53

H.—2lb

and died in consequence,—such indifference, to life being a strong feature in the character of savages. I consider I have, and have had, a direct personal interest in the administration of the Wakarewa Trust, as being, in the words of the deed, a European subject of Her Majesty, and also as being the father of ten children. I applied to Bishop Hobhouse, in prosecution of such claim, on his first coming here, which he recognised very fully on principle. He told me, as I was the only person making such claim, in the present difficulties of the trust, he had the opportunity of meeting, my case for the time by sending a Mr. Wilie, a trained schoolmaster in his employ, to teach my children at my house three times a week. I do not think the Crown land granted for the institution is so valueless as is generally reported. When I first recollect it, there was the remains of a considerable bush on the bottom of the hill, which had been repeatedly burnt by the firing of the fern. I was going to apply for this land, but heard it had been granted for this object. It is a magnificent site, with land good enough to live upon. There is a very productive garden at the back of the schoolhouse. I think that, except on the sheep slopes, the hill land in question is covered with strong fern, which I think, in its natural state, is more valuable than land which has been rendered excessivelyfoul by bad cultivation, like the lower cultivations on the S.W. corner of the trust land. I have myself excellent grass on land originally fern land which has never been touched by a plough, and also land which has been ploughed at least six times, and cultivated with a cultivator, but is now wholly covered with sorrel, the oats and tares sowed upon it having been largely intermixed with the sorrel seed. With respect to the appropriation of the trust funds, I never contemplated the application of. these as a remuneration for clerical duty would come under the terms of a trust for educational purposes. I consider the arrangement made for paying Mr. Eonaldson as such an appropriation. I object to his going to Takaka and Wakapuaka only as an impediment to his carrying out in a proper manner the education of the children of Her Majesty's subjects of both races. I think the funds as soon as they amounted to what they now yield would have been sufficient to carry on a school which would embrace a small number of Maoris, together with a few Europeans—the Maoris being boarders and the Europeans day scholars, as the first would not have attended unless they were boarded. I think the latter would have come from any distance under three miles. I think that if a few Maori boys even had been well educated in this way they would have had greater influence with their own class than any Europeans could have had. This is found to be the case in every other circumstance in which we come into contact with a savage race. During th» latter part of Bishop Hobhouse's time, the house was only made use of as a residence for Mr. John Greenwood, who I believe read Maori service on Sunday. Mr. Mackay, re-examined : The school was closed from March, 1864, to April or May, 1868, the date when Mr. Eonaldson took charge. Mr. Jennings, re-examined : I think it is a question whether the title of the Bishop of Nelson as trustee under the grant is indisputable, inasmuch as Bishop Selwyn had surrendered his patent —an act which Bishop Suter deprecated. lam afraid this is a difficulty it will require the aid of the Legislature to correct. The " successors "of the Bishop named in the grant were his successors under the patent of the Crown. I apprehend there are no such successors at present. The Eev. George Henry Johnstone, being duly sworn, states: I am incumbent and curate of the Parish of Christchurch, Nelson. No. 4 section stands in the names of five special trustees, as follows: Dr. Greenwood, Mr. A. J. Richmond, Mr. J. M. Pierson, Mr. J. T. Lowe, diocesan trustees. The names of the Nelson local trustees are —Mr. Hugh Martin, Mr. D. Sinclair, Mr. A. J. Eichmond, Mr. J. M. Pierson, and Mr. George Williams. I confirm the Bishop's remark that the objects of the trust have been carried out. No. 5 section.—l confirm the Bishop's remark as to this section also. No. 9 section.—This section was bought by Bishop Selwyn out of the Church Funds. The school has been attended by boys of various denominations, such as Presbyterians and other dissenters, and also Jews. The Church property in Nelson is conveyed to the Diocesan Synod, in trust under an Act of the New Zealand Legislature, and by them is intrusted to local trustees, who act under instructions from, and report to, the Diocesan Synod. No. 31 section.—l know nothing, except that the parsonage at Picton stands on this section. The parsonage at Nelson stands upon one acre of land. This was given to the Church of England as a residence for a clergyman by the Hon A. G. Tollemache, about the year 1843. Mr. Thomas Brunner, having been duly sworn, states : With reference to the Motueka lands held by the Bishop of New Zealand, as far as I remember, I was called into the office of the then Commissioner of Crown Lands, and instructed to bring in what plans I had, together with the rentroll of the Native trust property at Motueka ; first, to point out what I considered an eligible site for a Native school, and then, what land should be given to yield a rental of £100 a year. I was obliged to select almost all, if not quite all, the lands that were then let, which, of course, was the best of these lands. I suggested the addition of the piece of Crown land on the hill at the back of the Wakarewa estate, to provide a sort of run for sheep and cattle. I was not a Commissioner of Native Eeserves at that time. I consider that the Native Eeserves at Motueka were made for the benefit of the whole of the Natives in Blind Bay. Mr. Stephens, the surveyor of the New Zealand Company, when he first laid out the Motueka sections, found there was a long strip of Native cultivation along the border of the wood from Wai-, ponanui to Wakarewa. Instead of leaving this in possession of the Maoris in accordance with the terms of the Treaty of Waitangi, he included these cultivations in his surveyed sections, so that they were afterwards chosen as Native Beserves, whereas they should have been altogether excluded,