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William Henry Quick examined. 86. The Chairman.] You are a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of New Zealand, and you are. one of the trustees of the Wanganui Collegiate School? —Yes. Bishop Wallis and 1 were appointed trustees of the school in 1895. In regard to the Te Aute trust, some complaint has been made touching the methods in which the lease has been granted. That can hardly be said to apply to us, because since I have been a trustee whenever a lease has fallen in we have put it up to tender, and the consequence is this: that nearly all the present leases have been put up to tender to the highest bidder. We have done our best to get revenue in that way. 87. The endowment is town land? —It is technically town land; but I remember the time when it was a swamp. 88. It is not suitable for farming: it must be used for business or residential purposes?—lt will be mostly used for residential purposes.. We have not power to borrow money for the purpose of opening up roads. There is some negotiation, I understand, going on between the Rev. Mr. Maclean, one of the trustees, and the Borough Council by which it is suggested that the Borough Council could put on an extra rate. If they do that, of course that would help us to a certain extent without waiting for our ordinary revenue to be sufficient for that purpose—which it seems to me will be a long time hence. There is a matter that has just struck me—l do not know whether it has come under the cognisance of the Commissioners. The Crown grants for educational purposes were made subsequent to the Education Ordinance passed in 1847 [Exhibit No. 46]. The words "religious education, industrial training, and teaching of English" applied to every such school in those days. Ido not know from whom the words emanated —whether from Bishop Selwyn or Sir George Grey —but they appear in the Ordinance. I have referred to. With respect to the words " industrial training," I suppose the notion was that young settlers would be all the better of learning how to knock up a shanty or something of that kind. Of course, the whole of the education in those days was carried on by the three leading denominations —the Church of England, the Church of Rome, and the Wesleyans—and they are mentioned in the Ordinance. I thought it perhaps just as well to call the attention of the Commission to this point, as it may throw some light on the use of the words in those days. They apply to every school except private schools. They apply to every school receiving any money endowment. It does not apply to primary schools now. That Ordinance, of course, no longer exists. 89. At that time the question of industrial training was apparently paramount in the minds of the authorities and the Legislature?—Y'es, no doubt, under the necessities of the time. 90. That was a paramount idea in the mind of the Government?— Yes. 91. You say that the desire for industrial training has not increased? —It has almost entirely ceased since. Now there are technical schools, and there is a better chance of teaching boys who are apprentices. We have always endeavoured to keep to a certain extent within the spirit of it by paying a master to teach the boys technical education, and they do some very good work there. 92. Do you know anything of the second giant that was issued on the 16th October, 1852?— The grant we are acting on is the first grant. I never heard of any second grant until you just told me. 93. The trustees do not recognise any second grant?—We are perfectly ignorant of its existence. I think Mr. Domett must have made a mistake. 94. Are the accounts of the trust forwarded to the Education Department or to the Synod? —- There is a return sent in every year to the Education Department. The audited accounts are laid before the Diocesan Synod every year. 95. Mr. Hogg.] Do the trustees occasionally visit this school?— Yes; the whole of the trustees were up there last Easter. 96. The trustees take an active interest in the administration of the endowment?— Yes. We have what is a very rare thing to meet with in the case of a trust. We have a businesslike clergyman, who was trained in a bank to start with, and who became a clergyman afterwards. He has got a keen business head, and he lives on the spot. He has got all the business connected with the trust at his finger ends. Everything is reported to us, and we sometimes give him carte blanche. 97. How long are the leases generally for? —At present twenty-one years, with right of renewal for another twenty-one years. I think perhaps there are two renewals of fourteen years each. They run to forty-two years —recent leases to sixty years, 98. Is there any compensation for improvements? —No. Everything runs out at the end of forty-two years, or sixty years. 99. Do you know whether the lands have been subdivided at any time : has the demand for small sections increased? —Any land that has hitherto been used for dairy purposes—or any larger sections that fall in—are always cut up into smaller sections. Generally we put in a clause that there shall not be more than one house put on a section. We do not want to have the houses crowded there. 100. From your knowledge of the education carried on there, do you think that the object of the trust, which is set forth in the deed, " for the education of the children of other poor and destitute persons, being inhabitants of the islands of the Pacific Ocean," do you think that object has been carried out?—l think it honestly has been carried out as far as possible under the circumstances. Ido not know that we have gone into the highways and by-ways to get the children of paupers there —in fact, Ido not think you could find them if you were to advertise for them—but there is no discrimination with regard to caste. Children of all social positions are there—industrial classes, shop-keeping, farming, and other classes—every class is represented there. 101. Do you think, that the character of the education is such as was contemplated when the endowment was made? —I think when the endowment was made those three expressions were used to express the minimum, not the maximum. It is very difficult to say what was contemplated. I

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