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Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XX, Issue 3931, 21 June 1877, Page 2

The subject of the condition of the religious, educational, and charitable trust estates in the North Island is continued in an article in the Lyttelton Times of last Friday. "We left off," it says, "at the inquiry instituted by the Hon. Mr Henry Russell, in the Legislative Council in 1875, into the Te Aute School Estate. A select committee of that body investigated the then position of that trust, and reported that the proposed school, which in June, 1869, the time of the report of the commission, was not erected, had not since been erected. The estate consisted of 7009 acres of land, of which 2383 acres had been gratuitously given by the natives to the Queen c as land for a school to teach children, to be established by the Bishop of New Zealand at Te Aute, and to be held by the Bishop as a place of abode for that school for ever ;' and the remainder of which, 4626 acres, had been gratuitously granted out of Crown lands for the education of children of both races. It appeared that at the time of the committee's report, October, 1875, the value of the property had been vastly increased, but that still the main object of the trust, the establishment of a school, had not been fulfilled. Such had been the result of this magnificent educational endowment at the end of twenty-two years, and such is, we believe, the result at the present date. The committee made some further inquiries into some other, educational trusts, and, generally, the same stoiy of failure, though to a modified extent, is repeated. The committee recommended the Council to pass certain resolutions, and those resolutions, with an unimportant verbal alteration, were passed. They were to the effect that all educational trusts, ai'ising from donations by the Maoris, or by the Crown, to any denomination should be connected with some public department ; that the trustees should send in yearly an account of receipts and expenditure, and a report of the condition of each school ; that the accounts should be reported on by the Commissioners of Audit ; that all these documents should be laid at the commencement of each session before Parliament ; and that the reports and abstract accounts should be published annually in the WaTca Maori for the information of the native race. In the course of last session Mr Russell asked the Government what action had been taken in the matter, and Dr Pollen replied that he had forgotten all about the resolutions. We doubt whether since then he has been less oblivious of the subject, although as Native Minister he has been especially charged with native interests." We feel quite sure that our Christchurch contemporary cannot be in possession of the true facts of the case, or it would not have given expression to the foregoing remarks. On the Te Aute School Estate there is a large school in a flourishing condition ; all the available accommodation is occupied, and fresh additions are being made. Indeed, the progress of the school has several times been the subject of comment, and we can but feel siu'prised that a journal generally so well informed as the Lyttcltun Times should have been unaware of the true facts.