ECCLESIASTICAL AND EDUCATIONAL FUND

Lyttelton Times, Volume II, Issue 81, 24 July 1852, Page 10

ECCLESIASTICAL AND EDUCATIONAL FUND

To the Editor of the Lyitelton Times.

Sir, —Having of late observed with pleasure the independent style of your editorial remarks neither courting the smiles nor dreadino- the frowns of any party, I am induced to take up my pen to make a few enquiries, through the medium of your Journal, upon a subject which has frequently been agitated before by others but never closely followed up, so as to draw forth any satisfactory reply, respecting the fund which has already been raised for Ecclesiastical and Educational purposes. Having- contributed my portion, I am desirous of ascertaining not for any private purpose, but for the public weal of this youthful but rising and important Colony what has been done with, or, what has become of it ? I, along with many others, when in England, was anxious to advance the welfare of our rising families, and, not finding any satisfactory source in our parent land, had our attention drawn to this Settlement by the statements put forth by men upon whose authority and veracity we thought we could rely, and were induced, by their assurances, to expend a portion of our capital in the purchasing of land and expatriating ourselves and our families. We were assured that the money arising from such purchases would be expended entirely for the benefit of the colony in accordance with the statements put forth by the Association, which assured us, that out of the £3 per acre which we paid for the land, one-third of that sum would / be devoted entirely to Ecclesiastical and Educational purposes, the Building and Founding a College, the Erection and Endowment of a Cathedral, with Churches and Schools, and the remaining £2 for purposes which I shall not now entertain: but the appropriation of the funds put forth by the Association was the inducement whereby we became Canterbury Settlers ; it was apart of the contract, and a most vital portiou of it; though! have heard it said, when an enquiry has been made from those in power, that with the expenditure of the funds now belonging to the Association we land-pur-chasers had nothing to do, and had no right to j make any enquiry about them ; we had got j possession of our land, and what more did we | require ? The possession of our land is a very j small and unimportant part of the contract j under which we purchased it, if the other por- j tions are not carried out; and if we, who have j paid our money to the Association for specific purposes,have no right to make an enquiry when we see those assurances are not carried out,— who, then, has the right of enquiry? If I can find that out, I shall pursue my search after the fund through them ; but I am determined to be j satisfied, and that my fellow, land-purchasers \ also shall, that the £1 per acre which we paid i for Ecclesiastical and Educational purposes has not been improperly made use of, or whether it is still in the hands of the Association ready to \ be made use of when a suitable time arrives; f though for such a sacred purpose as the worship'iug of the Almighty in a fitting form, I think * that that time had arrived immediately upou j; the landing of the Settlers. As that fund % must long ere this have become an impor- % tant one in amount, when we see so many \ thousand acres taken possession of by pur- ;? chasers, it is high time a greater portion of ;j it was expended in the erection of Churches v and Schools. I probably shall be told that a portion has already been laid out; just so ; but what proportion does the sum expended bear with the amount paid by the Land Purchasers ? why is so much mystery displayed respecting . the Funds in the Association's hands ? the particular fund in" question is termed a Trust Fund, the Association of course being the Trustees ; and if in charge of such a fund to whom are . they responsible ? if it is a Trust property fo* ?

a specific purpose, are they not amenable to some party for the correct appropriation of the Funds with which they have been entrusted ; and who is that party? if the Land Purchasers are not —there is no other: and it is no longer a Trust Property, and I grant the position that we Land-purchasers have no right of enquiry, the contract under which we purchased being no longer valid. But I maintain that the contract is valid, and that we are entitled to see that the Fund which was raised out of our purchases, is expended in accordance with the assurances put forth by the Association; and to keep faith with the parties by whom they.were entrusted, why do they not publish an annual account of the expenditure of the funds, and then we should know what amount had been expended, and how: and what balance remains in hand for future benefits ? Let them take as an example one of the largest, if not the very largest, Trust Estates in the world for their guide ; I mean the Corporate and Dock Trust of Liverpool, who publish their accounts annually in the local journals, so that every one that is interested may quietly peruse them for the price of the paper. Some portion of the Fund certainly has been expended; a portion of the expenses instead of the entire has come out of it, for building a church at Lyttelton, to which there is a school, and a modern buildingcalled a Church at Christchurch, in which a school is held on week days, with a Parsonage House now converted into a classical school; also a few Parsonage Houses where there is neither church, nor congregation, if a church was built: the total expense of which may amount to some twelve or fifteen hundreds of pounds. We have been here now nearly two years, and there is neither College, Cathedral, nor Church, beyond the two named, nor any appearance of more, nor any likelihood of their being otherwise than a name without a reality. There is also another sum which the Trustees have expended, and I think my fellow Landpurchasers will agree with the writer, it was a complete waste of that amount of the Trust Property, I mean in paying the expenses of a person, styled the Bishop designate, a pleasure trip round the world, and maintaining him and his family with an expensive establishment for many weeks during his sojourn at Lyttelton, during which time he enjoyed a few pleasurable excursions over the Plains : for beyond his presence and a circulation of a portion of the Trust Funds in the Colony, no other benefit was derived by the Settlement; he having managed his arrangements so well as tc get every expense paid out of this Trust Fund, from the time he left England until his return, when he threw the Association over-board without even thanks for their liberality. By your paper of the 10th, I observe that the Trustees made purchases of ninety-two and three-quarters of acres of land in Lyttelton and Christchurch, at a charge of four thousand four hundred and fifty two pounds ; this amount of course will be expended in the Colony, but doubtless for purposes widely differing from the intention of the Ecclesiastical and Educational Trust; the purchase "is certainly securing a property; but whether such an outlay is advantageous or otherwise to the Trust it will take years to elucidate ; for I am certain no available pecuniary benefit can arise from it at present, nor until a much greater outlay is added to it; and if the whole of the Trust Property is to be similarly invested, and the building of the College, Cathedral; and Churches, is dependent upon the annual income from such investments, the present generation of Settlers has no chance of ever seeing the Canterbury Plains adorned with such edifices. But rhy desire is not to cavil at the manner the Trustees may deem proper to the Funds we have placed in their '' charge, but to ascertain what has become of it, and to have an annual account made public, so that we may see what they are doing with it, and what future benefits the Colony is likely to derive from its faithful expenditure during the lifetime of the parties who have made it. I hope that the Trustees will no longer disregard the frequent solicitations that are made to have their accounts published ; and if it is in the power of those parties who are in the Colony, acting on the behalf of the Association, to do so, to have it done immediately; if it is not so, I then shall make the enquiries through my friends in England, in direct communication with the Trustees, from whom I am certain of receiving a reply ; but whether satisfactory, or otherwise, it shall be made public for the benefit of all who have invested one pound per acre iv

their purchase of Land in the Canterbury Settlement for Ecclesiastical and Educational purposes, by your's respectfully, * Omega. Christchurch, July 20, 1852. " ' To the Editor of the Lyttelton Times. " Sir,—ln your report of the " Colonists' Society you say a " friendly discussion arose" in consequence of Mr. Hamilton refusing to allow himself to be nominated as one of the Committee. Now a moment's reflection will show that he was perfectly right. I look upon the Government of New Zealand as a large Mercantile establishment—the Governor-in-Chief the paid Manager, and Mr. Hamilton as the principle clerk in the Customs department here. The latter gentleman has no right to call in question the principles upon which the business of the firm is conducted, his duty is to keep his books correctly ; and so long as he receives his salary, and is treated with proper respect, he has no cause of complaint. What would Mr. Godley say, if his Pay Clerk fonnd fault with his management, and told him he was unfit for his duty, as Agent of the " Canterbury Association" ? Why simply, "If you cannot mind your own business, yon had better find some other employment :" and Sir George Grey would be justified in saying the same to Mr. Hamilton. But Mr. Fitzgerald's argument holds good with respect to himself and Captain Simeon. They are Land Purchasers, and have a large interest at stake in the Settlement ;in fact (if you will allow the expression) aro shareholders in the concern: and as such have a good right to express their approval or disapproval of the Manager's conduct. W. G. Lyttelton, July 20,1852. To the Editor of the Lyttelton Times Sir,—According to the Quarterly Statement of Church Accounts which appeared in your last number, the large sum of £3 13s. has been expended during the last quarter in the purchase of books and forms for registration purposes. In a previous quarter the sum of £l was applied to a similar purchase. The Church funds would seem to be misapplied or wasted, if it be true that Government bears the expense of all such Registration as the law requires. The proceeds of the Offertory may be devoted to better purposes at present ; and if charitable aid is yet welcome to the poorest settler iv Lyttelton, if any comfort can be offered to the sick man, let those : funds be applied to the alleviation of distress. I am, Sir, your most obedient servant, A Churchman. Lyttelton, July 23rd.