THE TRUST LANDS TRUST.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10529, 16 January 1912, Page 5

THE TRUST LANDS TRUST.

[To The Editor.l Sir, — It has been my practice for some years past to remind the public of Master ton. Borough and Small Farm Settlement .of ,the fact that the rolls of the Trust Lands Trust close this month, and that all 1 interested should look up Mi- Hathaway s office ajnd make sure that their names are on. Last year, being then a member of the Trust, I convened a public meeting. This year, I desire to use the columns of the Press. The position, is that every man and woman' of the age of 21 years, who resides ill the areas above named, is entitled to 3be on t'h/o roll. Under the Acts governing the Trust, the Trustees are supposed to put all the inaineS on without application!. This; 'however,; ife a duty. that it- is impossible to perform.;-J.lt'■ itfeefefore' behoves everybody, pailticiularly head® of families, to make the enquiry suggested, if tihey desire to see adequate land proper use made of our magnificent educational endowment. The (unimproved value of the Trust , is over £40,000. Comparing this with si miliar endowments elsewhere, Iteads irresistibly to the conclusion that had the institution been properly handled Masterton would long ago have ibeen on!e of thechief educational centres of this Dominion.. The main object of tlhe Trustees, however, so far as education is concerned, appears to have ibeen to give away portions of the endowment from time to time to other institutions, leaving those institutions to do whatever work is done, and contenting ; themselves with banging the drum and blowing .the trumpet of self--praise when they made, the transfer. So far as their own income is concerned', its' main use appears to be to satisfy the requirements of J. C; Williamson's "Mother Goose" and kindred entertainments. If the public wisii to see their endowment (to the dignified wiork it shoxild do, they muft start and take some interest in it. I venture to commend the Trust to youir a-eadters, as a fit subject • for a | ■New Year resolution. i Permit me to conolude with a., word as to my position in the matter. There j appears to be a feeling abroad that. so long as I continue as a permanent I opposition, criticising what I do not like about the Trusn affairs, the public: can safely go on sleeping. Now, I want to make it clear beyond the possibility of mistake, that' this is not the true position.. It is true that for years past I have stood alone as a critic of Trust affairs in the face of a general public apathy. I Jha-ve been barking, however, not for the purpose of ' letting the public sleep in security, but. for the-purpose of waking the publSc up. The time, I feel, has now come >when the public should ■wake UP- I have no indention of. {going oh playing a lone hand, taking; alll tk-> kicks aind achieving .nothing. 'Wlbat I require is the co-operation of loth era who are willing to come out as candidates with me, and put before the public for its approval a plan that will en able the Trust to do the work it is fitted to do, protect it .from the enlthusiasm of any speculative gentlemen. who may at any future time occupy peats upon the Trust Beard., and prevent a seat upon the Board .from being a place of patronage and power. If this is to be done, it is essential that the public wake up, and do it now. If not, my own. position is that they will have to get. another dog.—l am, etc., 0 _ ROBINSON.