MASTERTON TRUST LAND.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 2950, 14 July 1888, Page 2

MASTERTON TRUST LAND.

The Mutilated Bill,

' A special meeting of the Trdst was held last' night' (Friday), r Present— Tho Chairmun (Mr W. Lowes) Messrs It, Hare, J3. Ohaniberlain, E. McEwen ..\V, Perry, and A, W.:Rcnall. ;

The ■ Chairman said; lie had called! them togetker that night in consequence of having received the proposed Bill back from Wellington. This was accompanied by'a letter'whioh lie would call upon tlie Secretary to read. The letter read as follows

Dear Sir,—l am duly in receipt of your, letter of the 7th inst,, forwarding copy of resolution carried at ii meeting of Trustees. I forward, as requested, by hook-post, the copy of the proposed Bill. In my correspondence with Mr Renall on the subject, I assumed that he only forwarded me a manuscript ol the Bill for the purpose of enabling me to consult with Sir George Grey on tho matter, I, of con me, could not possibly think of intioducing any measure without the full consent of the Trustees being previously obtained and of this consent I had received noiiulimation. —I nui, yours

George Beetham,

, The Chairman said it had been agreed at their last meeting that the proposed Bill should bo submitted to the Trustees before any steps should be taken to inako the Bill law. That this was tho expressed wish of the public meeting whs agreed upon at their last meeting, and there was no occasion to traverse that ground again. How necessary ii was for thorn to have the last handling of the Bill before sending it to Wellington they would discover before tlißy hud gone tkroush tlie measure before them. He would take, clause by clause of the Bill as passed at the public meeting and they could adopt or amend them as the majority might see lit. Mr Henallsaid it would be quite competent to make any suggestion or addition to the Bill, bin it would necessitate calling another public, meeting, so that the people-who owned the land should approve of any alteration they made. .. , - - .

The Chairman said those present at the publio meeting represented but a very small number of those interested 'in the Trust Lands, on tho.other hand .the Trustees elected by the. ballot of the people had the confidence of a large section of the publio. They were chosen to, conserve the interest of tlio people in those lands and were the proper parties to finally consider any measure affecting them beforo it should become law. Such being his views he should rule that the Trustees could amond, expunge ar adopt .miy or nil the clauses of the said Bill before them in the .interests of the whole of the people tboy represented always bearing in mind the object of the Trust and keeping within bounds of the Act' 1871,

Mr Renall said that for them to alter the foundation of the Trust waß quite ultra vires, and anything they did that night in altering the Bill as passed by the people, unless the same was sub mittedto another public meeting ho should lake it into the Supreme Court, Mr Carter and himself were quite willing to adopt any Bill of the people, but would allow no alteration in the present Act without their consent, and as' Trustees they had no right to go bevond that.

The Chairman said he was very glad to hear Mr Renall make those remarks. It was not his intention to make any alterations in the fundamental principle of the Bill nor to introduce any new matter contrary to the spirit of the Act. The Mil since it left the hands of the public meting of the 20//t June, had been mutilated, He did not know who by,but additions, alterations and excisions had been made by somo ono, and it showed theiu how necessary it was to resolve that steps should not bo taken to make the Bill law until it had .first passed tho Trustees. . ', , ... Mr Renall contended no material alteration had been made, at least he was not aware of it. Their minutes of the public meeting were rough and imperfect and some error might have crept in. Ho and his friends went, carefully through the resolutions, If there was anything objectionable, it was petfectly competent for the Trustees to make suggestions, and then call a public meeting to approve them, But they could not alter the foundation of the Trust as set forth in the Act of'7l. -Mossis Carter and Jackson who held tho land with him, were quite prepared to go to tho Supreme Court to prevent it. At least Mr Carter was, he had not spoken to Mr Jackson yet. The Chairman said the Trustees might have no power to alter the Act,, nor Mr Renall, nor Mr Renall's friends, but the Trustees had a perfect right to prevent alterations in the new Bill submitted in Wellington, Unauthorr ised alterations had been made which aimed" at the very foundation of the Trust, It was no use for Mr Renall to try and intimidate the meeting. As Chairman he would not allow it, ! ■MrHare.said'.when the first Bill referred to was before the public meeting he moved that ,a Committee be appointed and Mr Renall opposed

it. It ,was decided by the publio meetnot to',bring the Bill How .did it come about that the Jill had been brought iorward again? , Mr Renatl said another meeting had beon subsequently held at Which Mr Beetbiim was present and the Bill was taken up again and a publio meeting called. He did not call that meeting. The Chairman said enough discussion had taken place; they would proceed to consider the Bill serin',irn, t The first clause on whioh any difference of opinion, existed was'No 5, which in the new Bill provids that all Trustees should go out of office in May 1889, and a Board ot six members be elected to sit> for three years. The Chairman said , that proposal was undoubtedly a departure from the original intention of the donors of the land. He had opposed that clause at the publio meeting t but it had been carried in spite of his' remoustrance. He suggested that the clause be struck out and the original clause in the Act of 1871, thai two members should retire by rotation every year, be. reinserted., '

Mr Hare moved and • Mr Chamber-, lain seconded a motion in. accordance, ■with the suggestions of tlie Chairman. Mr Renall held that they had no right to make the alteration proposed. The publio though? it better the Trustees should be elected to sit for years. He strongly protested against the Trustees altering what had .been done at the. publio meeting. It was out of brdeiy-and also quite: iticonsistent to call a public meeting for a speoial purpose, and then alter afterwards what had been done, He would call another publio meeting,: and let them know if they- were going to do as they liked. The Chairman ; That won't hint usl You see, Mrßenall, tho result of bad example. A small publio meeting,, influenced by a section, has made certain alterations which were antagonistic to the spirit of the original Ac.t, aud it is the duty of the Trustees to protect tho Trust. (Hear, hjnr.) If private individuals could, without any authority, alter what was done at the publio-meeting, surely the Trustees themselves, us representatives of the people, could amend the proposed Bill in the interests of the people. Mr Renall objected to alterations by the Trustees, but irresponsible persons had made alterations, and he made no objection to Mr Hire; Have they done so ?

Mr Eenall: The Trustees cannot alter anything. The land was given by me and my friends. Mr HareOh don't be shoving such nonsense us that down our throats I Yon and your friends indeed I The motion was carried on a division Ayes-Messrs Perry, MoEven, Chamberlain. Hare, and the Chairman. Noes—Mr Eenall.

The nexc clauses were dealt with. Qualifications for Trustees. The Chairman said an important excission' had been made in this clause since it left the public meeting,' It was provided that no orifl - should be eligible for the office of Trustee who did any work for the Trust by contract or otherwise. Some person hudjiltered the clause so. .that anyone working for the Trust would not be disqualified. .After some considerable discussion bad ensued the sections of clause . 13 we're altered, to read tho same as provided in slib-sectioa 7, of clause 88, Municipal Corporation Act, which exempts persons from disqualification on account of leasing, or for doing work to the extent of £5. •

Mf Hare explained how the Roman Catholic came to lie specially mentioned in the Aot. It was simply a copy of an Act which was specially, passed in 187G to give the Catholics a title to their acre which they had not previously got, The clause had been inserted by Mr H. Bunny for the protection of the Catholics.

Mr Renall said it would bo very easy to insert the clause leaving out the objectionable part, Mr A, R, Bunny had been authorised to make a clause by the public meeting, The Chairman said Mr Bunny was to be associated with the Trustees to consider that clause before the Bill was sent down to Mr Beetham, on tlu motion of Mr Ilenall, The clause was morely a copy of the one drawn up by the' Roman Catholic's Solicitor for their own protection. It was resolved that the clause be made to aooord with the conditions in the grants to other denominations.

The Chairman read tho clause identifying the Trustees for the expenditure of the sum of ,£4OO in the purchasing of a section of laud in the Dixon estate, 4 acres 2 toods 19 perches, Thia land was purchased with the£2so, the proceeds of the. sale of the share of the Masterton Association in the Greytown Town Belt,

Mr Jliue explained that the section would not have been purchased from Mrs Perry, but for tho fact that the people were agitating for a site for a second school aud tho Trustees secured this land for that purpose, two acres being offered to tho Schojol Board on lease,

Mr Ronall said the objection taken by the public was that the land was not worth tho money. They were quite willing that Mr Perry should get a fair prico for his land. Thoyhad illegally spent the money and had not had fair consideration and for that reason the Clause had been thrown out.

The Chairman said he agreed with tlio clause being expunged, not taking into consideration the value of the land purchased, The trustees had a sum of £250 the proceeds of tho sale of lands in Greytown, and that sum they were compelled by act to invest in freehold property. They should, as soon as possible, have invested that sum, but they had no right to spend £l5O over and above that amount. The question of value Mr Renall had brought up he considered had nothing to'do with it. Mr Hare 1 moved, and Mr Chamberlain seconded that the section validating the action of the Trustees in purchasing that site , be re-inserted,

Mrßenall said it wasa most unworthy proceeding that parties ■ interested should move and vote to validate their own actions against the express wish of the peoplo at a public meeting. The motion .was. put: and carried, Ayes—Messrs Hare, Chamberlain, and

Perry. Noes—Messrs Eenall and the .Chairman.-- Mr MoEwen declined to vote. ..

The Chairman moved that, the Bill ; as. altered be put into shape by the 'Heoretary and forwarded to Mr Beetbam for the initiatory steps to its becoming law. The Bill ' was now more in accordance with the wishes of the public meeting than it was when it reached the hands of ilr.Beetham. The, motion wag carried and the meeting