THE CAWTHRON INSTITUTE.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17940, 7 December 1923, Page 8

THE CAWTHRON INSTITUTE.

——♦ APPOINTMENT OF TRUSTEES. (rasss ASSOCIATION teleqiak.) NELSON, 3>scember v. j Tho "Waiiuea County Council and Harbour Board passed similar resolutions to the City Council, asking that legislation be brought down giving o f. feet to tlio late Mr Cawthron's "obvious intention'' that tho Trust should be held by persons holding for the time being the offices named in his will. Tho first statement by any of tins Cawthron trustees since Sir Francis Bell's letter to Mi* H. Atmcre. 31.P., was made by Mr H.. R. Duncan, chairman of the N«lsc.n Harbour Board, suggesting thnt the Board should approach the Government for legislation, mainly because it seemed to him to imply censure on the Cawthron trustees in connexion with the recent appointment to fill the vacancy created by the death of Mr Harley, and he strongly maintained that the appointment they had made was from e-verv point of view a lit and proper one. It was clear that many people failed to understand tho true position. In the first place the interpretation of Mr Cawthron's will had been matter for the Supreme Court, not the trustees. The full Court of five Supreme Court- Judges had given the wording of the will their careful consideration. They decided definitely: (1) That the persons holding the offices named in the will were to be trustees for life, and (2) that no provision existed in the will for succession. Thus the trustees were governed in the matter of succession solely by the provisions of the Trustees Act. Under these circumstances, the trustees considered that in filling vacancies on the Board of Trustees it was their duty to oonsider solely tho welfare of the Cawthron Institute. It was not for them, as laymen, to place an interpretation upon the wording of the will which five Supreme Court Judges load been unable to discover. The decision of the Supreme Court absolved them from considering anytliing but their duties as laid down in the Trustees Act, and by the provisions of that Act it was their duty to appoint the person whom they deemed most fit to nold the position of trustee. Acting, then, in accordance with their duty and legal rights in what they believed to be tne best interests of the Cawthron Institute, the trustees, after careful enquiry, recently appointed Mr F. G. Gibbs as trustee in succession to the late Mr C. J. Harley. Tho trustees felt that this appointment was particularly appropriate for another reason. lir their investigation of Mr Cawthron's affairs they found that during the last few years of his life ho had reposed i great confidence in Mr Gibbs, who had, indeed, been his chief adviser and praotically his honorary secretary. Moat of the schemes for the public welfare i which Mr Cawthron projected or car- j ried out were largely left in Mi* Gibbs'a; hands, notably the purchase of Cawthron Park and the Cawthron organ, 1 the valuable gifts to the Nelson Institute, and the loan and gift of large sums of money to the School of Music: also the projected solar ana Queen's Drive schemes, which were interfered with by the outbreak of war and which Mr Cawthron did not live to carry out. In the appointment of trustees it was felt that this choice would certainly have met with Mr Cawthron's warm approval. Continuing, the chairman said that if the legislation contemplated was to make the office of trustee » rolling one, he was of the opinion that the result would be lack of continuity of policy, which would be highly detrimental to the Welfare of the Institute. The' Cawthron Institute would figure in Parliamentary and local ,body elections, arid competitors for places on these bodies would be asked if they were prepared to see that more attention was paid to work in this direction or that, or, indeed, if they would not change the whole policy with regard, to the objective of the, Institute. This would be, in his opinion, against the best interests of the Institute. "Moreover, tie effect upon the staff was not likely to be satisfactory. The policy, of the trustees had been to engage officers with high reputations for enthusiasm and efficiency in- the class of work required, and give them a free hand as far a* possible. The result had been that on more than one occasion the officers had declined posts elsewhere at o, higher remuneration. Any change in the policy of the -trustees would be likely, to produce a feeling of uneasiness piilitating against this desirable condition or i alfairs..