SCHEME FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL FUND.

Lyttelton Times, Volume I, Issue 38, 27 September 1851, Page 6

SCHEME FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL FUND.

The following is the Scheme of the Canterbury Association, for the administration of the Religious and Educational Fund in the Colony.

The Committee of Management of the Canterbury Association having considered the minute of the 3rd of September, ISSO, with reference to the Ecclesiastical and Educational Fund, have adopted the following bases of a scheme for its future administration. By the terms of their charter, the Association are bound to apply this fund for the purposes of religion and education—a responsibility which they cannot if they would devolve upon others. They reserve, therefore, to themselves the fullest powers to enable them to discharge this obligation, and for this purpose to exercise an absolute control over the fund itself, and over all persons concerned in its management and distribution. Considering also that at present it would be impossible to foresee or provide for all future contingencies, they reserve to themselves a full discretion to modify their scheme as they may from time to time think best. Subject lo^'thesegeneral conditions, they propose as follows :—

As to the investment of the fund. Subject to the payment thereout of whatever may be required for current expenses properly chargeable on the fund, and the fulfilment of obligations entered into by the Association, they propose that it shall from time to time be invested in such securities as they in their discretion may deem most beneficial; they being ready to receive suggestions on this point from time to time from the colony through the proper medium. The Association will exercise their own discretion as to applying capital as well as income for current purposes, except in cases where special investments may be made for specific objects of a permanent and definite kind. Subject to the foregoing conditions, they propose to administer the funds through the medium of a managing body in the colony, to be I constituted iii the following manner. , They propose that such a body shall be constituted, to be termed the Canterbury Church Fund Managing Committee (and which will be hereafter referred to as the Managing Committee), such body to consist of the bishop", the dean of the metropolitan town, the archdeacon or archdeacons, if more than one, the rural dean or rural deans, if more . than one (ex officio), four of the clergy having parochial duty, to be named by the bishop, and a number of laymen, corresponding to the number of the clergy on the Managing Committee, exclusive of. the bishop. They reserve the question as to the mode of appointing sucli lay members of the Managing Committee. Any unofficial clerical members of such managing committee, and any such laymen to be removeable by the unanimous vote of the remaining members. Any unofficial clerical member to be disqualified on ceasing to have parochial duty. Lay members to be communicants, and to be disqualified by ceasing to be so for the space of a year. Such managing committee to settle their own form of proceeding. An absolute veto in all matters to be reserved to the bishop. After the appointment of such managing committee, the future administration and distribution of Ecclesiastical and Educational Fund 3in the colony to be made exclusively through their medium and by their direction; the Association undertaking, subject to the reservations and conditions herein mentioned, to give effect to their directions to the utmost possible extent, according to a plan which may be hereafter arranged between them. The heads of expenditure may be classed as follows :_ Ecclesiastical.— Educational. Ecclesiastical objects include the following :— 1. Purchase of sites for churches. 2. Erection of ditto. 3. Repairs of ditto. 4. Ornaments of ditto. 5. Purchase of sites for cemeteries. G. Fences and repairs of ditto. 7. Payments of stipends to clergymen. 8. Purchase of glebes and endowments of parish churches. 9. Purchase of sites for parsonages. 10. Erection of ditto. 11. Repairs of ditto. 12. Stipends for dignitaries. 13. Purchase of sites for religious and eleemosynary institutions in connexion with the church. 14?. Erection of ditto. 15. Repairs of ditto. 16. Endowments of ditto. 17. Purchase of lands for endowments for ditto. 18. Current expenses, maintenance, management, of ditto. Educational objects include the following:— Expenses incident to the foundation, erection, establishment, and endowment of the college. Expenses incident to general education. As to the college, the Association reserve the consideration of it for the present. As to expenditure on matters connected with general education they embrace the following points : — Purchase of sites for schools. Erection of ditto. Endowment of ditto, including exhibitions, &c. Purchase of land for ditto. Payments to schoolmasters, mistresses, teachers, assistnn:s, &c. Current expenses of management, maintenance, &c. They proceed to consider these matters seriatim. The Committee think that the most convenient mode of dealing with the question of the legal

ownership of the buildings and land appropriated to church and educational purposes will be, by vesting them in the Association, but at the same, time to leave the details of management as far as possible with the managing committee. They propose, therefore, as follows :—

As to the sites for churches. The selection of sucli sites will be exclusively under the direction of the managing committee. Sites may be accepted by way of gift. All sites of churches to be conveyed to the Association in like manner as such sites are in this country conveyed to the Church Building Commissioners. The committee propose that proper tables of fees upon a moderate scale for setting up monuments and tablets, and commemorative inscriptions in churches, shall be settled by the managing committee, to be collected and applied to such charitable purposes in connexion with the parish in which the church is situate, as the managing committee may direct. The incumbent, curate, or officiating minister for the time being, of every church, to have an absolute veto as to setting up such monument, tablets, &c. No interments will be permitted within the walls of any church.

As to the erection of churches. The plans of all churches, to the erection of which the funds of the Association in any way contribute, to be approved of by the managing committee. No part of the funds of the Association to be applied towards the erection of churches until the sites are conveyed to them. Voluntary contributions may be received by the Association through the managing committee to be applied towards, or in aid of those objects. As to repairs of Churches. These to be under the direction of churchwardens, as to whose election and constitution, considering these officers to be part of_the ordinary ecclesiastical constitution of the church, the Association do not consider that it belongs to them to lay down any rules. The General Fund to be chargeable with repairs of churches and cemeteries. The managing committee to have full discretion as to the nature and extent of repairs, so far as funds may be available.

As to ornaments and furniture of the church, including bells, books, organs, communion plate, surplices, &c. None to be used in any churches, except such as actually belong to or are given for the permanent service of the church. All such ornaments and furniture to belong to the Association, to be held specifically by them for the use or decoration of the pai-ticular churches to which the same may be appropriated, and not to be otherwise used or appropriated. All such ornaments and furniture ; to be in the keeping, and under the care of the churchwardens respectively. Due provision to be made by the churchwardens, through the managing committee, for all the necessary expenses of their churches, —such as for lighting, cleaning, supply of bread and wine for the communion, and the like.

As to the sites for cemeteries. All cemeteries to be extramural. Sites to be purchased or obtained and conveyed to the Association to be held in perpetuity for such purposes, but not to be used as such until duly consecrated, except with the special licence of the bishop. Such cemeteries to be appropriated to specific parishes, or other ecclesiastical districts. The occupation to be in the incumbents. One cemetery at least to be appropriated to every parish. Subject to exceptions according to the rules of the church, every parishioner to be interred, without fee to the clergyman, in his parish cemetery. Strangers to be interred at the discretion of the officiating minister for the time being, a moderate scale of fees being settled for such cases by the bishop, not to be exceeded. The fees so taken to be applied in like manner as fees for monuments in churches. Tables of such fees to be fixed in every parish church. The bishop, in conjunction with the managing committee, to make regulations as to monuments, head-stones, and commemorative inscriptions, but none to be set up without the consent of the incumbent or officiating minister of the parish to which the cemetery belongs.

Payments of stipends to clergymen. So soon as parishes shall have heen formed, every parish shall, so far as circumstances will admit, and as occasion requires, be supplied with one clergyman to take the cure of souls as parson or rector. The nomination of such rector or parson to be for the present with the Association, such nomination to be in the nature ol a presentation to the bishop, and to be subject to his approbation and institution!; such rights of nomination to be exercised through such medium in the colony as the Association may from time to time think fit. A fixed stipend to be assigned to every such parson or rector so nominated, payable out of the Ecclesiastical Fund, in such proportion, manner, &c, as may be thought fit by the managing committee. Every such nomination to be for life (but subject, of course, to suspension or deprivation by the bishop, for any adequate cause), such suspension or deprivation to be certified to the managing committee by the bishop, and upon such certificate the future payment of stipend to any deprived or suspended clergyman to cease, or be suspended, as the case may require. Contributions, either annual or in gross, may be received by the Association, towards or by way of increase of the stipends of incumbents, to be applied and disposed of as may

from time to time be agreed on between the contributors and the managing committee. Stipends maybe assigned to curates nominated by parsons or rectors, and licensed by the bishop, such stipends to cease with the duties. It is to be understood that such curacies will be subject to like rules as curacies in England. After the formation of a parish, and the appointment of a rector or parson, the parish shall not be divided, except with the consent of the bishop and the managing committee. Any clergyman undertaking clerical duties in the colony without the licence of the bishop, to be disqualified from holding any preferment in connexion with the Association. All vacancies in benefices by death or deprivation, to be filled up in like maner as original appointments. If not filled up within six monttis from the time of vacancies occurring, the bishop to have the right of collation. The bishop to provide for the cure of souls during the pereod of vacancy, and a proportionate amount of the stipend to be as • signed during such period to the clergyman having the cure of souls.

As to endowments of parish churches. To every rectory or parsonage there shall be assigned a certain quantity, not exceeding 50 acres, of glebe land, to be selected by the managing committee, the same to be purchased from the General; Church Fund and conveyed, to the Association, and held by them for the special use of such parsonage or rectory, the same to be occupied and enjoyed by the rector or parson during his incumbency. The Managing Committee may, with the consent of the bishop and incumbent for the time being, grant leases of glebe lands for any term of years, with or without covenants for renewal, subject to such conditions as may be thought fit,

As to the purchase of sites for parsonages. As soon as conveniently can he, after the formation of any parish, a suitable residence shall be provided for the parson or rector. A site shall be bought for the purpose from the General Church Fund, and conveyed to the Association, to be held by them accordingly.

Houses or buildings already erected may be purchased and conveyed for the like objects, if thought fit. Houses may be erected or existing buildings may be altered to serve as parsonages, at the charge of the General Church Fund. The managing committee shall determine all questions as to plans, contracts, cost, &c. Parsonage houses shall be held and occupied by the parsons or rectors of the respective parishes during the tenure of office, but no longer. The Association will be trustees for such purpose.

Every parson or rector shall be bound to keep in repair the entire fabric of his parsonage with all buildings, fences, and appurtenances. For encouraging the endowment of churches by private individuals, the Association v-'ill accept conveyances of building sites for churches, or parsonages, and of glebe lands, and will also receive contributions towards endowments, all which shall be held and applied for the purposes intended. In cases of this nature, the Association will be ready from time to time, as may be thought fit, and under such terms and conditions as may be thought fit, to enter into engagements with parties making such foundations or endowments, or contributing thereto, —that the nominations of clergymen by founders and their representatives shall, so far as lies with them, be adopted, subject to the usual conditions.

As to stipends of dignitaries,—so soon as an archdeacon and other ecclesiastical dignitaries shall be appointed, suitable incomes shall be assigned to them; residences and endowments may be assigned to them at the charge of the General Fund.

Buildings or sites for religious and eleemosynary institutions, in the discretion of the managing committee, may be purchased, and suitable buildings may be erected at the cost of the Ecclesiastical Fund; such sites and buildings to be conveyed to the Association in trust for the purposes designed, The appointments to all offices in such institutions, as well as the nomination to the benefits thereof, to be with the managing committee. They shall assign suitable stipends to officers. They shall make regulations for the government of such institutions, the Association being considered as founders, and to exercise their functions as founders through the medium of the managing committee. Their general superintendence shall be placed under some clergyman, to be appointed by the bishop. All such institutions shall be subject to visitation by the bishop, who shall have power to regulate them and all officers connected with their management, and all inmates. Any deficiency in the charge of management of such institutions not provided from their own resources shall be borne by the Ecclesiastical Fund. In order to aid the establishment of .such institutions, the. Association will/ through the managing committee, receive voluntarjfcontiibntionsfrom pious and benevolent individuals.,' as well as offertory alms, which, in general, they think may be appropriated to these objects.

As to provision for purposes of general education in the colony. Sites for schools may be purchased and conveyed to the Association, the purchase money to be taken from the General Church Fund: money may be laid out in necessary buildings upon such sites, and in repairs thereof. The selection of

such sites and all questions of plan, cost, &c. to be with the managing committee. They are to have the nomination of schoolmasters and mistresses, teachers, &c, and to frame general regulations for management. The same to be under the general direction of the bishop. Suitable stipends to be assigned to masters, mistresses, and teachers from the General Church Fund. Voluntary contributions 9 />vill be received in aid;of such objects. It is to be •*■ iemarked that the above scheme has almost exclusive reference to a portion of the funds of the Association already in existence, and of the continuance and increase of which no doubt can be entertained. But the Association desire that the reservation hereinbefore contained as to the power to vary the scheme, may be specially understood with reference to such future contingencies as—lst. private contributions of any kind for church or educational purposes within the colony. 2nd. Any legal provision which may perhaps hereafter be made for those objects by the legislature of the colony. [From tlie Government Gazette, Sept. 6.] An AddbesS to the Ckown by the Legislative Council, praying for the adoption of a uniform system in the disposal of the Waste Lands of the Colony. (Laid before the Council, July 26, 1851.) May it please Yoxju Majesty,— We, your Majesty's most loyal and dutiful subjects, the Members of the Legislative Council of New Zealand, in Council assembled, humbly solicit your Majesty's gracious attention to a matter of the highest importance to the prosperity of your Majesty's colony of NewZeal and. The subject we allude to is the disposal of your Majesty's demesne lands in these islands. In transmitting to the Governor of New Zealand the Australian Waste Lands Act of 1842, your Majesty's then Secretary of State for the Colonies alluded with much truth and force to the " protracted discussions which had taken place respecting the settlement of waste lands in the Australian colonies; to the frequency with which the system had been changed, the complaints to which this mutability of purpose had given rise; to the experiments which in the gradual progress of experience may have been not imprudently hazarded, even though in the result such experiments were found to disappoint the hopes of their authors; —and to the accumulation, consequent upon all this, of a large body both of theoretical and practical knowledge of which it was then proposed to gather the fruits." Lord Stanley then declared that the "bill in question had been passed into a law with scarcely a dissentient voice; that he had no reason to suppose that the general propriety of its provisions was disputed by any persons in this country to whose judgment on such topics any particular authority was due; and that he trusted he might with no unreasonable confidence anticipate important advantages from that enactment, both as respected the general interests of the empire at large and the local interests of the Australian provinces of the British Crown. He then particularizes one in especial of the benefits calculated to ensue, in these words: "Of those advantages not the least important will be found in the guarantee at length given for stability and consistency of purpose in the administration of the land and the land revenues of the Crown in New Holland, and the adjacent islands. It is of course impossible that the system now established should be changed by any authority but that of Parliament. Her Majesty's Government have had no difficulty in advising the Queen thus to relinquish a power which experience has r> shewn to be not unattended with the risk.of .immature and precipitate resolutions." », In these sentiments we beg respectfully to assure your Majesty of our entire concurrence. In the hopes so reasonably excited in the breast of your Majesty's then 'Secretary of State, we believe the settlers of New Zealand fully participated, and looked forward with equal confidence to the advantages to be secured by the act in question. But it is with great regret we feel ourselves compelled to declare to your Majesty that the benefits, which the relinquishTf- nt by your Majesty of the power of adminis'vV'ing the land and land revenues alluded to wqs calculated to produce, have not accrued to thjs colony; that the recurrence of the very evils pointed out by Lord Stanley, and to prevent which your Majesty so graciously resigned that power, has not been precluded ; but that occasion has even been afforded thereby for the , admission of other evils of even a eraver

character, not anticipated when the Australian Waste Lands Act was passed. The unfavourable result of your Majesty's benevolent intentions is, in our opinion, to be attributed to the fact that Parliament has adopted the course of delegating the power relinquished by your Majesty to various bodies of your Majesty's subjects, who, from many circumstances cannot be made sufficiently responsible for its exercise, and over whom it is difficult to establish the control necessary to secure the most beneficial administration of the funds it entrusts them with.

Now, the evils which, actual experience has hitherto shewn to be the result of this delegation of the power given to Parliament, consist in the virtual reproduction of the old vacillation and inconsistency in the disposal of the public land: of undue facilities for its acquisition existing in some parts of the country simultaneously with extreme and impolitic restrictions thereupon in other parts; of extensive and rapid fluctuations in the market value of land; of consequent uncertainty and hazard in the operations of those who undertake its occupation and culture, of the most profuse and lavish expenditure of the land funds; and of the contraction and imposition upon the resources of the colony of heavy liabilities in compensation of those to whom the results of the experiments indulged in have proved unsatisfactory ; liabilities incurred without the consent in some cases, or even knowledge of the Colonial Government or the colonial public, who are so greatly interested in the revenues thus appropriated by anticipation or expended with no adequate return. In addition to these evils the exclusive systems of colonization involve the new evil of the virtual imposition of disabilities upon numbers of your Majesty's subjects, by depriving them of. advantages and opportunities for the exertion of their enterprise and improvement of their outward circumstances, except at the sacrifice perhaps of cherished religious principres, or the violation of conscientious scruples. Any detailed proof of the correctness of the opinions just stilted would be out of place on the present occasion. But we may be permitted presently to allude to a few undeniable facts in illustration of the results of some of the experiments that have so far been made. To ascertain precisely what amount of these unfavourable consequences is attributable to the nature of the experiments themselves, and how much to incidental circumstances over which the promoters of the experiments had no control, would be an invidious task, even were it a practicable one. But it is greatly to be feared that circumstances similar to those which have been considered as most adverse to the success of the schemes hitherto attempted, will most probably always attend the cession by the Crown of such extensive powers as have been given to the associations hitherto formed. To judge by past experience,it seems to be an evil inherent in the plan of entrusting the administration of crown lands in England, that they find themselves under the necessity, at least in'commencing their operations, of disposing of such lands by sale in that country. Whether called trading companies or not, they require immediate funds, which must be raised in that way. To force the sale of land in large Quantities, it is necessary to make abundant promises of collateral advantages, whether of a moral or material kind, which may attract the requisite number of purchasers. These advantages (as has been the case with respect to all experiments hitherto tried) not having been obtained, or obtained to the promised extent, claims for compensation arise, 3 which have to be satisfied by gratuitous grants of land ; and the result is a greater waste ■of public land than took place even under the old system, and all the manifold evils that accompany such profusion. But the establishment of associations also introduces into the colony organized bodies invested with many of the powers which are ordinarily entrusted to the Imperial or the local Government. The natural consequence is a want of harmony and co-operation, the consequences of which are most injurious to the colony and the public. Past experience seems to lead irresistibly to the expectation that similar difficulties, to some extent or other, will always arise from the co-existence of governing bodies mutually independent and with often conflicting interests. And without attempting to decide, with respect to past instances, to which party the blame of failures which have injured both is justly to be attached, we cannot refrain from expressing our apprehension lest

the blame of future failures, should such take place, may still be laid to the inharmonious working of the independent societies concerned with Government; and that compensation to all parties injured will be again demanded from Government to an extent almost ruinous to the land revenue, and almost detrimental to the public interest. Because it will require so small an amount of ingenuity to paint any failure as the result of the non-fulfilment of some supposed duty of Government, or its neglect to adopt some auxiliary measure or measures real or imaginary, and possibly only discovered and suggested after that event. But be all this as it may, the illustration of the effects of the system of ceding the Crown's power to associations, afforded by the Company which has lately ceased to act, may be shewn to be strongly against the expediency of its repetition by one striking fact. The difference between what has been effected by it at the expense of Government, and what Government might have done at the same expense by its previously existing machinery, is as follows,/ Government has parted permanently with 270,073 acres to the Company of land sold by them and with about 200,000 acres of land which has been given, or which must be given, under existing engagements to such of their purchasers to whom the result of the experiments have not been satisfactory. It has further in actual money given to the Company a boon of £236,000, and imposed on the Colonial land fund a debt of another sum of £268,000, to be hereafter paid to the Company. Had the land so disposed of been sold by Government at the upset price only, of £l per acre, and half of the proceeds devoted under the provisions of the Waste Lands Act to emigration, and the sumt expended on the Company been advanced to the colony, and applied to the same object, there might have been introduced into the Province of New Munster no fewer than 65,241 emigrants, one third adults and two thirds children, —the cost of their passage being taken at the rate at which the Land and Emigration Commissioners actually paid for the few they sent hither. And this would have still left funds ample and probably far more than sufficient for the purchase of land, and all expenses connected with its sale and administration. The number reaHy introduced by the Company amounted to 11,680 souls, —about the present population of the Province.

After all reasonable allowance, then, for the obligation the public is under to the Company for having by its enterprise been the means of causing the occupation by your Majesty's Government of this valuable field for colonization, and bj r its energy and activity, of keeping the public attention continually alive to the advantages of emigration thereto, we cannot refrain from expressing our opinion that the facts just stated incontestibly prove that the plan adopted by Parliament, of delegating the administration of the Crown lands to associations, is a highly impolitic and injurious one.

We therefore pray that your Majesty will be graciously pleased to direct, as far as depends upon your Majesty, that the administration and disposal of the Crown demesne in this colony may be based upon one uniform and impartial system, as Avas done by the Act of Parliament so often alluded to, and which was devised with so much care, experience, and deliberation, and attended with guarantees apparentlj' so satisfactory and infallible. We pray that all lands whatever may be disposed of by sale on equal terms whether to private [individuals or public associations, in order that the loss and detriment resulting from experiments of whatever kind in colonization may hereafter 'fall, not upon the public, but solely upon the real owners of the lands with regard to which they are made, upon those only who set them on foot, and should alone be responsible for their failure; and in order that the public interests, and the rights and welfare of all your Majesty's subjects in this respect may be equally and equitably provided for and secured,

Wellington.—The Wellington Independent states that the settlers in the Wairarapa anticipate a very large crop of wool this season, and that they purpose to commence shearing earlier than usual, viz., about the 15th of November, but it is feared the season will be delayed from the want of skilful shearers. Our cotemporary suggests that among the stockmen coming- from Port Cooper with stock from Australia, there may be many whose experience aud skill wpulti

enable tiiein to supply the market for this description ofliibour thus opening. A meeting of the Settlers' Constitutional Association was held on the 9th inst., at which was read the reply of Mr. Adderley, acceding to the request of the Association that he should, jointly with Sir W". .Molesworth, perform the service of guarding their interests in Parliament. On the evening of Sep. 11 tit, a ball and supper were given at Government House by Sir George and Lady Grey. Nearly 200 persons attended. Lieutenant-Governor Eyre and Mrs. Eyre were not present. E Tako, a native chief, his wife, and four or five other natives, were among the guests. E Tako's wife danced a quadrille with Dr. Fitzgerald, and executed her part to admiration. Nelson.—The proposal of Sir George Grey to make the Nelson settlement an independent province, was creating considerable excitement. A meeting was to be held at the Court-House, on Tuesday, Sept. 2, to consider the proposal.