Congregation of Our Lady of Mercy in New Zealand - UC Research ...

43
is a speciality with the pupils as is annually testified
by their achievement in this
eld.
St. J·oseph' s, UE.J2._er Hutt, 1852: Teachers 6, pupils 248.
Bishop Vi
with his marked predilection for the
hiaoris built a home called "Providence It
native and
half-'caste girls on a strip of land ( 1) granted for the
purpose by Governor, Sir George G:r.,ey in 1852.
As soon as
the Sisters of Mercy were in residence in ~ellington,
they
took over the char' of this ovidence and taught the
Maoris to read English intelligently and fluently, to
vvri te neatly and '.vel1, to malce
ir own clothing and to
:.eep their quarters clean and tidy.
A visitor> to tha Pr>ovidence
in 1879 wrote -
( 2) 11 The children e seperate "bed-ronms and are all
scru.pulously neat and clean. Each l"oom oper.s .. into a long
passage and there :Ls perfect ventilation. The teaching
and supervision of' the school is the gratuitous work of those
in charge. 11
rrhese Llaori girls on return to their tribes bee ame a potent
influence in the spreading of European culture for, as
Sir Apirana lTgata claims -
(3) "One the greatest services rendered by the
schools, especially the secondary schools, to the ~aori
race is the gradual sr~olub.:-1n of the comr:mnal idea
for w .._ich the word 11 kianga 11 stands, and the persistent
substitution of the pakeha idea of home •.•• The eclucatecl
young women could not imbibe nev'i as and t es during
their residence in the secondary schools without insisting
on changes in the vill life. They have in··
1. "Zealandia" Nov. 18th, 1937. (I-::.Goulter.)
2.
11
Annals 11 op. cit. Page 639.
3. C.H.B.E. V'i1 .Part 2, Page 2h9 quot The Times,
N. Z. Nwnber 22nd Februa1.,y 1927.