SEPARATE ENDOWED SCHOOLS BILL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13489, 16 May 1907, Page 6

SEPARA TE ENDOWED SCHOOLS BILL.

• " ; "--' . . . _ / 3-1 ' . ■".-- -- .- -. -■ / - .-- ['■ .{ ANGLICAN COMMITTEE'S. ' :i i " / , : ( INTERFERENCE WITH ; EXISTING • 5. ' TRUSTS. '/' ; Ther-report, of the special committee appointed by ( the v Anglican General Synod ■ to consider the Separate 'Endowed School , Bill' says:— ' " ((( {' '■'./■■■..'■■: -'■•■'' i Having carefully examined the Separate Endowed - eJcbools Bill, your committee- recommend that every effort of; every member oi the General Synod direct and inairectthrouga I every member of the Church in the provmce lot Zealand, -be used to-prevent the pas-, isage- of any such measure through the ■ lature. _ / i] v' The Bill would, abolish the present trustees of the Auto and Wanganni Coiiegiate "■ School endowments; ; wonlu create new f boards, each, of live members, two of wbom. I would appointed by the Governor; would, 1 without any conveyance or assurance what- . ever, take from the existing trustees the iarida they now bold in trust, together with ■ all '; bandings thereon, -and.- would transfer- the :\ same to the new boards with all powers of I management, and control. / « j "Tho Bill defines anew separate endowed •schools, so that the term would embrace any educational institution maintained wholly or *{in part by grants from the public revenue or •J by the proceeds Of. public endowments grantjed by the Governor or otherwise. This definition is very far-reaching, and must be coniaiciere<l a . serious; innotation, inasmuch as i; though : one clause recites " there shall •be re- , ,ligiouß instruction in the: school in accord-.-ance with the trusts," another declares that J3choiars may be withdrawn from religious ob- > servanoe or 'instruction,' need not attend any , Sunday-sohool or any place : of religious warship, or any religious observance or instruc- .' tion in the ; school or elsewhere. By clause 32 the Wanganni Collegiate School i Trust Board will be compiled to hand over l .less than 20 acres of the endowment lands i to the Board of Governors of a v High School ■< if established under the Education Act, 1904; By clause 34, the provisions which, by the bill, apply only to Te Ante and Wanganui trusts. may be made to. apply " to the lands nameu * in any grant /or . group of grants for educa- ' tional purposes." - . 5 It is scarcely necessary to point out that al- - though the educational endowments directly assailed in this Bill belong to the Church of England, yet this enormous power if granted would jeopardise ( the endowments of every denominational body in New Zealand. . - - Finally, your committee recommend that a ! copy, of this report, and of any resolutions dealing therewith adopted by the General 1 Synod, be sent to the Prime Minister, the . Minister for Education, "■ the Mission : Trust ' Board, the Diocesan Synods, Diocesan Trust* Board, and Boards of Trustees interested.