TRUST LANDS TRUST ELECTION.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8450, 29 May 1907, Page 5

TRUST LANDS TRUST ELECTION.

ADDRESS BY MR H. C, ROBINSON.

At the Foresters' Hall, last night, Mr H. C. Robinson, who is a candidate for the Trust Lands Trust at the approaching election, delivered an address to the voters. Mr T. B. Michell the Acting-Chairman of the Trust Lands Trust, presided. The Chairman apologised for the absence of the Mayor, who was in attendance at the Borough Council meeting. Before proceeding with his address, Mr Robinson read the letter from the Secretary—which appears in another column. THE DUTIES OF TRUSTEES. Mr Robinson, continuing, said that the functions of Trustees in Trust 3 of this nature consisted of two great duties, each of which was the complement of the other—(l) To administer the estate so as to produce the best income; (2) to spend the income to best advantage, having regard to the objects of the Trust. ' THE MANAGEMENT. Dealing with the first duty, when it was considered that the unimproved value of the Trust properties was £30,552, and that, apart from the Town Hall receipts, the total revenue as per last printed halancesheet was £1,287 Is 6d, it certainly seemed that the best revenue had not been produced in the past years.' He did not mention the matter with any idea of crying over spilt milk, but to emphasise the need for improvement in the future. He considered the Trustees had done their best in the past, and, moreover, the recent legislation authorising borrowing and the provision for increasing the number of Trustees to nine was the result of an honest endeavour on the part of the Trustees to remedy the present unsatisfactory state of affairs. It was with the future they had to deal. In all Trusts there was one great underlying principle—that Trustees should not speculate with Trust funds. Every rule, however, had its wise exceptions in extraordinary cases, and although the powers of brorowing were in contravention of the general principle, yet he was of opinion that the circumstances of the Trust warranted a cautious departure from the established rule. The necessity for caution, however, was great- It was an easy matter, even in a prosperous town like Masterton, to put money into bricks and mortar, and be sorry afterwards. It would seriously impair the usefulness of the Trust if a large annual interest payment had to be made in respect of empty premises. If elected, he undertook to support the building programme provided a steady, continuous revenua was practically assured. The Act provided for a sinking fund, and this provision would require to be strictly maintained. The mortgaging of the Trust properties was necessary, but provision must ba made for them to be cleared in an automatic manner without dislocating the revenue in any one year. . THE EXCHANGE OF SITES. I

It was impolitic to go into details in matters of future financial policy, but thsre was one matter to which special reference should be made—the exchange of sites. The facts were that some time prior to 1889 the Trust owned the corner in Queen Street, reaching from the Post Office to Mr Finlayson's shop. They conveyed it, for £SO, to the Crown to be held upon trust for the purposes of a Telegraph Office, Post Office, and Courthouse. This conveyance was referred to in the Third Schedule to the Act of 1889. The object obviously was, not to obtain a sum of money, but to provide the Crown with what was considered the most, convenient site in the town for public buildings. The erection of a Police Station by the Crown appeared on the face of it to be almost a breach of trust. The Crown having their Post and Telegraph Office and their Courthouse should on the faca of it have said that the other portions were not required for the purposes of the Trust, and should have conveyed them back to the Trustees in return for a proportion of the purchase money. When it became adyisable to erect a new Courthouse, the Chamber of Commerce and the Member for the District, and not the. Trustees, started an agitation to bring about an exchar. ;e of the unused portion of the Queen Street site for the more commodious corner opposite Mr Heron's. The Minister for Justice (Mr McGowan) came up arid saw the two sites, and agreed to the exchange upon equal terms. If he was wrong in these facts, the Chairman would correct him. At the time of the negotiations, as appeared from a letter from Mr Hogg, "nd payment on either side was contemplated at the time, because it was assumed that the sections proposed to be ex • changed were of nearly equal value." He had not been able to discover what' the Government valuations were at the time, but the valuation of a year later disclosed a difference of £950. Whatever those valuations were, the speaker was satisfied that at the time of the negotiations, when the railway traffic came along Lincoln Road, the large comer site extending 132 ft along Chapel Street to Levin and Co.'s, and 76ft along Hall Street to the present Courthouse, was looked upon by most people as being worth as much as the bare 42ft frontage to Qaeen Street, that was not on a corner at all. , The question of values, however, had no real importance, because the exchange would have given the Crown the whole frontage along the south side of Hall Street, from Queen Street to Chapel Street, and was obviously greatly to the advantage of the Crown, considering the purposes for which the land was required. As a result of the negotiations, the Empowering Act of 1902 was passed. This now famous Act recited as follows:—■ "Whereas the lands described in the First Schedule (i.e., the police site) are vested in the Crown for public buildings, and it is expedient that the said lands should be exchanged for the lands described in the Second Schedule (i.e., the corner opposite Mr Heron's). . . After this recital, the Statute went on to say: "The Masterton Trust Lands Trustees, with the consent of the voters on the roll of the Masterton Trust Lands Trust, may convey or transfer to the Crown the lands

described in the Second Schedule in exchange for the lands in the First Schedule," and the Statute further enacted that: "The consent of the voters to the foregoing proposals shall be ascertained in accordance with the provisions of 'The Regulations of Local Elections Act, 1876.' " In pursuance of the Act and in faith with the agreement, a poll was taken and the electors gave their consent to the exchange. Subsequently, the Crown, as the result of a valu-

ation made some time after the Statute was passed asked for 1,300 by way of equality of exchange. The speaker did not think the Government acted at all in bad faith—the true position appeared in some extraordinary way to have been overlooked on the aide of the Trustees, and if it was overlooked on the Trust side there was considerable excuse for the matter being overlooked on the Government side. A letter written by Dr. Trimble to the Age concisely summed up the whole position so far as it appeared upon the Statutes, except the one fact that the site was originally the property of the Trust. The candidate here read Dr.

1 Trimble's letter, which appeared in v our columns, last Thursday. Mr Robinson said that if elected he would endeavour to assist to get the exchange effected upon equal terms. He did not at present assume at all that the Government, when the matter was put fairly before them, would refuse to make an exchange, which would greatly benefit them, while at the same time benefiting education in Masterton. What course he would support in the event of the Government refusing to make the exchange, he declined to state, because it would only further embarrass a position which is already sufficiently embarrassed. He, however, assured the electors that -any course would have to be approved by them, and that, while he recognized the desirability of benefiting the town, the first and only duty in the matter was to deal fairly by the Trust as a Trustee. THE EXPENDITURE. Dealing with the second of the two great duties of Trustees, that of spending the income to the best advantage, having regard to the objects of the Trust, the speaker said Mr Renall, in his farewell address the other day, fully explained the origin of the Trust and there was no need to recapitulate what Mr Renall then said. The one main fact he made absolutely clear, and that was that this Trust in its original conception was an educational Trust. Subsequently the Trusts were extended to other purposes of general utility. The Trust, to-day, however, was in the | main an educationl Trust, and he j would resist any effort to starve education for other purposes of public utility, which in the ordinary course would be provided out of the revenues i of the borough. He considered this Trust in common with all other educational endowments to be part of the national educational system of the colony. Some years ago the public utility clause became very popular, and a proposal was made that the i Trust should take over tjie Park. With a view to combat this proposal he stood for the Trust and advocated a High School. He was personally defeated, but the borough still had the Park. ' ' NATIONAL EDUCATION. It was thus necessary in order to arrive at any sound conclusion as to the best method of applying the funds, to give some consideration to the principle that underlies all schemes of national education. Hex quoted what he considered to be the best statement of that s principle ihat could possibly be made:—"That it is to the interest of the State to obtain the best services of the best brains in the community, irrespective of rank or class." This statement covered the whole aim and object of national education. There wert cert»inly other objects that seemed at first sight to be separate and distinct. Foi example, it had been well said that in every nation there were of necessity different classes, arid that a democratic system of national 'education by enabling the son of the poor man to fraternize and compete on equal terms with the son of his more wealthy neighbour tended to foster that mutual good feeling and respect that should exist between the good men of every class. It had also been said that popular education by enabling any man to rise in life tended to create a healthy spirit of ambition. These statements were all true, but they both come back to 1 within the terms of the first grand statement, that it is to the interest of the State to endeavour to obtain the best services of the best brains in the community irrespective of any ( rank or class. For after all the collective welfare of the individual citizens was the welfare of the State. To no country should the maxim appeal more strongly than New Zealand. We were beginning to realize that we were assisting at the birth of a nation, and that New Zealand with its temperate climate, its fruitful soil, its mineral wealth, and above all its great natural electrical resources, was destined one day to carry a very large population. We were also beginning to realize that we are beset with dangers that our former splendid isolation is a thing of the past. That it behoved us with all speed to develop our resources and make ourselves strong in every way. We were realizing that the State should endeavour "to obtain the best services of the best brains in the community irrespective of rank or class." One, educational foundation was prominently before the world to-day. It was given to but few men not only to do great things in their lifetime but also to lay the foundations at, their deatji for a greater deed than any that they performed during their lives. But it as generally recognised to-day that the greatest service ever rendered by the late Cecil Rhodes to the Empire as the jnasterly scheme which' he planned out in his will when he provided for the Rhodes' Scholarships. And the underlying principle of Cecil Rhodes' scheme undoubtedly was: —To obtain for the Empire the best services of the best brains among its subjects. The candidate saw no reason why the 1 Trust should not on small scale follow broadly in the lines of the Rhodes Trust. The establishment of the District High School had supplied the former pressing need in the district a school that would prepare boys for the University. In one year the High School matriculated

ftiore than a dozen boys. And he knew of no better use to which a considerable portion of the funds of the Trust should be devoted than to establishing scholarships on a liberal scale that would enable the poorest boy or girl in the community to qualify for the learned professions. At present the Trust spends £4O a year in scholarships. They have applied £3OO a year to the lown Hall Sinking Fund, and he believed that without doing any injustice to the existing institutions, the Trust could spend at least £3OO out of its next year's income in scholarships. And that with careful management this could be increased as time went on.

Mr Robinson concluded by summing up his platform as follows: —1. lam in favour of the borrowing policy for building if cautiously applied. 2. I would endeavour to arrange the exchange of sites on equal terms. If this cannot be arranged, then all I commit myself to is that I recognise it to be desirable to effect the exchange on satisfactory terms. 3. While maintaining existing obligations I would limit future grants to objects of public utility outside of education, so as to conserve the main income for education. 4. I believe in as many scholarships as possible, and as soon as possible. The boys and girls of to-day are the men and women of to-morrow. 5. I look forward at some future time to a local educational institution. This, I think, should be an Agricultural College. The welfare of the town and district depends upon successful Agriculture. I think the Grevtown Trust might combine with our Trust, and that the A. and P. Societies might also assist to establish such an institution on a substantial broad and democratic basis.

Mr D. Dixon proposed a vote of thanks to Mr Robinson for his address. Mr Hathaway seconded the motion, which wag carried.

A vote of thanks to the Chairman concluded the meeting.