XAllVt: I'.m 'CATION IN lllK TKAXSKKI. 459 



3. 11 ii". SCHOOLS. 



(a) Ho7k' Schools Orlf/inatc. — Turning- from the teachers 

 To the schools we find a similar development, and improvement 

 at least numerically. l)ut before tracing' this suri)rising develop- 

 ment it is as well to have some idea how schools originate. 



Sometimes the peoj)le of a g^iven locality ap])roach the mis- 

 sionary with a re{|uest to open a schot)l for their children. The 

 headman, or the chief, may be behind the request, or it may be 

 necessary to get his permission and l)lessing upon the ])roject. 

 Most headmen welcome a school in their location so that they 

 may bask in the reflected glory, and added dignity. If the atten- 

 dance keeps up to a certain level the General Council, on the 

 recommendation of a School Inspector, gives a grant of £io per 

 annum for two years, and a grant of £5 to help in providing 

 furniture for the school hut. At the end of that time, if not 

 he fore, the school shoidd have a regular attendance of 25 chil- 

 dren, and so be drawing a Government grant together with the 

 ordinary General Council grant. Sometimes a private hut ,is 

 used for the school, or the peo])le may unite to l)uild a hut if 

 there is no existing church hut at liand, l)ut usualK- the school is 

 'held in the church hut. 



ib) Granting of Sites. — -Grants of land are made from 

 time to time by the Government, on sj)ecial application, for 

 clnirch and school purposes. In the unsurveyed districts a 

 " permission to occupy " certificate is given, which is exchange- 

 able on survey of the tlistrict for " title." If the land is used 

 tor anv other purpose it mav be taken l)ack by (lovernment. who 

 onlv grant it on the condition that it is used for nnssion ptirposes. 

 ancl the land cannot be alienated by sale. 



((■) Surz'cy and Limitation of Sites. — The free grant of 

 land is only right and reasonable, but it is disap])ointing to find 

 that the extent of the grant is no more than half a morgen. At 

 present the vast extent of open veld renders a school playground 

 unnecessary, but the day will come when the available land will 

 l)e allotted, and our schools hemmed in on all sides. In those 

 days men will wish that a far-seein^^^ jjiilicy had been ado])ted 

 at the time when the country was being surveyed district Iiy 

 district — as at the present — and that a mininumi grant of 2^^. 

 ni(M-gen had been made instead of the jjaltry half-morgen. 



[d) Need for Better Type of Buildings. — The buikliniis in 

 which the children spent their school life are often poor huts 

 without even windows, or they may be small buildings made of 

 corrugated iron — '' tin abominations." as one exasperated inspec- 

 tor called them! The furniture is rough but reasonably good. 

 In such surroundings what can we expect to make of the chil- 

 dren, and is it any wonder that they are only too glad to leave 

 school after a vear or two of incarceration? It seems too much 

 like a fairy vision even to suggest a neat building standing in a 

 ■suitable position on enclosed land with trees giving shelter and 

 shade — a place to which the children delight to go. That day 

 will come only when the authorities make the grants conditional 

 upon necessary improvements of the kind, and provided time 



