TRUST LANDS TRUST.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10242, 19 May 1911, Page 5

TRUST LANDS TRUST.

AN ELECTIONEERING ADDRESS,

BY MR H. C. TWBINSON

Mr H. C. Robinson, one of the ■ candidates for the Masterton Trust Lands Trust, addressed a meeting of Trust voters in the Town Hall last evening. About twenty-five presoiis were present. Mr Robinson stated j that he hod not asked 1 the Mayor to > act as chairman on account of the rough state of the weather. He asked Dr Cook to take the chair. Mr Robinson traced the history of Ms actions since he firsrb took an interest in tie Trust in 1899. Li that year, in conjunction with Mr Crump, ' then a lawyer here, and Mr W. H. Jackson, he opposed a Bill to give the Trustees power— (1) Without consulting the public to buy. sell, lease, mortgage and exchange the Trust property. (2) To give a Technical School tsite; and (3) To take over the Park. After a particularly lively fight the .Bill wa-s thrown out. ' In 1900 the speaker urged that more attention should be paid to education. In the is&me year the proposal to take over the Park was again brought up, and thrown out. The borrowing proposals were brought | forward in 1904, when, Mr Robinson said, he urged that the security for each loan .should be the land and building upon which the money war expended, saying tihat if it was not good enough for a prudent mortgagee to lend, it was not safe for the Trustees rto ibuild, and that the Trust property should not be mortgaged for any oneNsection. The section was -duly passed out. Mr Robinson ©aid he was defeated at the poll in 1907, hut was elected in 1908, wihen he endeavoured, with indifferent success, to carry out the programme he had outlined before his election. A proposal to hold popular concerts in, the Town Hall was thrown out. Mr Robin-son traced the history of his work in connection with the exchange of sites and the obtaining of a right-of-way aJoncride

| the Cburtbhouse. With regard to the I Scholarship grants, the candid at-** j said that since he took his seat the . practice of receiving letters setting j out the pool* circumstances of parents 'had been discredited, and in place thereof a system had been adopted by resolution upon which the •' granite are made. Secondly, the ! amount of these grants had been in- | creased from £4O to £2OO per annum. Turning to last year's financial operations, Mr Robinson said they , were r most unsatisfactory. Tho Trust had) three accounts. The No. 1, or General Account, had gone to the 'bad to the extent of £624 .during the year. It was, £265 in debit at »the beginning of the year, and the deficiency at the present time was £B9O. The No. 2 Scholarship Account started the year with a credit j balance of £6O, 'and had now a cre- ; ditof only £2B. The No. 3, or Town Hall Account, was ia credit to the I extent of £705 &M (the beginning of J the year's operations, and the ' amount.Siad fceen increased', during

tiie yeaf to £B6B. The credit/ which is supposed /to be a reserve, had, however, together with .the Saoolar-

| ship' Account credit, been mopped up by the large debit, on the General . Account,, the nett result being that ■ there was at the present time only J the small sum of £7 in ifchfe bank. The j reason of the big debit on the GenI era!' Account was that £585 of capij tal expenditure had been charged to income. After dediictrng £SO, with which the same aopount was credited, being the proceeds of sale of the old police residence, the amount left was £535, so that the loss on the General Account, apart from capital items was £BB. The first step to put the ■ accounts on a simple and clear basis j was to put a stopper on the policy of 1 dabbling in mortgages. Continuing, Mr Robinson stated that for the future his policy would be educational. He intended consulting educational authorities, and he would .then. consult, the public. Sir | | preached,, and had proniised that if j possible he would, give an address, in Masterton on, tile. "Educational Re- | cjuirementis of the Country Dis- ■ tricts." Before concluding, Mr Rob* inson Raid he wished to make it clear i that his view was that when a man stood for a public office he should be considered, and consider liimself as standing for the good of the public, and not for his own 'purposes. It I wtos the diuty of the elector to vote, j and'ncjt expect a candidate to convey i him to the polling booth. Mr Bob- ' inson said the practice that was i growing up of winning elections by motor oars instead of principles had I no chiarm for him. It repeatedly gave the victory to the candidate with the i longest (purse, and was undemocratic. The chairman, invited those present to ask q»estions. Messrs Wagg and Pragnell said they did not understand Mr Robinson's con.ten.tion that the credit on No. 2 and No. 3 account had been used to wipe off .tihe debit on No. 1 account, but Mr Robinson convinced those present that it was so, owing to the fast that the balance at the bank was only £7. In. answer to a question by Mr D. Thrcadwt'H, Mr .Robinson said he was not in favour cf sending round a canvasser to have names placed on the voters' list at the expense of the Trast. He considered it was' theduty of the public to have their names placed on the list, and record their votes at the election. The meeting closed with a vote of thanks to the chairman.