PROPOSED RESUMPTION OF CHURCH RESERVES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIX, Issue 166, 16 July 1898, Page 2

PROPOSED RESUMPTION OF CHURCH RESERVES.

(To the Editor.) Sir, —May I call the special attention of your numerous readers to the following- extract from your,; issue of Tuesday, the 12th instant: — ' PROPOSED RESUMPTION OP CHURCH RESERVES. ; ~ The Premier this afternoon asked leave': to introduce a Bill enabling the Govern-' .. merit to take charge of native reserves' originally set apart by Sir George Grey, for the education and .maintenance of' the children of both races.and. other poor and destitute persons in the South Pa-' ■ ..cific. These reserves were vested in' clergymen of various denomination^ who, it is alleged, diverted them fronu. the terms of education, and -divided :■ them amongst themselves for~ chtirch: L;v purposes, some being' used for collw:™ or cut up .and rented,-'and'the 'proceeds, used for denominational objects rafter-;i; wards. A small Bill was slipped through V- v Parliament legalising this action, hut the Bill introduced by the Premier will reopen the whole queston and provide for* v ! the resumption of the reserves ■by the '; State; which will probably be strenuously resisted by the representatives >tr the clerical party in both Houses. When the Rev. William Beattie called attention to the low moral tone oi oui church he hit the nail very squarely on the head, and more power to Mm. say wein Te Awamutu. , > What is known as 'The Missiijn Trust Property in Te Awasnutu' has* for twenty years and upwards been.^ the means of keeping this beautiful little township in the background, j The objects for which the land wasgiven to the Mission .Trustees—at 'the' .instance of Sir George Grey—h;ivi! long since ceased to exist. Ke'arly alt the shops here are erected -on the 'Mission Property' and the rents iLr.ufrom—no small sum in the aggregate —are wrung out oi Te Awamutu and are appropriated and frittered away without Te Awamutu itself deriving aiiy benefit whatever! —I etc., THOMAS GRESHAM. ' Te Awamutu, 14th July, 1898. ■ ■ ■ ■:.■. "