4.1 The state acknowledged a duty to make special provision for the education of Maori children. Those responsible for policy and administration had a clear intention to equip young Maori with at least the minimum body of skills believed to be essential in their transformed environment. Much the same overall goal informed the provision of elementary education for Pakeha children; the state's concern with 'education for all' was to turn children, however lowly their status, into citizens possessing the elementary skills of literacy and numeracy and the habits of industry and discipline. In the special case of native schools, great emphasis was placed on competence in English and the acquisition of manual skills.
4.2 In principle, elementary education in public schools was made compulsory and free in 1877; this goal, at least for Pakeha children in public schools, was close to achievement by the end of the century, thanks to a sustained anti-truancy campaign. The situation of children in native schools, directly run by the Education Department and not, as with public schools, by Education Boards, was different. Insofar as the Maori community had to provide the school site, Maori education was not wholly free. Further, non-attendance at native schools was not tackled with the same vigour. 'Free and compulsory' is a description which cannot be applied to them without qualification. As well, many Maori children attended public schools; whether truancy officers pursued their parents, or did not consider this to be part of their brief, is not clear.
4.3 While both Maori and Pakeha children were to be prepared for a useful life in an orderly society, the native schools had a special function because they took in children from largely Maori-speaking communities. The reports of the inspectors constantly insist on English as the language of instruction; it was regarded as the basic skill to be acquired. There is no evidence, at least from this region, that this goal was resisted by native school parents and committees.
4.4 The education provided for Maori children through the native school system thus occupied an ambiguous position in Maori society. It was frankly assimilationist; nevertheless, it attempted to impart skills which were accepted by the community as needed for survival in an overwhelmingly Pakeha environment. It was rigidly controlled
