WI PARATA AND THE BISHOP OF WELLINGTON.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5073, 27 June 1877, Page 2

WI PARATA AND THE BISHOP OF WELLINGTON.

The condition of a large number of educational and religious trusts in the colony is not at all satisfactory, and we had occasion to say so in rather strong terms in respect of at least one in the province of Wellington, which during last session of the Parliament was brought prominently before the public owing to t te debates which took place in relation to it in the House of Representatives. The use and management of another of these trusts is about to be canvassed in a Court of Law, therefore we have nothing to say about it beyond relating the facts, or the alleged facts, in connection with it. It seems that some years ago, when Bishop Selwyn was a power among the natives, the Ngatitoa tribe agreed to cede a block of land on the West Coast as an endowment for educational purposes, the main stipulation being, it is asserted, that the Church of England should build a school on the land for the purpose of providing means for the education of the children of the tribe. A school was not erected on the laud, nor, as Wi Parata alleges, was any provision ever made for the education of the children of the tribe, in proof of which he cites himself as an example, being unable to read or speak Eng ish. The tribe, it seems, has dwindled down to a very few persons, and Wi Parata, as the lineal descendant of the chiefs of the tribe, asks that the land may be reconveyed to him in trust, on the ground that the conditions of the original trust have not been carried out. We believe the Bishop of Wellington defends the Church of England, and says that there was no condition as to the erection of a school on the land, and that the conditions were carried out, in that a school was erected at Otaki, to which the children of the tribe might have been sent. The matter has twice been before the House of Representatives, and in each case a select committee has decided against Wi Parata; but he has decided to have recourse--^"

to the Supreme Court, and Mr. Barton is to apply this morning to the Juigos to grant an injunction restraining the Bishop from receiving the rents and profits of the land, and to make an order for the payment of such profits to other trustees until the question at issue has been decided.