WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE 'SOUTHERN MERCURY.' DUNEDIN, SATURDAY, 13th MARCH, 1880

Otago Witness, Issue 1478, 13 March 1880, Page 17

WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE 'SOUTHERN MERCURY.' DUNEDIN, SATURDAY, 13th MARCH, 1880

What would have been called not so long since the " pious forethought of our forefathers" provided a majestic endowment for education in this Provincial District. We call it now the sagacity 6^ the early settlers. It is worth whil£ reminding ourselves, while still in possession, of the fact that some perils beset endowments in broad acres, no matter to tfhat purpose the revenues ot such lands are assigned, &ij.d that circijms^rices may,s arise

that will lead infallibly to their dispersion. The effect of Abolition was* to disperse the endowments assigned to primary education — to colonialise them, nationalise them, or whatever term may best describe the process. The University of Otago stuck to its quarter of a million of acres, and the High School has since acquired a convenient little territory of its own. We can already hear the mutterings that precede the storm, and venture to predict that these two bodies will not be left in undisturbed possession for other ten years. Without entering at all into the question whether it is right to bolster up certain institutions for secondary education by special endowments or not, it is quite clear that the arguments against a body like the Governors of the High School holding large tracts of semi-agricultural country are overwhelming. When the residents near Hyde asked Mr Rolleston to see that the educational endowments on the Strath-Taieri were thrown open to settlement, they merely sounded the first war-note of the battle. The Minister of Education was only passing like a meteor through the country, and could not be expected to give more than an evasive reply as he went past. That he will yet have to answer the question is certain. We trust he will answer it in one way only. The Board of Governors are at present precluded from selling their fine estate. If they desire that it should be retained for the purpose for which it was set aside, the sooner they are authorised to sell the better. We do not attempt to determine the question whether this particular block of land on the Strath-Taieri is suitable for settlement or not. Probably some of ib is suitable, or the residents in the neighbourhood would not want to have the opportunity of buying it. They know their own business best. We are quite sure that it is the interest of the Governors of the High School to realise on their broad acres, and reinvest in some less imposing property. If necessary, let it be stipulated that the proceeds should be reinvested in town sections. That there is sound wisdom and providence in our suggestion all who are conversant with the history of similar questions will readily admit. Corporate bodies like the Council of the University and the High School Governors are the worst of landlords. It is not possible that they can control and administer agricultural farms. Their possession of enormous tracts of country is only endurable until land is wanted for settlement, while it is leased on a large scale by just a few tenants. Already a feeling has arisen that our High Schools might very well be left to stand or fall on their own merits, and both in Canterbury and Otago we shall expect in a few years to see all endowments for secondary education swept away unless they assume some form less likely to arouse objections. If the enormous estate (no less, as we have said, than a quarter of a million of acres of land) held by the University has not as yet been the cause of much comment, the reason is i clear. At present most of the land thus held is outside settlement, and not required for it. The time will come when the same natural and proper demand will be made to throw open the land for settlement. If the two educational institutions we have named are enabled to sell and reinvest, they will in all probability retain their endowments. If they hold on to their land they will almost certainly lose them, for history repeats itself. Supposing that the High School endowments were in the form of bank shares, or sections in Manse street, no one would take the trouble to raise a cry merely for an idea, and that idea educational free trade. But if they remain as they are now, in the shape of a princely landed estate, arousing the ploughman's earth-hunger and making the energetic miner imagine how many calves he could turn out on the pasture, they will ere long disappear. We can figure to ourselves with what zeal " our member " would support his case for having these lands thrown open by a telling reference to the evils of monopoly. The conclusion would be foregone ; without deciding any principle, the Assembly would determine that in the interest of settlement it was undesirable that French and Algebra should be taught at the cost of the taxpayer. Without committing itself to a principle, which is a thing a popular assembly always abhors, it would determine that this particular endowment was wanted for farming purposes. Then, again avoiding the assertion of any principle, it would decline to replace the endowment in any other shape. We there-

fore warn those who have the interest of the Dunedin High School at heart to take the alarm at once. If endowments are necessary to keep it alive, then the present estate should be sold, and the proceeds invested on mortgage or otherwise, in some form which will not excite the cupidity of outsiders, or attract the notice of those who might pronounce the system a job to help to educate the sons of men who can very well afford to pay for what they want.