread of Catholic faith, sent out an expedition for which there had been prepared printed literature for use in the different Islands of the Pacific. This expedition was wrecked off the coast of South America, and it was his belief that possibly some- where in France there would still be copies of such of these works as were printed in Hawaiian, but no one yet has found any of them. It seems that in 1833 the missionaries began printing for the Hawaiians a daily food, called “Ka Ai o ka La,” and this was published annually up to 1860. The collection contains an exam- ple of every year, only one or two years lacking, and in this connection it is interesting to note that Governor Carter has one of these printed by the Catholics at Nantes, in France, which was presented to him by Bishop Libert. The year, however, is not given. Printing Press Supreme A particularly interesting and perhaps one of its most valued possession, is a complete collection of the printed minutes of the annual meetings of the Missions from 1830 to 1853, and in these little pamphlets also appeared minutes of the Hawaiian Association of ordained ministers which run from 1823 to 1853. After an annual meeting, the members of the Mission scat- tered to their various stations throughout the Islands, and in order that each should have a record of what had been decided at the annual meeting, a small number, first, only twenty of these extracts of the minutes, were printed and sent out, not for gen- eral circulation, but for the private use of the missionaries. Lat- er on, there were as many as sixty of these copies printed, so that it has been very difficult to get a complete set of them. They 6 contain much valuable information, such as a report of the print- ing committee showing what was printed each year. Another interesting thing is the gathering together of the let- ters and circulars sent out from Boston, when, with a mail arri- val here it was found expedient to print copies of the letters received and send them out to each of the stations. How many were printed, no one now knows, but there are two neat little volumes containing the General Letters to the Sandwich Islands Mission from the year 1831 to 1860. Then comes a complete set of the reports of the Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society which run from 1853 on to the present day. As is so well known, this society published a quar- terly in the early days, called “Made Wreath” and the Governor has a bound volume containing all the known numbers of this interesting literary effort, beginning with September, 1855, and ending with October of 1868. The collection is particularly in- teresting to the Governor as his father and mother were editors of this paper, and has been able to recognize a number of edi- torials written by his father. In some instances, the poems and editorials show the author in pencil. It seems there was a Hawaiian Missionary Society started in 1852 and it was given up in 1863. This collection contains a complete set of the printed annual reports of this organization. Life of Obookiah Among the early incidents leading toward the establishment of the American Mission in these Islands was the life history of Obookiah, a Hawaiian youth who was found on the steps of the church (located in the town Green), in New Haven, Conn., be- moaning the fact that his people were still in ignorance of Chris- tianity., He was taken in hand by some of the good people of New Haven connected with Yale College and was educated. His appeal was one of the means of founding a missionary school at Cornwall, Conn. He traveled through New England asking for assistance in sending a mission to these Islands, and after his death the account of his life was printed. This library has three editions of his Memoirs. The first appeared in New Haven in 1819, and was soon exhausted and another edition printed the next year, and also the third edition issued the same year in Elizabethtown. In the collection is a large number of pamphlets, among them many of those that are intimately connected with the early his- tory of the Mission. There is a little pamphlet, marked, Price 25 cents, which appeared in Boston in 1819, and contains the sermon delivered at Goshen, Conn., at the ordination of both Messrs. Bingham and Thurston on September 29th of that year. 7 Also, there is a copy of the sermon delivered at the time of Bingham’s marriage of the same year. Then there is a very complete set of those works that appeared in “Memoriam” of the different missionaries, down to and in- cluding that of Mother Rice. Among these, one of the most interesting is that of the Life of Mrs. Thurston. Any one who feels discouraged and despondent needs only to turn to the pages of this book, published in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to be cheered up by the thought of the conditions under which she struggled in those early days. Then, also, there are the printed accounts of the Golden Weddings — there are three of these — the Alexan- der, the Lyman and the Lowell Smiths’, and to which should be added that of Mr. and Mrs. Sereno Bishop. Rare Histories The modern book collector would be interested in Governor Carter’s five copies of Dibble’s History of the Sandwich Islands, printed in Lahainaluna in 1843. The ordinary person would per- haps not note any difference, but Professor Ballou, collaborating with Governor Carter, soon discovered variations which make technically separate editions. The first work appeared without appendix, 451 pages, and some^vhere Dibble wrote that while the whole edition had been printed, he could not afford time or labor to bind them and so only one hundred copies were scat- tered among the missionaries and those particularly interested. Mr. Carter’s copy has on its fly-leaf the following inscription: “To Mrs. Lorenzo Lyons with the kind regards of the Author.” The value of this work was soon recognized, as the material it contains had been obtained by Dibble from his Hawaiian stu- dents at the Seminary in Lahainaluna. Each year as they gath- ered together, they were instructed to bring back all the historical information in and around their homes throughout the islands. This they were required to write down as exercises in composi- tion, and thus much original matter was obtained by Dibble. Evidently there was a demand created a little later and more of the edition were bound,— this time with an appendix which brought the number of pages up to 464, — and Governor Carter’s copy has the bookplate in it of Mary A. Street, the daughter of Rev. Rufus Anderson, for many years the secretary of the Amer- ican Board for Foreign Mission. Later, in October, 1843, Dibble wrote to Rev. Rufus Ander- son^ in connection with this work telling of the one hundred copies that he had shipped to Boston, and that he regrets certain errors which he states should be corrected if it was thou°-ht proper to get out another edition; and to the surprise of the 8 collector another edition was found where the corrections in the appendix have been made. Governor Carter has still another edition, with the incorrect appendix, but with four engravings, as follows : 1. Kealakekua Bay. 2. Lahaina as seen from Lahainaluna. 3. Lahainaluna. 4. Wailuku. These engravings were made on copperplate at the school, and so far as known there are only three copies of this book located that contain the four engravings. , The collection contains the little pamphlet published at the time of the inauguration of Oahu College in 1854; also a rare copy of the rules and laws for the college at the same year. There are a number of programs of the annual exercises, a com- plete set of which would be exceedingly interesting. How It Started After collecting things exclusively in Hawaiian for some little time, there came a day at a meeting of the Cousins’ Society when W. O. Smith made a motion that those present then and there found a Mission Library, and Governor Carter thereupon concluded that he would extend his collection and gather to- gether those items that related to the missionaries. Then, later, he says, it was an easy step to include everything that related to the Hawaiian Islands and he has been urged by collectors to extend and take in everything that relates to the Pacific Ocean, but has so far declined. In gathering the collection together, it is interesting to note the origin of many of the items. The Governor has had agents representing him in many parts of the world, and some of his rare items have come from Australia and the South Seas. In mainland America, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Salt Lake City have been important centers for collection, in addition to Chicago, Washington, Philadelphia, New York and Boston. Before the war, a number of interesting items came from Leipzig and Berlin, and others from Florence and Rome, and of course Paris ; but the Mecca of all book-collectors is of course London, and the Governor was amused to find that a London collector had a note in one of his catalogues stating that item referred to was exceedingly rare and not found in Governor Carter’s Library. Outside of those things which refer to the missionaries, there is a vast field of exceedingly interesting material. Take the life of Kamehameha I as an illustration. The Governor has from time to time set aside index cards which contain reference to the 9 “Napoleon of the Pacific,” and he hopes some day these cards will assist in the preparation of an account of the life of this most interesting of the great characters of Hawaiian History. So far as known, the only portrait of Kamehameha was that by a Russian artist. It appeared first in von Kotzebue’s voyage, pub- lished in Weimar in 1821. The same portrait appears in other editions of this work, and Hunnewell copied it in his journal of the Voyage of the Missionary Packet. First American Here Turning from Kamehameha I, the Governor thinks one of the most interesting characters connected with the early history of Hawaii is that of John Ledyard, a great American explorer, who was one of the subordinates in Cook’s third and last voyage in the Pacific, and therefore may have been the first American to have seen these Islands. Ledyard was a student at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. While there, disliking its strict rules, he determined to run away back to his home in Hartford, Conn., and, therefore, cut down a tree on the bank of the river and from it made a dug-out canoe which he launched one night with the aid of his fellow-students, and alone undertook to go down the river then infested with Indians and, to him, unexplored and unknown. The voyage he accomplished successfully, and his roving nature took him to England and was there when Cook’s expedition was gotten together, and he enlisted with it. For a long time. Gov- ernor Carter was of the opinion that John Ledyard was the first American to see these Islands. It seems that after the Cook’s expedition reached Kamchatka, Ledyard left it there and crossed Siberia alone on foot, the first white man to do so. Jared Sparks, president of Flarvard College, wrote an interesting life of Led- yard, which was printed in 1828; Ledyard returned to his home in Hartford, Conn., and there in 1783 published a journal of Cook’s last voyage. This was the first American publication to mention the North- west Coast and is therefore extremely valuable and rare. It was not until Governor Carter obtained his copy of this work that he learned from it there was another American by the name of John Gore, who served as first lieutenant on the “Revo- lution,” and not until it can be ascertained which of the two ves- sels sighted the Islands first can it be learned whether it was John Gore or John Ledyard that first saw these Islands. When, under the impression that Ledyard was the only Ameri- can in Cook’s expedition. Governor Carter was able to purchase his autograph, and, in a beautifully bound book he has with this, 10 the autograph of Lord Sandwich for whom these Islands were named. To this, Governor Carter has added the signature of Captain Cook himself — he owns a page in the Captain’s hand-writing, also the autograph of Elizabeth Cook, the wife of the Captain. During the two winters that Governor Carter was in Boston, he printed a preliminary catalogue of his collection, which he called a “working sheet.” It is not complete and contains many errors. His object was simply to get into the hands of collectors a list of those things which he already possessed, an experiment which he states was not very successful, as he learned later that a better plan was to have circulars printed of those few items that he did not have and desire to purchase. In this rough catalogue, the Governor has a foreword in which he states his intention to bequeath the library to the Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society, but he has now concluded not to wait and has turned over to the Society a large part of the col- lection so that it may be available to its members and as an in- centive for others to add to the collection. Governor Carter’s intention is to keep on collecting. As he says, it is one of the best hobbies a man can ride, and has been a source of constant and developing interest to him, and he has found not only great relaxation in the work, but many of the happiest hours of his life have been spent both in the collecting and reading of the books themselves. J.P., EJucatioiii'fcHawaiianlsIands A brief statement of the Present Condition of the Public and Pri- vate Schools of the Republic, C. T.^ODGHRS, Seor**tur> Ueimrtineiit of Public Iiustriiction V I EDUCATION IN THE HAWAIIAN 15LAND5. It was a fortunate thing for the cause of education in these Islands that so large a proportion of the earlier white set- tlers came from the most intelligent and substantial class of English speaking people. Many of these men identified themselves thoroughly with their ado])ted country and took active and leading ]»arts in guiding the infant state on its course from barbarism to civilization, and in devising a civil policy and social order to rei)lace the al)original feudal desi)otism. In nothing is the wise foresight and breadth of view of these men more manifest than in their having made early, and, in proportion to the limited resources of the country at the time, liberal provision for education; the edu- cation, not of a small class or a favored few, but of the whole people. Although the purpose of this jtaper is statistical rather than historical; intended to give results and present conditions rather than to trace in detail the steps by which these have been reached, attention may be called brietlt’ to a few land- marks in the (educational history of the country. In lS2li, about two years after the arrival of the first Christian teachers, the first spelling book was published. This may be regarded as the beginning of systematic popular education. In 1841 a school was established by the American Missionaries at Punahou, in the vicinity of Honolulu. This school originally intended b}' the missionaries for their own chil- dren has developed into what is now known as Oahu College. As early as 1843 the school work of the Islands was considered of sufficient importance to be organized as a department of the government and put in charge of a cabinet minister. W'ithin ten or twelve years from the advent of the first missionaries, schools had become general throughout the coun- try. The seminary at Lahainaluna on Maui was started in > 1831, and still exists as a government school combining academic instruction with industrial and manual training. A government reformatory school was founded in 1805, and in the same year au Act passed tlie Legislative Assembly con- stituting a Board of Education and organizing tlie public school system of the country on lines so well chosen as to have serv(‘d their purpose fairly well without any radical changes almost to the present time. A little over a year ago Ihe Legislature again raised what had been for some thirty years a bureau of the government, to the rank of an Executive I)e})artment, making the Minister of Foreign Affairs ex-offlcio IMinister of Public Instruction, and associating with him six Commissioners, the Minister and Commissioners together con- stituting a Board having full control of all public educational interests. It will be seen from the above that the interest of the leading men of Hawaii and of the Government as such in the cause of popular education has not been at all of a spasmodic or fitful kind, but has represented a settled policy, pursued systematically and persistently for over half a century. As a result of this ])olicy, we find education in the Hawai- ian Islands today to be universal. comj)ulsory and free. The law makes it obligatory u]>on all children between the ages of six and fifteen years to attend school regularly unless ex- ractice and is en- forced with very little friction. The x)eople have been accus- tomed to it for more than a generation i>ast, and accept it as a matter of course. Formerly, and until within comparatively recent times^ the government schools were of two kinds; the so-called “common schools’’ which were all taught by native Hawai- ians in the Hawaiian language, and the “select schools” which were taught in Phiglish, though many of the teachers were Hawaiians of either ])ure or mixed blood. Tuition in the com- mon schools was entirely free; in the select schools a small fee was charged. The results of this j>olicy were not alto- getluM' satisfactory. The natives being in the habit of send- ing their cliildi-en to the native schools for perhaps half their school age, and then, if ]X)ssessed of the necessary means,, transferring them to the schools taught in English, it was found that the instruction received in the former afforded a very inade(]uat(‘ ]>rei)aration for the requirements of the latter, so that a consideiable fraction of the ju'escribed school age was practically wast(‘d. Tin* ])upils had learned to read and write Hawaiian and ac(juired some knowledge of arithmetic, geography, (*tc., but they had also acMpiired a habit of not only i(*ading and writing, but of thinking in their native language, so that it was (juite a common remark of teachers in the select schools that they preferred to take a pui»il who had never be(m to school at all, to one who had passed four or live years in a native common school. I-'^iom time to time the Hawaiian schools weie rei)laced by Phiglish at the reipiest of the native iieojile themseh'es in the resp(*ctive districts, and about ten years ago it was definitely (haadcd to close out all that remained of the former, as fast as it could be done without crijijiling the service, and to have the whole school population taught in English. This policy has been jmrsued so steadily and successfully that two small schools in out of the way country districts are all that now* remain of the “common schools” of former days, and the lesidmits of the neighborhood are now asking for an English school in place of one of these. 4 At the same time, and as a necessary result of raising the public schools generally to the grade of what had been former- ly known as “select schools,’’ tuition in all the government schools was made free, with the one exception that the Govern- ment might establish a select, that is to say a pay school, if thought best, in any district where there was a free school affording the same grade of instruction. At the jmesont time there are three ]>ay schools in all under the Department; the High School and one other in Honolulu, and one in Hilo, the largest town on the Island of Hawaii. Including the High School, the Xormal School, the Reform- atory School mentioned above and one night school, there are one hundred and twenty-five government schools of all kinds, r(*quiring at the present time the services of two hundred and eighty-nine teachers whose monthly salaries aggregate some- thing over fifteen thousand dollars. The nationalities of these teachers, according to the last printed report, were, in round numbers as follows: Hawaiian (including those of pure and mixed blood), forty per cent.; Americans, thirty-seven per cent.; British, seventeen per cent.; and the remainder of various foreign nationalities. It is however to be noted that a considerable percentage of those put down as Americans, British, etc., are Hawaiian born but, being of unmixed foreign blood, are classed according to the nationality of their i)arents. According to the same report, about forty-three per cent, of the teachers were males and fifty-seven per cent, females. In the a])pointment of teachers, race lines receive very little consideration. There are teachers from all the principal nationalities represented here with the exception of the Jap- anese, who are comparatively new comers, as well as from the various crosses and combinations of the same. There are white principals, with native assistants, native principals with white assistants, and all working together, so far as the race question is concerned, without friction. In addition to its other functions, the Department of Public Instruction is charged with the duty of taking the census, this being done every six years. According to the last census, taken a little over a year ago, the population within the legal coni])nlsory school age was 14,2S(), being an increase of 2,277, or about nineteen per cent, in six years; while, according to the school statistics compiled as of December 81st, 189(), the total number of children attending all schools, government and indei)endent, was 14,028, of whom 10,180 were in govern- ment schools, and 8,884 in independent schools. It will be 5 noticed tliat the population within school age and the number actually attending school approximate very closely. At the time of the last biennial report, made as of December 31st, 181)5, the total school attendance was 12,610. The increase for the year 181)6 was therefore 1,107, which is greater than for any i)revious two years, with one exception. The following table gives the school attendance at various times during the last 42 years; Year. Total School Attendance. 1854 12,432 1856 10,076 1866 8,553 1876 6,252 1886 0,616 1806 12,616 It will be noticed that the lowest ])oint in school attendance was reaclu'd in 1876, the falling off during the preceding twenty or thirty years being due entirely to the decrease in the native pojuilation. This falling off in native Hawaiians still continues, though not i»erha])S at the same rate, the doubling of the school attendance in the last twenty years b(ung due to the large increase in the foreign population, many of whose children, born in these islands, are now attending our schools. riassifi<‘d by race and nationality, the 14,286 children re- turiuMl in the last census as within the legal school age are found to be divided as follows: Hawaiians (full) 5,467 Hawaiians (part 2,437 Hawaiian born, both parents being foreigners. 4,505 Chinese and Japanese 812 South Sea Islanders 6 ^\'hite foreigners of all kinds 1,059 Total 14,286 It will be seen that more than one-third of this whole num- ber consists of Hawaiian born children of unmixed foreign blood. This shows where the increased school attendance of the last twenty years has come from, and points most unmis- takably to what may be expected in the future. The Legislature meets every two years and appropriations 6 an* made for biemiial periods. The a])i)ro])riatious made by the last Les’isbiture for school ])urposes for the two years end- iii»- December :tlst, 18!)7, afj;f>regated .|455,.‘t31.55, or at the rate of f227,G(»5.77 per annum, which, for a conntr 3 ’ having not much over one hundred thousand inhabitants in all, may be regarded as liberal. This provision, large as it ma^’ seem in ])roportion to the i)opulation and resources of the countiw, is, owing to the raiud increase in school attendance and the constant effort to raise the standard of qualifications in the teaching force, thus causing the pay roll to increase more rajiidl.v in ])roportion than the number of teachers, proving inadequate for the purpose intended. In addition to the appro- juiations mentioned above, which are all for current expenses, including re]iairs on school buildings, about thirty thousand dollars has been expended within the last 3 ’ear and a half in the erection of new school houses and teachers’ cottages. This last item ma.v need a word of explanation. Owing to the local conditions existing in main' of the out of town districts, it is a matter of absolute necessity, if the Depart- ment expects to secure and retain the services of competent, well educated ladies and gentlemen, to provide them with houses to live in. In most of the country- districts there are no hotels or boarding houses, and in mauA' instances no white families within an}’ jiracticable distance of the school. The teacher or teachers must therefore keep house as best they may, the (Tovernment building a cottage and giving them the use of it rent free. This adds of course vein materialh’ to the cost of canning on the schools of the countrv, but it is an expenditure that cannot be avoided without seriousl}’ impairing the efficiency of the service. As the countin is settled u]), this difficulty will disappear. Of the sum of .^455,221.55, mentioned above as the aggregate of the a])i)ro])riatious for the current expenses of the De])artment for the biennial ])eriod, .f4()4.()()0.00 is re- <}uired for salaries and pay rolls, mostly for teachers. \Vithin the last few years there has been instituted and is now regularly carried on, a system of teachers’ examinations. These are generall,v held annuall}', but not alwa,vs simul- taneousl.v, throughout the Islands, and are of two grades; j)riniarv and grammai', the former being the onlv one made coin])ulsorv up to the present time, ('andidates for ])rimary certificates are examined in mental and wiitten arithmetic, English grammar, reading, s])elling, dictation, geography, ])(*nmanshi]) and methods of teaching, ('andidates for the 7 giammar grade are, in addition to the foregoing, examined in algebra, geometry, physiology, pln sical geography, general, American and HaA\ aiian history, and theory and practice of teaching. Certificates of several classes, based on the aver- ages obtained are granted to successful candidates, the time for Avhich they are good dei)ending on the class of the certifi- cate. Persons earning first class grammar grade certificates, which requires an average of ninety per cent, or over, and who have a record of five years or more of successful school room Avork, are entitled to life diplomas. Xew teachers commencing without ])revious experience re- ceive salaries grad(‘d accoiding To the class of their certifi- cates. Those having no certificates commence at a still lower rate, and these lattcu- a])pointments are understood to be tem- ])orary, the aj)]»ointee being (*xpect(“d to take the examina- tion at the next o])])ortunity, and being liable to be dro]»ped at any time for failing to do so, or for failing to pass. The salaries of the regular teaching force are annual salaries, payable monthly, on tlu‘ last day of each month, va- cations inclmhnl. A sejmraP* draft on the public treasury is drawn for each salary, and the money inner fails to be ready on the appointed day. Each employee of the De])artment knows just what In* or she can dejiend u])on, and does not have, as in many jdaces, to accept a warrant for the amount due, to bt* collected at some indefinite time in the future Avhen the j)ublic treasury may be in a condition to pay. The number of {)Uj)ils to e:ich teacher av(*rages thirty, in all the government schools throughout the Islands; in all the in- dependent schools the average is nineteen. In considering this discre])ancy it should be remembered that the indepen- dent schools are largely boarding schools, Avhere the many things to be attended to outside the routine of an ordinary day school, necessitate a jirojiortionately larger force. The Honolulu High School was organized in 1895, the higher grades of an existing school being taken as a nucleus and transferred to new quarters, which may, with very little exaggeration be styled “palatial.” the (Tovernment having juirchased for the ])urj)Ose tvhat was one of the largest, and ]»robably considerably the most costly private residence in the country, it having been built and finished in lavish style by the bite Princess Ruth, a sister of Kamehameha IV. and V. This jiroperty, which includes ample grounds in handsome condition and tAvo buildings suitable for teachers’ residences, was bought on terms that make it an excellent investment. 8 The school is well conducted under an able principal, and is doing good Avork. The Xormal School, A\diich is accommodated in the High School building, is also a new departure in HaAvaiian educa- tional policy, haA’ing been established a few months after the High School. It has at present an attendance of betAA-een forty-five and fifty, and is in charge of two teachers. The present attendance is considerably in excess of that of la.st year, and an addition to the teaching force AA'ill have to be made at an early day. In connection with the Normal there is a “practice school” under the general control of the same principal. It is one of the Honolulu primary schools, Avhere the normal students are sent in turn to teach under the supervision, and subject to the criticism of the regular teachers of the school, who are selected Avith special reference to their fitness for this work. According to the last printed report, the independent schools numbered 03 in all, with a total enrollment of 3,420. This is an aA'erage of about fifty-five pupils to a school, while the aA’erage in the gOA^ernment schools is something over eighty, ^lore than half the independent schools, and about two- thirds of the pupils attending schools of that class are to be found in Honolulu. Several of these are doing valuable work in lines that the Government is not prepared to enter upon. Among these are the boarding schools for Hawaiian girls, of which there are six in all, four of these being in Honolulu. In these schools an aggregate of nearly three hundred and fifty Hawaiian girls are receiA’ing, in addition to the ordinary school course, training in household arts and ciA’ilized modes of living generally. One of these schools is in charge of a sisterhood of the Anglican Church Mission, another in charge of a sister- hood of the Roman Catholic Church, and a third is part of the Kamehameha school work. The Kamehameha schools were established under the Avill of the late Mrs. Bernice Paualii Bishop, wife of C. R. Bishop of the Honolulu banking house of Bishop & Co., she having left the bulk of a large i)roperty in the hands of trustees for the establishment and su])port of these schools. Mrs. Bishop was a native HuAvaiian of high rank, avIio having no children, and her husband being possessed of ample means, decided to dedicate her Avealth to the benefit of the young people of her own race. There have been established and are now in suc- cessful o])eration, in addition to the girls’ boarding school 1 ) just mentioned, a boys’ school combining manual and technical instruction with the ordinary school branches, and a prepara- tory department. Mr. Bishop has supplemented his wife's becjnest with large and repeated gifts from his own fortune, and the ample means at their command have enabled the trustees to organize and equip the school on very liberal lines, ('ommodious and well ecpiipped work shops with steam power and the best mechanical appliances obtainable, enable tills school to give thorough training in various departments of wood and metal working, and the boys show a very satis- factoiy degree both of interest in their work and of capacity for accpiiring proficiency and skill therein. The last report of Ili(* Department of Public Instruction says, “The boys who have passed the full coarse at Kameliameha are beginning lo till various worthy jiositions in life and are jnoving them- .selves able men for the woi k they undertake.’’ There are at jiresent about two hundred inmates of this school and about fifty in the jirejiaratory deiiartment. There is also, in connec- tion with this school, a normal and training deiiartment. Oahu College, mentioned above as having been founded in 1841 as the Punahou School, lias developed into a well-equipped and flourishing institution, having boarding and day departments, and also a preparatory department, which latter is centrally located in the town, the main t stablishment being in the suburbs, some two miles or more aAvay. At the latter place there are very spacious grounds, with substantial and handsome buildings, a laboratory and scientific department, and all the machinery requisite to make the institution a college in fact as well as in name. The main academic building, completed within the last year, is built of stone at a cost of •$76,000 00. A handsome endowment has been gradually built up, amount- ing at the present time to some $28.5,000.00. The institution also owns considerable land outside of that used for its own pur- poses, and this is increasing rapidly in value. The president and other members of the college staff' are able and cultivated ladies and gentlemien and the institution is in every way an honor to this country. In addition to the institutions mentioned above, there is a large boarding and day school for boys, known as St. Louis ('ollege, which is in ( harge of a lay teaching brotherhood of the Catholic Church, and a number of small schools sujiported by jirivate enterprise, including seAeral well conducted kinder gartens. On the subject of the secularization of the jiublic schools and the entire separation of church and state, the Kepublic U) of Hawaii has taken advanced <>;t‘onnd. The Constitution for- bids any gifts or sni)sidies of money, lands, or public credit to any denominational or sectarian school, or in fact, to any schools not nnder the direct control of the Government. liy the new school law, ])assed in 18 !)f), no priest or minister of re- ligion can be a member of the Board of Education. Clergy- men, may be, and in several instances are teachers and prin- cipals in government schools, but strict care is taken that no denominational tenets of any kind are taught in the schools under their care. The Chinese residents maintain a number of small schools devoted to the teaching of their own language, but these are only allow('d on condition that the pupils therein, if within the legal school age, shall also attend regularly at some school taught in English, and take the instruction in Chinese outside of government school hours. One result of the efforts that have been made in educational matters is that, so far as the younger portion of the white population and the native Hawaiians are concerned, the per- centage of illiteracy is less than in any of the great European nations, I’rnssia perhaps excei)ted, and less than in many States of the American Union. It is A’ery rare to find a native Hawaiian nnder forty years of age who cannot at least read and wi'ite his own language, and those of the population sign- ing their names with a cross must be looked for among those whose earlier years were ]>assed elsewhere than in the Ha- waiian Islands.