G—2b,

13

a clause No. 14 enabling the trustees to appoint school teachers, and to prescribe the system of instruction to be pursued in the schools, and to make rules for the regulation aud government of them." " I find that this enactment has given occasion to a protest signed by three members of the Legislative Council, who condemn it as of a sectarian character, and as tending to confine the education of the Natives to teachers in communion with the Church of England, to the exclusion of the teachers of any other bodies of Christians by whom any of the Natives may have been brought into the Christian Church." " Now, in the first place, the Bishop of New Zealand is the only one of five trustees who must of necessity be a member of the English Church, so that in point of fact the sectarian principle of which complaint is made, is not adopted in this law; and in the next place, I cannot hesitate to record my conviction, that in our attempts to impart the blessings of education to a race of men in so defective a state of civilization, we ought not to be deterred by the charge of narrow or sectarian views from keeping as far as possible out of sight those ecclesiastical controversies which so habitually agitate more advanced societies." "If any case can be imagined in which minor distinctions should disappear to make way for the advance of the great truths, doctrinal and practical of our common faith, it is the case of the aborigines of New Zealand. If any case can bo suggested in which controversy on subtle questions of belief would te fatal to the great end to which all such discussions ought to be subservient, it is the case of these inquisitive and comparatively ignorant people. In their proper place and in their due season such disputes may be innocuous; but in the Native schools of New Zealand they would at present be most inopportune and disastrous; and I must acknowledge that I shall not regret (but the contrary) to hear that the trustees appointed under this Act are all of one mind as to the mode in which the scholars should be taught, as to the books they should read, as to the rites and ceremonies with which their social worship should be conducted." " Her Alajesty is pleased to confirm and allow this Ordinance." In the absence however of documentary evidence it is difficult to form an opinion as to why the Act was not brought into operation, without it was a dread on the part of the local Government that sectarian controversies might eventually take place in working out its provisions. In October, 1844, after arrangements had been made to create New Zealand an independent Diocese, the New Zealand Company offered the Imperial Government to advance a sum of £5,000 on mortgage of the Native reserves in the Company's settlements, for the immediate benefit of the Natives, conditionally that by some sufficient Act of the Government the property in the reserves should be placed under efficient protection and management. The Government also to undertake the responsibility of determining in what manner, for what purpose, and under whose control the fund derived from the Native reserves should be expended. The Company applied to the Secretary of State to obtain Her Alajesty's sanction to the proj>osal, but owing to the terms of the proposition being insufficient, the Company having omitted to state to whom the money was to be paid, or who was to be responsible for repayment, Lord Stanley asked for further information on the subject. The Company stated that the proposal in connection with the stipulation made in the first communication, was made on the application and in compliance with the suggestions of Bishop Selwyn who had undertaken to make known to Loid Stanley the views of the Company in regard to the formation of a local board of management composed of such high official personages in New Zealand as might from motives of benevolence be willing to undertake such a trust. In reply to this Mr. Under-Secretary Hope, under date 29th April, 1842, states that he is directed by Lord Stanley to acquaint the Directors that he will be happy to communicate with the local Government of New Zealand on the subject, and for that purpose his Lordship desired to be informed of the rate of interest which it is proposed to charge, and also the mode in which it is proposed that the payment either of principal or interest shall be secured, if at all otherwise than by the power of foreclosure. Air. Somes in answer to Lord Stanley's call for further information respecting the offer of the Company to advance a sum not exceeding £5,000 on mortgage of the Native reserves in the Company's settlements, stated that the Directors would be satisfied with the lowest rate of interest obtaining in those settlements at the time that such advance may be made upon loans on the most eligible security of landed property the principal and interest to be secured them by power of sale added to the ordinary power of foreclosure. The Directors also pointed out that it was essential to the important objects in regard to the Native population which alone induced them to offer the advance that the principal expenditure and control both of the reserves and the funds necessary for their immediate improvement should be placed in such hands as would secure them at least from all hazard of wilful mismanagement or neglect. They also deemed it right to add with all deference that they were not satisfied with the measures adopted by Governor Hobson for the protection and management of the Native reserves at Wellington, and that without better security for the efficient superintendence was held out they would not be warranted in making any advance of the Company's funds for the purposes stated. The question was ultimately referred by Lord Stanley to the Governor of New Zealand. In tho meantime Bishop Selwyn had proceeded there, and shortly after his arrival in the Colony he was associated with the Governor and the Chief Justice as Trustee of the Native Reserves in terms of an arrangement made between the Home Government and the New Zealand Company that the property •should bo placed in the hands of these functionaries. The Governor soon after declined to act, and the Chief Justice resigned the office as he found the duties incompatible with his official position, for in the event of the trustees being engaged in any law suit he would be both Judge and party in the suit at the same time. Mr. Halswell was subsequently appointed by the Bishop to the sole charge of the reserves in the Wellington district, and Air. Henry St. Hill received a similar appoinment as agent of the lands reserved for the Natives in the district of Taranaki, Wanganui, Manawatu, and Porirua, and such other districts as may be opened for choice. Ultimately, the lands in the Wellington district were also placed under Air. St. Hill's management. Air. H. A. Thompson, the police magistrate at Nelson, was appointed Agent of the Native Reserves in that settlement in the latter end of 1841, and acted in that capacity till June, 1843, when he perished