Masterton Town Lands Trust.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3143, 2 March 1889, Page 2

Masterton Town Lands Trust.

The regular monthly meeting of tho trustees was held on i<iiday. Present:—Messrs W. Lowes (Chairman), E, McEwen, E, Hare, W, Perry, and A. W. Kenall, The minutes of tho previous meeting were read and confirmed. .■ A letter was read from the Secretary of the School Oommitteo applying for a grant of £3l 19s to pay for school prizes, and asking the trustees to receive a deputation in support of the request.

■ DEPUTATION. Messrß E. Feist and A. W. Hogg, members of the-School Committee, waited upon the Trustees to support au application from that body lor a grant of M 193 to enable them to pay for prizes distributed to the School children at tho Christmas breaking up. The deputation was courteously received and invited to address the meeting. Mv Feist said :-Mr Chairman and gentlemen.-According to the letter jus)'read by your Secretary we are deputed to wait upon you to ask you for the sum of 431195, the cost of certain prizes' whioh the School Committee ordered at the Christmas breakiug np'for, distribution amongst the School children. • It appears it the last..mating.;of;•the 1 Trustees exception was taken to grant the money out of the" special fund ; the Trust hold for .picnics; prizes and scholarships, .arising from the rents ..of three: town acres set aside . for-: saob:: purpose. the. School Committee were considering the: .■ question ■• of / an

annual the; dbildreh they; 'came to-the-unanimous; conclusion tbatitwas much-more desirable 7 to give the childreri prizes than invite them- to;: a picnic, ;the season, picriios; are given by the various- denominational'schools of Masterton, to almost all of. which the ; children as a wholelmve access, and it was considered muoh better to give prizes wliioh.would be' more'" lasting ■mementos of their school.;, days. Although exception lias been taken to the .character of ;the prizes distributed; I can assure you, gentlemen, they were not all "Pop-guns and lollie-pops." (Laughter.) • Among the articles were many valuable gifts, and books that cost 5s and 6s. These, I consider the children would appreciate and keep for years as a pleasant memento of their school days, whereas a piomo was but the fleeting pleasure of a day, soon forgotten. The Committee are of opinion that whilst not keeping , strictly to .the letter of the Act they had not gone outside the spirit of it, and concurred there would be no difficulty in the grant being made. The Trustees, however, read the Act differently and considered they have no power to grant the money out of the jpicnio ■ fund. That; being the oase it was resolved at the last meeting of the Committee to apply for a grant of £Bll9s tothe-Trustees out of their ordinary revenue.; *" Mr Hogg said: I.have : butlittle further to add to the remarks of- ; Air Feist who is himself a very "old uiein. her of tho'Trust/and therefore would not ask anything of an extravagant nature. I need not insult your intelligence by dwelling upon the object of the Trust. Education-has a primary olaim, aiid.m the past we have always met with liberal treatment at your hands,' and this is the first occasion ou which there has been exception. No doubt you are quite right in your: view- of the literal translation of the clause-in tlio Act referring to the disposal of tho funds, and it would be useless for. ine to argue to the contrary, The School Committee stand in this position. We have anticipated our income and are poor, whilst the Trust is comparatively rich. We have, incurred a certain liability but we have not expended the money to our own advantage, but for .the people generally, and although the grant applied for may appear a large sum, it is not great when it is considered that it has been distributed between 700 and 800 children, It has provided a nice parting gift for each from the teachers to the soholars on breaking up at the Christmas vacation. I feel satisfied that when you take all the circumstances into consideration you will not demur to tho application, but in the application of your prerogative you will relieve the Committee of the difficulty they are placed in through not having more carefully studied the act

Tho deputation then withdrew, and the Trustees proceeded to discuss the question.

The Chairman said' they had all heard the arguments set forth by the deputation, and it.was open for them to take what action in tho matter they deemed fit, Personally, he did not feel disposed to move froni the position he took up originally, It was a mistake on the part of v the Committee to expend the sum In prizes without first applying for a grant, They had not, considered tho position in which they would place the Trustees, nor had they gone into the question as to whether the latter body had the power to accede to their request, He saw by the report in the papers of the last /meeting of the School Committee thai the chairman had expressed surprise at the view taken by the chairman of the Trust, He had, since reading that report, carefully gone through the Act, and couldplace.no other interpretation on tho clause than that which-he put and stated at the last meeting, Therefore, unless the Trustees, in a burst of magnanimous feeling (as in forniercasesifcappearcdhadbeondone) went outside the Act.andgavea grant, ho failed to see how it could be done. He was only ono, however, amongst tlieni, and if such a proposal was duly moved and seconded he would put the motion and let them decide it amongst them. They could not legally give tho money out of the picnic fund, and they had already received £SO, the amount of their annual grant from the general fund. That sum had beon deemed a very liberal grant at the time tho estimates woro made, There were other demands being continually made, and under the conditions of the new leases they would require to conserve their funds so as to be prepared to discharge the liabilities that would arise uudor them. -After expressing his views he would leave the^matter in the hands of the trustees. Ho would remark, however, that if thoy paid the sum out. of next years'school grant it would load to another deputation being appointed to wait upon them to represent the impecuniosity of tho School Committee, and other grants would be asked for. Mr Eeuall said there was no doubt tho committee was in a difficult position. It arose fiom the secretary not making application in time to the Trust, which should have been done before tho money was expended, If that course had beon taken they. would not have beon in their present fix, There was no other remedy than to vote the money out of the gonoral funds, as thoy had already had the whole of the grant of £SO. Ho-did not eoe their way out of the wood. He was.not awaro tho clause had been madesostringent. Asoneofthodonors he did not anticipate it would bo so, Ho believed Mr Carter would be quite willing to agree to a departure from the striot reading of. the clause. Ho did.not think the School Committee should bo called on to put their hands in their pockets to pay for the prizes. Perhaps Mr -Hare could see somo way to meet the case. Ho was very ingonious in getting through the Trust Funds, (Laughter.)

Mr Hare: Yes, ,as soon as you have done, '" ; Mr Beuall: Then Pd better leave off. (Laughter.) - : Mr Perry said it was a wonder Mr Eenall did not look better after fch6act.

Mr Henall.said he had nothing to do with the framing of the clause which was dolio in tho House.

' The Chairman said, no doubt tho clause was.right enough and bore out the intentions, of Mr Renall, The revenue from those reserves- -was small when' that Act was framed, but was;now getting larger,-. The only remedy would be to get the clause altered.; : It was being done in the proposed new bill. ■ They were, however,-still working under tho old biUj : and-'as ; chairman of the Trust he would not be. a party to a breach of the law. He hot lay himself open to.be roastedby Mr;. Eenall at the ;ftnnuaV nieetifig v : ;■' Sjv Bbnall saki;: tUoy -ihatl: i\blliing I

to do witH;;t}iesrie^: ; tliey interferejrith; the fiunit|onfof| tho, ; Triist:;; ; '-Mdßsr3';;JMlwfff|Si bi11..: He;was Triist;fimde:{6 be squared M%Ss ; 'ram;ra^gi^:to > | hear you":say ; so; ; Mr Eenall.said it would.beiajnio|| tale tp;relate'to the House i iTrustees had property in 'sehmg; tbe ; 'v Gre|fc|a| | reserves for £250,. and piircbasedlal i piece of stony-land for /£ioojtibl| which they only derived arevenueofj; i £7los. a year.. , ; ' •';.'; I ; The discussion at somewhat irihqd and warmr.ahdt th?S jineetirig was'oalled to orderby>tne| •Mr Hare.-moved •">!. Thai:tHsumf of £81195.. erroneouslyexpenM,by| the School Committee be paid by/thafi Traateea.'but that it bea-first change! against any future sum tbo School Committee." ■ ';M>i Wyj? . Mr Kenall pointed" Trustees could not WMmfmWr} sorg.. v ..■'■:.'•' . The Chairman said: accept the resolution in ite ijpeml fop, and if he ;-piit':;-th'e motion-he! certainly could not vote for -.-.Mr Benall said be .cpuld for it :.even,':|f as oneof 'the: SbHpql.i Committee'iiei had to pay forvjt;:bu| of his own pocket. abetterplatf,.;-The money : waaK : ;stiil? in tkliahds, of' the;;Trusteata:thet credit b£the -piquio and]:th| only question was how-icolildtßeyj they le|ally; got lipid Aof ;itE Tjoyl might provide; a' remedy)b| in'the uew Bill. ■;' -; : o^Si?s

Mr Hare said they: must! give an answer to\the;Scho¥ ; .Committeer The Trustees could advanoe the sum' now, and' take notion ;at;,a'iuture ; time, . ;■; ' Mr Benall said; tbj better. plan; would.be to vote th'e*Jmput : of : ; the picnic fund, and legalize'it in the'' now Bill. ''-■'-;■■ -'-I'-:'-

. The Chairman questioned whether it wa.3 legal to pay the sum. .Ho did not go so far ae to Bay it ra; absolutely illegal. He questioned whether they could afford to pay j^cha-large sum as was frittered away in prizes,' Mr Hogg asked to be allowed'to explain. He said money was voted to the School Committee 12 months before for prizes when no pionio -was held. Ho personally felt ■stultified by the remarks made by- certain 1 members of the Trust. Not.only flie deputation but the parents also were grossly insulted by, the words used! They had asked for a vote and did not want their liberality. If he hat known it was going to be considerei an act of magnanimity he for oni would not have taken part in tht deputation. ■"'- ; .-'; }>* _ The Chairman said he didnot con sider it necessary in. his position-ai Ohairman- to reply to the 1 roniarki they had just heard, He had.'his own opinion and tkk Trusteee hai theirs. Mr Perry said Mr Eenall, as 6n< of the Committee should have seet that they did not go wrong. •;. />;,■ j Mr Eeuall said he thought'th usual course would be followed ani application made first to theTrastees No doubt there had been a blundeij In reply to ,the Chairman;thi Clerk said the sum voted out; of-'th fund to the MastertonJß?hooi:Ooni mittee was on the 'eWasion of ;th Jubilee picnic, '-'' V : >;^

The Ohairman said the prizes-a the school were provided by Bubsorir. tions amongst the-parents;pone had been voted from tho.-.- gejiorl Trust fund for implements, •ffia] turnings&c. ' ' V' : \:-S

A lengthy discussion took-plaql and "resulted in a resolutionhero carried .that the "question shouldUi postponed to tho next meeting;?;!' •PIHASOBi? /; :' i .'V:"y"'ii''| The Treasurer Arted a -qre'dj balance of £7l4s SIF : :,;'*;■?■s■ i

' REMOVING TBUST PnOPEBTY,v^ The Chairman said it -had;lboa brought to his kuowledge'thafcd!! that certain property, to 'wif'.itj.pal of gates, bad been removed by a foj mer lessee from a seotion belbngin to the Trust, ■: : --i^

_ lb Secretary was jnstruotedi give the individual legal - notice -1 restore the Trust property' or aotii would be taken, '.'

Tho Chairman and Mr Rent were appointed a standing committ till next meeting to deel wilhspeoi cases of arrears. :.---,

This concluded tho business.