a.—s.

112

If. wallis.

Commissioners recommend that the land should, whenever practicable, be laid out again, and rendered available for town purposes, and that the annual proceeds should be so appropriated as to give the inhabitants of every denomination and every class a fair share in the benefits accruing from the grant"?— This was before the consideration by Parliament in 187-3, when it was decided to take no action. With regard to the matter of giving education to inhabitants of every denomination, I am informed that endowments were made at that time to the Roman Catholics, to the Wesleyans, and to the Church of England. Our endowment was placed in the hands of Bishop Selwyn, and, therefore, we have had no misgivings that it was intended for the use of the Church of England. With regard to the words "every class," I have answered that question already by dwelling upon the lowness of Ihe tuition fee charged, the large amount of fees remitted, and the fact that we have leased part of the school grant at a nominal rent to the district high school. 81. With regard to sections 90 and 91 of " The Education Act, 1904," viz.: " 90. (1.) Every endowed secondary school that has not complied with the provisions of section nine of ' The Secondary Schools Act, 1903,' shall, within three months after receipt of a notice from the Minister so to do, forward to the Minister a copy of the scheme or regulations defining its curriculum and the respective powers of the governing body and the headmaster, and stating the provision (if any) made for pupils living away from home, and the provision made for the periodic examination of the pupils of such school. (2.) If the scheme so forwarded, or if any scheme forwarded under the said section nine, is not approved by the Minister, or if the governing body fails to comply with such notice, the Minister may refer the matter to a Commission consisting of the Chancellor of the University of New Zealand, the Inspector-General of Schools, and a person appointed in that behalf by the governing body; and such Commission shall thereupon draw up a scheme, which, when placed before the Minister, shall be the scheme for the management of such school. — 91. (1.) Every secondary school and district high school shall be open at all times to inspection by the Inspector-General of Schools, or by any other person directed by the Minister to inspect such school. (2.) Such inspection may include examination of the pupils in the subjects of instruction taught in such school." Would the trustees have any objection to these sections being made applicable to the Wanganui Collegiate School?— They would have to consider the matter. I cannot speak for the trustees. lam quite sure that we should receive very gratefully any suggestions made by the Chancellor of the University of New Zealand and the Inspector-General of Schools; but whether the trustees would desire to place themselves under the Secondary Schools Act is an important question, and I should like to consult my brother trustees about it. It is a very important question, because supposing we did not agree with the recommendations made by these persons after considering them carefully we should still be bound by them. Again, the Act may be amended hereafter, so as to change its character materially. It might be better for us to give up our endowment, which is not a very large part of our revenue, and with the help of subscriptions to start the school somewhere else. We should have to think of that before surrendering any part of our independence, which we value. It would not be at all difficult with the enthusiasm that prevails for the school to cut ourselves adrift from the endowment and to start somewhere else. We do not want to do so. I shall be glad to put the matter before the trustees if you wish. I wish to say that any recommendation made by yourselves, or by other educational authorities, for the improvement of our curriculum, or any other suggestion at all we should receive with very great thankfulness, and we should consider them, I promise you, very carefully. 82. Mr. Hogben.] Have the trustees made, or considered the desirability of making, any provision for the education of girls? —No; we have not thought of doing that at present. There is a very good school for girls at present in Wanganui, and we should not like to interfere even if we had funds to do so. 83. The Chairman.] Is there any statement that you would wish to volunteer +o the Commission I —l should like to speak in regard to one matter concerning which I have not been questioned —that is, with regard to the Maori boys. The grant is often quoted as if it was for the education of Her Majesty's subjects of "both races." You will notice that the phrase used is "all races." That means, I take it, that boys of all races are to be welcomed, and no one is to be refused; but no special emphasis is drawn to Maori boys. It is not, as is often stated, predominantly a Maori school. As 1 have said, we welcome Maori boys heartily, and should be glad to have a few more there now; but there is no special provision in the grant for Maori education. Moreover, we have two other trusts connected with the Wellington Province —the Porirua trust and the Papawai trust. The lands of these trusts were given by the Natives themselves, which was not the case at Wanganui, and therefore, although the grant in each case is also for the instruction of " Her Majesty's subjects of all races," we are devoting the funds entirely to the Maoris in the case of the Papawai and the Porirua grants, in the case of the latter with the sanction of the Supreme Court. I want that emphasized, because again and again in the Wanganui papers, when complaint is made nothing is done for the Maoris, I have seen it stated that the grant is " for both races." 84. Mr. Ngata.] What difference do you make in the interpretation of these trusts? You have in the Wanganui grant " for our subjects of all races," and in the Porirua, St. Stephen's, and some of the northern grants you have " for our subjects of both races " ?—I think there is a great difference between these terms. "Subjects of all races" is a general term with no particular reference; but where "both races" is put in the grant there is surely given a specific direction to do all that can be done for each of the two races —European and Maori. With regard to the further words in the Wanganui grant, "and to the children of other poor and destitute, being inhabitants of the islands of the Pacific Ocean," I think that was meant to refer to Fijians and Melanesians, whom Bishop Selwyn and others desired to be included amongst ourselves. That is my own interpretation of the grant. 85. It seems from the figures supplied that a boarder would require to have fully £60 a year before he could attend Wanganui College? —As a boarder, yes, except in the case of poor parents. We give away in remissions an amount equal to something like 30 per cent, of the money we receive from our endowment. We give away £350, and the income from the endowment is £1,200.