THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, AUGUST 29, 1933. AFFAIRS OF THE TRUST.

Wairarapa Age, 29 August 1933, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, AUGUST 29, 1933. AFFAIRS OF THE TRUST.

As an indication of some practical interest in the affairs of the Trust Lands Trust, the contesting of the pending by-election may be welcomed heartily. On the whole, however, the fact that several worthy citizens are offering their services rather obviously means that the public of the Small Farm Area is being treated rather better than it deserves. There is still very little evidence of the keen interest that ought to be taken by all the people of the benefiting area in the Trust and its affairs. School committees and staffs and some other people, it is true, show due appreciation of the benefits received from the 'Trust, but a considerable proportion of the people of the Small Farm Area rather obviously regard the Trust and its benefactions as something about which they need not bother. Anything that the by-election candidates or others can do to break up this too general attitude of apathy will represent a useful and necessary public service. A livelier public interest in the Trust would encourage those who undertake the responsible duty of administering its valuable endowment to do everything that is possible by businesslike enterprise to build up the endowment and use its revenues in such a way as to confer the'greatest benefits. The task entailed is one to which there is no end. The problem of making the best use of an endowment of this character is not one which can be brought to a permanent and fixed solution. The. need must appear as time goes on of meeting conditions that change and will continue to change. However well a given policy or practice may have served in the past, reason may easily appear for changing it in light of new conditions.. One question on which the Trust electors will be asked presently to vote is that of the authorisation of a loan of £lO,OOO of which it is proposed to spend one-half on the erection of dwelling houses. This is a matter in which the Trust should give a lead by issuing an explicit statement of estimated outlay and returns. There has been some informal discussion of the project, but the responsibility is with the Trust and it would strengthen its position by disclosing the actual financial grounds on which its proposal is based. The possibility of converting a present liability in the shape of unused land into an earning asset is in itself attractive, but account has to be taken of the cost at which this conversion is to be effected—particularly of the interest and other charges on the proposed loan. The facts upon which the Trust proposes to act should be defined as plainly as possible and must be if the project is to be considered and voted upon on its real merits. W.E.A. MAINTENANCE. On account of the prospective discontinuance of a grant hitherto received, the central organisation of the W.E.A. in the Wellington province may no longer be able to retain the services of a tutor-organiser unless the funds required are raised in the several districts. The position as it stands is outlined on behalf of the local committee by Mr. H. C. Robinson,

in a letter which appears to-day. It is perhaps, just as well that something of a financial crisis has arisen in the affairs of the W.E.A. The amount of money needed is not very large and it should not be difficult for members in this district and others to do what is necessary, provided they are sufficiently interested in the organisation—the one institution, as Mr. Robinson points out, that offers to the adult population of New Zealand facilities; for directed study—to make individually and cob lectively the small sacrifice that is needed to keep it going. If present and potential members are not interestedy or cannot be interested, to this extent, it would appear that the W.E.A. is in a bad way, but assuredly not for merely financial reasons. The vital factor is interest in directed and. methodical study, a thing that certainly never was more needed than it is to-day. The problem confronting, the local branch of the W.E.A. should be faced and dealt with in practical fashion. It may be possible, for instance). to organise a body of sustain? ing subscribers and to supplement the revenue obtained in this way by other ! small, charges. The services of the tutor-organiser, a position at present filled; admirably by Mr. J. A. Brailsford 8.A., certainly must be retained if the movement is to continue andl prosper. The tutor-organiser exercises a very necessary supervision and direction and is in a definite sense the pivot on which the organisation turns. The condition of continuance evidently is financial contribution on a moderate scale by a reasonably large number of active members.