The Wairarapa Daily. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1884. COLONISING EDUCATION RESERVES.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1816, 17 October 1884, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1884. COLONISING EDUCATION RESERVES.

We are glad to notice that the member for Waipawa lias raised the question of vesting in the Crown the whole of the secondary and high school reserves and endowments throughout , the colony so that they may bo administered for general instead of local educational purposes. We do not hope to see such a sweeping proposal carried into effect unless it could be shown that the numerous reserves scattered about the Colony are, as a whole raaladministered by the .local bodies in charge of them,, but it is desirable that the right of the Colony to intervene in the matter of these reserves should bo asserted with a view to reminding the administrators of Mem that they arc responsible to the Colony for tho uses which they make of them, We all know that many of these reserves are at present utterly worthless for the purposes for which they wero given. Large blocks of land lie idle, and, in some instances not only are unproductive of revenue for educational purposes, but are utterly obstructive to settlement. We scarcely think that the time has arrived -.when all such reserves should be put into a Colonial melting pot, but some step should bo taken to facilitate 'their profitable employment. About the best thing to do with them would be to give the Trustees of them power to dispose of their freeholds and to apply the proceeds to the objects which they are supposed to benefit. In most instances lands were granted as endowments because the Colony could better afford to giv6 land than money. Stick'-' ing to these lands will be a questionable good to posterity. It may relieve the' next generation .pf--responsibilities which might he good for it to bear at the cost of the pioneers' of ; to-day. A new country which has a struggle to live from hand to mouth, and which depends upon the development of settlement has no business with endowments either for educational religious or municipal purposes, We would like to have a commission appointed to report on all the reserves in the colony which have been granted out of the public estate, so that some idea might formed as to the reserves which are fairly fulfilling the objects for which they were set apart and of the reserves which are not producing any direct or immediate benefit to the community, Iu the Wairarapa there are tens of thousands of acres of useless educational reserves which are but an embarrassment to the Wellington College, Boys' High School and Girls' High School which tbey are supposed to benefit and which in their present condition retard the progress of settlement, We would like to see every acre of them sold, and the money derived from them applied to some useful purpose. A settler, in a private letter to i the editor of this paper, refers to Mr \ King's resignation in the following ! terms: -" There can be but one opinion \ on the part of any right thinking'man i that it would be difficult to find terms ' sufficiently expressive of the contempt j which should attach to the unmanly (j

conclusion which ihe Council nrrivcd lit, To think that the services 01 a man, foremost in energy arid singleminded dovoteduess in the service or' the district for so many years' should be requited Ity insult such as no man with any proper spirit or self respect could submit to, and I wiis glad to see that Mr Kino possessed .the manliness so .utterly, wanting in.those whose bounden duty it was to protect him in his absence. I have occasionally differed from Mr Kino, and questioned —more, than questioned—the mode in which ho carried out some of his works, but I never questioned his singleness of purpose and unwearying energy in the public service." This letter, of course, is not intended for publijation, and we are not at liberty to reveal the name of the writer of it, but it hits the nail on the head so exactly that we could not resist the temptation of publishing it.