H.—l

44

derived in any one year from the estate, although the capital value is estimated by Mr. W. Aitken at £14,000, without reckoning the value of buildings. The English department of the institution is affiliated to the University of New Zealand under the name of "Wesley College." Six Maori pupils were in the institution in February, 1879, whose ages ranged from fourteen years to twenty. The Wesleyan body has lands at Aotea and Waiharakeke, granted for Native schools, but, owing to the present attitude of the Maori race, of no immediate value. There is a Wesleyan education fund in Wellington, arising from the proceeds of the sale of seventy out of seventy-three acres of land granted upon trusts of the same kind as those under which the Three Kings endowments are held. The land Avas sold to the Superintendent of Wellington for £3,500, the sale being authorized by "The Wellington City Reserves Act, 1871." The trustees built a day-school in Wellington, which they still maintain. Part of the proceeds of the sale they invested in lands, and a larger part is lent to the trustees of different Wesleyan churches at £6 per cent. An income of £60 a year is derived from three acres, which were excepted from the conveyance when the seventy acres were sold. The trustees report that they have sent contributions amounting to £206 towards the support of the Native institution at the Three Kings. From the evidence of the Treasurer to the Wesleyan Society in Wellington, it appears that the trustees of the fund hold that they are bound to apply the income of the estate to purposes of education for the benefit of the poor and of the Natives; but the sum devoted to Native purposes is very small. Grants of the same kind as those made to the Wesleyans —" for the education of children of our subjects of both races, and of children of other poor and destitute persons " —have also been made to the Church of England and to the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic endowment at North Shore, Auckland, is valued at £4,000. The income is only about £40 a year, and for many years no school has been maintained. It is impossible to obtain any statement of accounts up to the year 1874, but since that time the income has been reserved for future operations, except a sum of £20 given to St. Mary's Industrial School. The building called "the College" is situated, not on the trust property, but on private lands vested in the Roman Catholic Bishop of Auckland, although it was erected almost entirely at the cost of the Government. An endowment at Rangiaohia produces about £20 a year, and from this source a sum of about £100 has accumulated for future use. No school properly so called is maintained at Rangiaohia. There are some Roman Catholic reserves in the Wellington District, and they are applied to their proper use. Of the trusts of the kind now under consideration, the most beneficial, so far as present usefulness is concerned, is that which is administered by the authorities of the Church of England at St. Stephen's, Parnell, Auckland. The estate consists of about sixty-eight acres. A rental of £171 6s. is derived from leases covering about forty acres, and it is proposed to let seventeen or eighteen acres more on lease, reserving five acres for the St. Stephen's institution, which is a boardingschool for Maori and half-caste children, and five acres for an Orphan Home, to which this piece of land is let at a nominal rent. The small income is devoted, first, to the necessary expenses incurred in keeping the school-building and gimmds in good order; secondly, to the payment of £40 a year as part of the master's salary; and, thirdly, to the maintenance, in equal proportion, of St. Stephen's institution and the Orphan Home. The greater part of the expenses of the institution is borne by the Government, which contributes £100 a year towards the master's salary, and pays £18 a year for each child, the number of children being about fifty. At the time of our visit the school was in a very satisfactory state. The proceeds (£IOO a year) of an estate at Puniu are applicable to the payment of part of the cost of maintaining at St. Stephen's School boys who come from the King country. There are some other reserves, which, though they may at some time become valuable, produce no revenue at present, owing to the unsettled state of the country. The Wanganui Industrial School estate originated in a grant of the same kind as those made to the Three Kings, St. Mary's, and St. Stephen's. It has been so lately the subject of debate in the House of Representatives that it does not

int. Eep.— 17 if? 1 Qf! Appj'.p.4. ;

rbia.,Appx.,p.6o.

Ibid., End., pp. 290, 291.

Eoman Catholic.

int. Eep., nv'd'' P"l3G' '

ibid., p. 50. ibid., Appx., pp. 6, 6i.

Church of England.

Int. Rep., Evid., qq. 536 et seqq.

Ibid., Min. of Pro., p. 17. Ibid., Evid., q. 597 et sejg.

ibid.,pp.267-273 ; Appx., pp.58,59.