H. C, FIELD.]

125

G.—s.

so, our quota enabled the school to have the services of a master of a higher educational standard than otherwise. The Rev. Mr. Nicholls arrived here, I think, about the end of 1853, and resided at the lower end of the town till the school buildings were erected. These consisted of a six-roomed house for the master, and a schoolroom and quarters for the Maori pupils in rear of it. When the school was opened we dosed our Church school and transferred the children to the new one, the school fees going to help the endowment. About a dozen Maori boys were also obtained as pupils, and these were boarded and clothed, as well as educated, out of the endowment funds; about half of the estate having then been let on improving leases. Bishop Selwyn held that in a colony where everything had to be built up ah initia, there was no place for idlers—every one ought to work. Thus at St. John's College, which was carried on under his personal supervision, all the scholars were taught some, useful business, such as carpentering, smithwork, and printing, and they cultivated the College land. The endowed school was started on the same lines, the master's sons and the Maori pupils occupying part of their time in cultivating some of the school land. Vegetables and wheat were grown for the school use, and later on a windmill was erected to grind the wheat. Cows and pigs were also kept. The settlers whose children were being taught at the school, and who paid school fees, objected to their bairns being set to work in this way, particular!) l in company with Maoris, so their assistance had to be dispensed with. These people said that if they wauted their children to work they could employ them at home. People of other denominations were also very angry at the endowment having been placed in the hands of the Bishop; and some of them were mean enough to try to make the Maori boys dissatisfied, by telling them they were being made My. Nicholls's slaves, and that the work they did was for his benefit. I heard this from the boys themselves. When harvest-time came, the boys were tempted, by the offer of wages, to run away from the school and go to help to gather in settlers' crops. Mr. Nicholls sent his eldest son in search of them, and the lad, very foolishly told them that if thejdid not return at once the police would arrest them for stealing the school clothes. This so alarmed them that early next morning they threw the clothes into the school premises and fled home, and we tried in vain to get them back again, or to replace them by others. Thus for a time there were only two Maori men, with their sons, at the school, and one of these soon left. The other, a .man named Hamuera, with his two or three sons, alone remained to represent the Maoris. Soon after this some Commissioners were appointed to report upon the school, and these refused to recognise the settlers' children as pupils, on the ground that they were not maintained out of the funds of the endowment, and by confining their report to these Maoris made the school appear a failure. On this the trustees, who were Wellington residents—in my opinion, very foolishly—closed the school to settlers' children, and tried to get more Maori ones. The unrest among the Maoris, arising out of the Taiporohenui land-league and the King movement, prevented this effort succeeding ; and, as the master's house and mill were burnt down shortly after, the whole school for a time fell to the ground. The common school had then been started, so that there was no need for the endowed one. Sir George Grey was at that time at the Cape, and when, on his return, he learned what had occurred, he was much annoyed. In conversing with the Rev. Mr. Nicholls and myself, he said that the Commissioners ought not to have reported in such a fashion, and that it was not necessary that all the pupils should be maintained out of the funds of the endowment. He said that the intention of the grant had been to establish a great educational institution like Eton, Winchester, and Westminster at Home; and he pointed out that in all these a certain number of the scholars were maintained out of the school endowments, but that the bulk of the pupils were sons of wealthy people, who paid liberally for their education. I asked him how the words " poor and destitute " came to be inserted in the grant, as I knew this caused misunderstanding, and he said these words referred only to Pacific-islanders, and he recited the words of the grant as if there were commas inserted before and after the words " poor and destitute persons," so as to make them apply only to the islanders. Some years later, on the last occasion on which I had any conversation with Sir George Grey, he spoke still more strongly. I was going through a colonial exhibition in Wellington,, when he recognised me, and we get into conversation. He inquired after various old Wanganui settlers, and as to the progress of the place. I mentioned what a success the Collegiate School was becoming under Dr. Harvey's management, when he said he had already heard of it, and was very glad to do so; that of all the things which occurred during his governorship, the one of which he was most proud was the educational endowments then given; and then he added, " You and I will not live to see it, but the day will come when that Wanganui endowment will maintain a university for that part of the colony." The conversation between Sir George Grey, the Rev. Mr. Nicholls, and myself took place in 1862, and shortly afterwards an arrangement was made whereby several boys and girls from Putiki were sent to Wellington to be educated. I think the boys were sent to Mr. St. Hill's school at Crofton, and the girls to Miss Greenwood's. This was cavilled at as being a misapplication of the school funds, it being held that the education must be given on the endowment. The children therefore returned to Wanganui, and the funds of the estate were allowed to accumulate till the present school was opened, on a small scale, under Mr. Godwin. After he left, Dr. Harvey, who was appointed as master in his stead, advanced money to build the present main building, since which the school has gradually advanced to its present position, under Dr. Harvey, Mr. Saunders, and Mr. Empson. A great deal has been said and written about so large a part of the estate being still used merely for grazing purposes, instead of being cut up and leased as building-sites, so as to bring in a larger revenue. This is no doubt to be regretted; but Ido not regard the trustees as responsible for it. Some years ago a parliamentary enactment was passed, providing that where estates were subdivided, the roads laid off to give access to the several holdings must be formed and metalled before the local authority could be called upon to take control of them. This might be right enough as regards country estates; but it has always seemed to me that it was rather a straining of the Act to apply it to the case of opening up what were shown as streets on the original plan of the town. It is obvious that the