SCHOLARSHIP FUND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21086, 21 January 1932, Page 11

SCHOLARSHIP FUND.

TARANAKI ENDOWMENT. FEARS OF SEQUESTRATION. SENATE'S ACTION CRITICISED. [BY TELEGRAPH.— OWN CORRESPONDENT.] NEW PLYMOUTH, Wednesday. Strong criticism of the attitude of the University Senate, the Victorian College Council and the Director of Education, Mr. T. B. Strong, in regard to the Opaku reserve endowment, from which the Taranaki scholarship funds are derived, was voiced at a meeting of the Taranaki Education Board to-day. The endowment was originally intended for general educational purposes, but in 1905 legislation was passed setting the fund aside solely for the benefit of students in Taranaki. At its meeting last week the Senate decided to ask the Minister of Education to take action to remove the present anomaly and injustice and ensure that the revenue from the reserve shall be used for the purposes named in the Acts of 1868 and 1874. Mr. S. G. Smith, M.P., chairman of the board, intimated that he and Mr. W. H. Moyes, the other member of the deputation which waited on the Senate, would prepare a full report for submission to a conference of Taranaki educational- authorities, at whose request they had gone to Dunedin to suggest the wider utilisation of the funds by the provision of further scholarships. Mr. Smith said the Senate had adopted its attitudu mainly on reports from the victoria College Council. He was astonished to find them backed up by the department Jind by the Director of Education, who had attached his name to a report which, Mr. Smith claimed, would give an entirely misleading view to those not conversant with the position. The department had quoted from a report received by the Victoria College Council in 1920, and had said it was substantially t:he same as that submitted by Mr. Justice Ostler. Some of the statements in the report could be controverted. The statement to which he referred conveyed the impression that the position had been investigated by a Judge of the Supreme Court. Mr. 'Strong had said the' accumulated fund now totalled £39,000, whereas it was actually under £29,000. ' He had also stated that the Act of 1868 had intended the fund for the wholo of the Dominion, but. Mr. Smith denied: that. Referring to Sir George Fowlds, Mr. Smith said when the matter was before the House in 1905 Sir George had voted both ways, but now that he was running Massey College he had hungry eyes on the funds. Mr. Smith said he had always believed in agricultural education, but when he saw an almost scandalous waste of public money on huge buildings at Massey College he was loath to give the people responsible any hope of getting hold of Taranaki's money. " They ire really betraying their trust," said Mr. J. A. Valentine. " They have the responsibility of expending the money on behalf of Taranaki and are not doing so." Mr. P. J. H. White characterised as absolutely ridiculous the statement by Mr. Strong about the 1866 Act.