36

[bishop neligan.

G.—s.

35. Mr. Wardell.] The trustees arc now only beginning to realise that by tying the lands up for twenty-one or forty-two years at a nominal rental they may become reproductive. That means it would be a hundred years from the date of the grant before the revenue is anything more than nominal out of these lands, t should like to hear whether you have formed any opinion on these facts ? —This struck me when I first inquired into the matter. The first causes of the delay in these lands being productive arose from the war. Nobody went into the Waikato for some time. The second cause of delay, I have been informed, was the peculiar wording of the instructions to trustees by the General Synod, and the unwillingness of any trustees to go beyond those instructions. The instructions to trustees were at variance with the civil law, and there was an unwillingness on the part of trustees to go to the full length of the civil law. I was informed that the fact of the trustees only offering leases for twenty-one years very seriously interfered with the letting of the property. I have not been long enough in the colony to know whether that information is correct. The fact remains that when this objection was removed by the action of the trustees, this land has been taken up with the exception of some 200 or 300 acres. Then the third answer is :I am informed that there is land there which is very unproductive, as has been proved by various people who have been trying to farm it, and nobody is willing to take it up. There are three causes : the war, the twenty-one-years lease, and the bad quality of the land. 36. The Chairman.] What has been the operation of the twenty-one-years lease ? — It was too short a period : it was not worth a man's while to sink his capital for a lease of twenty-one years ; and there was better land elsewhere at a better rate. 37. You have said you are not aware of any school, under either the Government or the Church, which could be utilised in this way—where they teach farming, or carpentering, or blacksmithing— where boys from the Waikato scholarships could be taught ?—I know of none. Bishop Neligan subsequently forwarded the following statement: I have been Chairman' i *of|the General Trust Board of the Diocese of Auckland since I came here two years ago. The Board manages the trusts now under inquiry as well as the St. Stephen's, and some other trusts connected with the Church of England. I made investigation on my first acquaintance with the work of the Board into the methods and policy of the Board. The conclusion I then formed has been strengthened by two years' experience— i.e., the system of administration of the trusts now under inquiry was the best system that could have been adopted under the circumstances. I have travelled a good deal amongst the Natives in the Waikato and elsewhere, and have had good opportunity for forming a judgment on the attitude of the Waikato Natives in connection with these trusts. I have never come across any one among the Natives who complained in any way about the policy of the Trust Board. I have, from time to time, ascertained that there were Waikato boys at St. Stephen's School, and Waikato girls at the Queen Victoria School. In my judgment, the fact of Waikato boys and girls attending these two schools is as faithful and true fulfilment of the Waikato trusts as can be given under the circumstances with which the Board has had to deal during my chairmanship. I was struck by the fact of the Hopuhopu property being unlet for some time. Inquiry gave the information that the ecclesiastical law was at variance with the civil law in the matter of duration of lease for such property. I was informed that this was one main cause why the property was unlet. The Trust Board subsequently took upon themselves the responsibility of granting leases for forty-two years, in accordance with the civil law, and at the General Synod of 1904 they took the first steps necessary and possible for bringing the ecclesiastical and civil law into harmony. I was informed, also, of two other causes accounting for the Hopuhopu property being unlet —the war, and the poor quality of the land. I have not been in the colony long enough to know how far my information is reliable or not. But I have met the alleging of these three causes sufficiently often to make me regard them as being of considerable force. It certainly is a remarkable fact that, even with the railway running through the property, and the markets of Auckland, Hamilton, and Cambridge being so handy, yet the property remained unlet so long. The ecclesiastical twenty-one-years lease may have had something to do with it, but I strongly incline to the belief that the poorness of the land had more to do with it. Anyhow, these are the three causes I have learned were accountable : (1) the war, (2) the twenty-one-years lease, (3) the poor land. Since the time of granting leases for forty-two years a very considerable quantity of the property has been let. Land for dairying purposes has also become scarcer in the Waikato. Whether these two things together, or the former alone, are sufficient to account for the property now being let or not, it is hard to say with any degree of certainty. My own opinion is that both things together are accountable. The methods whereby pupils are provided for at the two schools in Auckland are as follow : —St. Stephen's School: The Government pays for a " maximum "of thirty boys ; the Trust Board pays for the other boys from the St. Stephen's trust and Waikato trusts, if they are yielding revenue, and we call these boys "on the foundation." There are some seventy boys in the school. Queen Victoria School : The Government pays for a " minimum " of twenty girls ; the Trust Board pays £50 per annum to the school out of the St. Stephen's trust; the " Queen Victoria Association for Befriending Maori Women and Girls " collects funds for granting scholarships for other girls. There are under forty girls in the school. Generally : Applications for admission into the schools are sent to the Trust Board, and are considered by a sub-committee of the Board, consisting of Messrs. Batger and A. Eoberton with myself. In the case of girls, we consult with Mrs. Neligan, who acts as lady visitor on behalf of the Board. At present St. Stephen's School is full and can receive no more boys ; in the Victoria School I think there are still a fair number of vacancies for Government scholars. We have some half-dozen old St. Stephen's boys who are now apprentices living at the school, and we have had some correspondence with the Government in view of this side of our work being wisely undertaken. The headmaster of the school is. at present, hopeful of the effort. The Victoria Association of Ladies have as one of their objects the befriending of the girls after they leave the school. An Old Boys' Association has been formed in connection with St. Stephen's. By these two methods we are trying to follow up our boys and girls