115

Gk—fi

Ernest Frederick Hadfield examined. 125. The Chairman.] What are you? —I am a solicitor, practising in Wellington, and I am a son of the late Bishop Hadfield. I wish to submit to the Commission extracts from one or two letters sent to me by my late father. The following is a letter written by Archdeacon Towgood, which appeared in the Marton Mercury newspaper, 10th July, 1895: "Sir, —A letter appears in Monday's Mercury about the Industrial (Collegiate) School, Wanganui. It is temperately expressed, but, in my opinion, inaccurate and misleading. I accordingly saw the late Primate, who has known the institution from the beginning, and has in moments of danger defended it single-handed. My remarks are based on his information. (1.) The endowment of the 250 acres was not the. provision of 'our thoughtful legislators anticipating the future,' <ke. It was given before their existence by the Crown at the instance of Sir George Grey. (2.) The occasion of the gift was the efforts the English Church had made on behalf of education. At the same time gifts of land for the same reason were made to the Romans at Porirua, and the Wesleyans at Wellington, a grateful acknowledgment for services rendered, in 1852. (3.). In 1853 Sir George Grey's secretary wrote by his orders to Archdeacon Hadfield to say ' His Excellency the Governor has directed £1,000 to be paid over to you, to complete the erection of the building of the Clvarch of England (the italics are my own) Industrial School on the north bank of the Wanganui.' Through some mishap the £1,000 wasn't paid over at the time, and on Archdeacon Hadfield applying for it in 1855 (New Zealand had then ceased go be a Crown colony) it was refused him. It has not been paid over to this day. (4.) The deed of gift states it was given 'to George Augustus, Bishop of New Zealand, and his successors — i.e., the Bishops coming after him —among other purposes for 'religious education,' doubtless according to the tenets of the Church of England; Bishop Selwyn and his successors, according to their ordination vows, could teach no others, as the gifts to the Wesleyans and Romans were for ' religious education, according to their tenets,' it not being supposed they would teach any others. (5.) But in 1858 Bishop Selwyn got this clause altered by the Legislature (Act 58), substituting the words ' General Synod trustees ' for ' his successors,' as the General Synod are the governing body in all trust matters in the Church of England in New Zealand. (6.) It would therefore appear that the land was given to the Church of England for certain purposes, and therefore not ' for ail creeds ' (which words, or their equivalent, are not in the trust deeds), except so far as English Church institutions are always open to those who care to use her teaching—and, indeed, parents of other denominations send their children to the Collegiate School. (7.) The value of the land has been made by expensive improvements. It is suburban land, and was offered by the Crown, before given to the English Church, for sale at £5 an acre sections, and, being then swamp and sand, not an acre was sold. (8.) ' The Surplus Revenue.' —It does not exist, and never has; there is, I believe, still a debt of £1,400 on it. The present buildings were built for the most part with borrowed money, and the money that keeps the school afloat is that paid by the boarders. 1. In 1853 Parson Nicholls, the first master appointed, drained and fenced a few acres of land, and on this drained land a school was erected in 1854. 2. In 1860 the school was burnt down, and collapsed from want of funds to rebuild it. 3. Trustees accordingly, managing to drain, fence, and let at low rentals certain sections, allowed funds to accumulate (1860-65). 4. In 1865 schoolroom was rebuilt and a commercial and grammar school started under Mr. Godwin. Schoolhouse was built in 1867. 5. Revenue of estate in 1865, £200 per annum, accumulated capital, £515. (9.) When Dr. Harvey assumed management of the school, he perceived that new buildings were an absolute necessity if the school were not to efface itself. He, I believe, lent the money, and from that time on this borrowed money the school has rapidly advanced, the money earned by an increasing number of boarders enabling it to pay its way; but not a sufficient amount to pay the masters as they should be paid. It will be seen then that ' surplus revenue ' is a hope of the future, and not an experience of the past, or present, (10.) Your correspondent says, 'Up to the present time not a single destitute child has ever entered the walls of that institution.' This is incorrect. In 1854-56 twenty-four Maoris were boarded, clothed, and fed; in 1856 to 1860 a lesser number owing to lack of funds. Since then the Maoris have preferred their own schools at Te Aute and Otaki; partly from the fact of these being specially their own, and partly from feeling occasioned by the Waitara war, and from their dislike to the industrial training that used to be the feature of the school. When the Maoris would not come, part of the small revenue was.spent in supporting two Maori boys at Mr. Holmes's school in Wellington; but this being declared to be an illegal appropriation of the funds, no more Maori boys were sent there, but the school is open to the Maoris at any time—there are scholarships which enable the children of poor parents to maintain themselves at school, and the cleverest boy the school ever had did, I believe, so maintain himself, and thus got an education otherwise out of his reach. As a matter of fact, too, every headmaster has generously taught boys for nothing. It is as a matter of law doubtful whether, ' children of other poor and destitute persons ' governs the preceding clause, or merely deals with its own clause, and confines its statement to the Native races of the islands of the Pacific Ocean. Anyhow, the last t'me the matter was brought up before Parliament there was no suggestion of the desirability of turning the institution into a charity school. (11.) As regards the teaching of the ' destitute children of the Pacific Ocean,' this has been found unworkable from the first. They do not come of themselves; there are no funds to bring them; and, if brought, they would die from. cold. Even Kohimaramara, near Auckland, was found to be too cold for them, and the school there in consequence had to be given up. (12.) As regards ' industrial education,' it was the feature of the school at first, and useful when a man had to be Jack of all trades, put up his home, or shoe his horse; but, as the colony advanced, and the various trades were organized and established, parents felt it was better to apprentice a boy in the usual manner if they wanted him to learn a trade thoroughly; anyhow, in the discussions in Parliament no fault has been found with the school on this score. At the same time the school possesses workshops where instruction is given to those who care to learn. (13.) It is all nonseuse talking