UNIVERSITY RESERVES.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4138, 28 August 1900, Page 5

UNIVERSITY RESERVES.

An ini ererd in" i| in’!-! ion Inis arisen ns In tin* disposition of (lie revenues nrising from llio ()|>;ik ll reserves of 10,000 acres, situated in the Taranaki district, and directed by the Universities Ant, of 1874 In be used for Hie I'nrlhera MfO O P high (M’ education in Lin- province of 'J'arannki. Tbe Taranaki Education .Board and Now Ply mo uili i fiVli .School Governors claim Unit Iho revenues from tlio rosorvo shall ho devoted to the establishment and main'onanco of scholarships, such scholarships to he open indy to children receiving education u’ithin the Taranaki province l ; hid the Council of flic Victoria. College has hold the opinion that a portion at least of the money should In l applied to tlio general purposes of university education in tlio Middle University District, including as well as Taranaki, the provinces of Wellington, Hawke's Bay, Nelson, Marlborough and Westland. This view was duly voiced by Hu. l Council’s delegates at a conference held at Wanganui last week, but the vol ing power was strongly against the Uev Mr Evans and Mr C. Wilson, who represented tin* Council, and a deputation was appointed to interview too Minister of Education with the object of a Bill being introduced providing for the establishment of scholarships on the lines suggested hy the Taranaki representatives. ff such a measure ho passed, I lie Victoria College will, it is true, indinelly benefit hy the scheme, for the scholarships are to be tenable three years at such secondary schools as the Education Board of the district may suggest, and for three years longer at the Victoria, College. The revenue at. present derived from the reserve is about. £270, and there is an accumulated sum of nearly ~€3OOO in the hands of the Lauds ’Department. The Council’s delegates contended Hint the words “higher education” in Iho Act of 1874 meant, uuiversily education, iu which case the revenues could not he devoted to secondary or high school education; hut it is doubtful whether this contention can he legally upheld'. Whilst we would not for one moment advocate any course hy which the Taranaki people would he robbed of revenues to which, “ prim,a facie,” they have a legal right, it must be remembered that the Victoria, College has only one -endowment of land, a. reserve situated near AVaitotarn, and for this it has been found practically impossible to find lessees, the country being so rough and the land so poor. Tin 1 ordinary income upon which the Council 1 has to w<irk is lamentably insufficient, and if it he found that. Taranaki can legally maintain its claim that the' Opaku reserves shall he used solely For the benefit of Taranaki scholarships, we would suggest that before the Bill is introduced, the members of both Houses representing the provinces included; in the Middle University District should wait upon the Government, and urge, as forcibly as possible, the desirableness of further reserves being made [or purely university purposes. A special meeting of the Council is to he held before the Taranaki deputation waits upon the Hon Mr Walker, and we trust that the suggestion now thrown out will then he adopted. Technically, the claim of Taranaki to the Opaku reserve may bo correct, but it scorns a decided injustice to the other portions of the Middle University ■District that it should be so unduly favoured in tlio way of special scbolaisliips.