TRUST GRANTS

Wairarapa Age, 14 August 1928, Page 5

TRUST GRANTS

ORDINARY AND SCHOLARSHIP ACCOUNTS. IS FREE STATIONERY PAYMENT VALID? APPEAL FOR PUBLIC INTEREST. (To the Editor.) Sir, —The apathy of the public towards the work of the Trustees of the Trust Lands; Trust has frequently been referred to in your columns, and it- is to be regretted that more interest is not evinced in an institution which, with one exception, is peculiar to Masterton. When one considers that receipts from the lands held in trust for the year ended March 31, 1928, totalled £5483, it is incomprehensible that to many the Trust Lands Trust exists only in name. No doubt the Trustees have administered the funds to the best of their ability, but there does not appear to have been any determined effort to familiarise the citizens of Masterton with details of'the inception, provisions and benefits to be derived from the operations of the Trust. To understand the position more clearly, one must refer to the Trust Lands Trust Act, 1889. Section 20 of that Act reads as follows:—“That lands vested in the Trustees shall be held by them, upon trust for the purposesl of assisting general public educational establishments, and l for* a public library and other purposes of pu*bli<c utility in the district; and) the yearly rents and profits already, accruejd and accraing from the said shall be expended in such manner for the-pur-poses aforesaid as, the said l Trustees shall in their sole discretion see fit. “Excepting always that the net revenue derived from year to year from the leasing of town acres numbered 42, 106 and 111 shall be applied by the Trustees, in assisting the holders, within the district from time to time, of any scholarships, whether founded by the Trust or otherwise, in the progress of their education. ’ ’ It will be observed that the first paragraph gives the Trustees discretionary powers as to expenditure of ordinary funds while in the exception, a specific direction relative to town acres 42, 106 and 111 nullifies these powers.

A. statement, compiled, from the published accounts of the Trust for the last ten years, shoivs the following position:—

Receipts for Ten Years. Ended, March 31, 1928.—Ordinary Account. Rents.

Total £39,391 100.00 At the commencement of the period, receipts from, leases and weekly tenancies totalled £2826, while for the year ended March 31, 1928, these amounted to £4894, or an increase of 73.17 per cent.

Scholarship Account. (Town Acres 42, 106 and 111.) Per eent. £ of total. Various Lessees 1785 32.51 Opera House 3692 67.25 Interest on Improvements 13 0.24 Total £5490 100.00 Receipts on account of rentals for the period ended March 31, 1919 were £607, compared with receipts of £4BB for the year ended March 31, 1028, or a decrease of 19.60 per cent. This decrease is occasioned .by a reduced rent being now obtained from the ' Opera House.

Payments for Ten Years Ended March 31, 1928.—Ordinary Account. Grants.

Considering the foregoing figures, it is found that tho debit balance in the Ordinary Aeeount at March 31, 1928, was £3542 15s. Bd., and I submit that the item of £355 16s. sd. expended on stationery and requisites for primary schools during last year and charged in the accounts to the Scholarship Fund, is properly chargeable to Ordinary Account. By no streteh of imagination can the recipients of this stationery come under the category of “holders of scholarships” in the sense intended by the originators of the Trust. It would seem that the exception to Section 20 of the Act has been overlooked and therefore an adjustment, on the lines indicated above) is necessary. The question now arises as to the procedure which the Trustees propose to adopt in relation to the large sum allocated for further purchases of stationery during the current year, in view of the fact that the overdraft in Ordinary Account must be reduced. The obvious course to adopt is to curtail expenditure and by rescinding the grant for stationery, no hardship -would be inflicted. Another point that calls for comment is that while the balance of funds held in Scholarship Account has increased annually since 1918 and now amounts to £2722, not one penhy of interest has been credited to this account during tho last ten years. It is apparent that since. 1924 the credit balance in Scholarship Account has been used to offset a debit balance* in Oiflinary Account which is not only unfair but is wrong in principle. I contend that if the Trustees did not expend the net revenue from yeau to year by way of scholarships, the resultant surplus should have been invested, and the interest earned credited to the Scholarship Account. SCHOLARSHIP GRANTS. During the period under review, the sum of £4612 was available for disbursement as scholarship grants. Of this, £1705 was allocated to 58 students ds matriculation grants; £390 to six students as scholarship grants, and £lB5 to five students as special grants. The summation of these figures gives £2280 or 19-44 per cent, of the -net income, and this was received by 69 students. Books and stationery purchased account for £406, but no information is supplied as to the reason why the balance of £1926 was not expended in accordance with the Act.

It has been assumed that the grants called “matriculation grants” are intended by the Trustees to represent scholarships under the Act, but surely the time has arrived when the question ot founding scholarships in the higher sense of the term, should be seriously considered. With a net income of, at least, £450 per annum, there seems no reason why scholarships, say of £5O per year should not be available for courses m agriculture, art, engineering, music and science. If this were done, the ideals of the promoters of the endowment, as embodied in the Trust Lands Trust Act, would, be realised and an impetus given to study. In any case a scale of matriculation grants should be established. I have traversed the various points raised at some length m the hope that greater inter-est-will bo created in the affairs of an institution which has done much in the past and is destined to do more in the future for the advancement of education in Masterton.—l am, etc.. P. A. MAOOhnSH.

. Per cent. £ of total. Leases 34,308 79.48 Weekly and Grazing . 6,310 16.02 Miscellaneous 1,7?3 4.50

£ Per cent, of total Technical School .. .. 3,100 7.87 District High and Central .,. .; 1,242 3,15 Lansdowne School . .. 877 2.23 West School (Main) .. 776 1.97 .West School (Side) .. . 208 .53 St. Patrick's School .. 455 1.15 Solway School 260 66 Fernridge School .. .. 366 .93 Te Ore Ore School . .. 5 .01 Whatman School .. .. 125 .32 Wairap. High School .. 5,004 12.70. Prim. Schools’ Library 150: .38 Central School Museum 90 .23 Public Utility— . Various Grants- .. .. 3,592 9.12 ■ — —■ Totals £16,250 > 41.25 Property Account. Per Cent. of Total £ Receipts. Repairs & maintenance 2,383 6.05 Rates 3,201 8.13 Insurance 920 2.34 Interest Payable on Loan .. 4,750 12.06 Sinking Fund on Loan 1,500 3.61 Sundry Purchases .... 19 .05 Architect’s Fees, Etc. 202 .51 Auction Fees 37 .09 Alterations to Buildmgs .. • .. 581 1.47 Purchase of Leases and 1 ■Buildings 4,387 11.14 Concreting Right-of- ■ Way 80 .20 Installing Electric Light 272 .69 Totals' £18,332 46.54 Miscellaneous Account. P»r Cent. of Total £ Receipts. Salary (Propor., etc.) 2,589 6.57 ‘Printing and Advertismg 549 1.40 Cleaning 211 .54 Postages, Telep hone Rentals, Etc 298 .75 Heating and Lighting 59 .15 Interest on Overdraft 162 .41 Audit Fees 58 .15 Hire of Hall 18 .05 Legal Expenses 90 .23 Election Expenses . .. 312 .79 Punchase of Barograph 20 .05 Voters’ Roll 44 .11 Sundry Charges and Repairs 158 .40, Total £4,568 11.60

Capital Account. Per Cent, of Total £ Receipts. Brick Dwelling 1,511 3.83 Painting Contract . , 193 .49 New Shop Pront .. .. 550 1.40 Purchase Lease and! Building 1,988 5.05 Total £1,242 10.77 Grand Total .... £43,392 110.16 Scholarship Account. Per Cent. of Total £ Receipts. Matriculation Grants . 1705 31.06 Scholarship <1 rants ... 390 7.10 Special Grants .. .'. .. 185 3.37 General Expenses .. .. 877 15.99 Books and Stationery Purchased 406 7.39 Total £3563 64.91