EDUCATIONAL RESERVES.

57

A.—No. 3,

per annum, which, in September, 1869, was reduced to £10 per annum. The tenant has erected thereon two dwelling houses. The reduction of rent was made in consequence of the general depreciation of property. The 11 acres are situated above the old magazine on the Sumner Road, and used as a rifle range. The grand total rents received from these reserves during my tenure of office has been £3,202 18s. 9d.

Friday 14th January. 1869. The Rev. Mr. Chervier, being first sworn, states: My name is John Claude Chervier. lam senior priest of the Catholic Congregation in Christchurch. I know the land comprised in section 45, Lyttelton (book 4, p. 349). There are one or two gravestones in it. If it has not been used of late, it has been because it was not required. It was not fenced in, partly from want of means, and partly because, a few years ago, the Town Council of Lyttelton mooted a proposal that all burials should take place outside the town. Section 158 (C. 21, 126), was used for some time for a church and a priest's residence. The plan proving inconvenient for the church, another has been built upon land included in the after-mentioned grant. The congregation having become reduced in numbers, there is no priest resident there now; but should the congregation increase, this land would again be available for the purpose. On section 159 (same reference), several burials have taken place. It has been at one time fenced in. The land granted on 18th January, 1866, Reserve 108, in red (C. 21, p. 127), is fenced in one block. There is a church on it of timber, shingled, capable of accommodating between 100 and 120 worshippers. The man who has the care of the church is allowed the benefit of the grass. Section 116 (C. 21, 145), comprising 2 acres, at Akaroa, is used as a cemetery; a part of it has been fenced in, partly ditch and bank fence, and partly rail. All these lands are still vested in the grantee. There are no revenues derived from these lands. I know section 42, in Christchurch Town (book 4, p. 338), containing 1 acre, being a reserve for a cemetery. It is fenced in with rail and thorns ; between it and the reserve for cemetery for Dissenters there is a bank. The fee for a large grave is 15s. ; Bs. to the sexton, 7s."to the fund for repairs of cemetery. The following information is given:—There are 3 acres of land fronting on the South Town Belt and Barbadoes Street, which were given by the Government; 2 more acres were purchased by the congregation. This block is fenced in. On it are built the priest's dwelling-house ; the church, for about six feet from the ground of stone, brick within, of tiles plastered within about six or eight feet more, and the roof is of tiles. It will accommodate about 300 worshippers. There is also the convent; a school for boys, attended on an average by 50 boys ; and a school for girls, attended on an average, last year, by at least 100, including a few little boys who go there as a preparatory school. These three buildings are in one block. The Rev. Mr. Stack, being duly sworn, states :My name is James West Stack. lam a Clerk in Holy Orders, and Curate of the Maori Mission, in the Diocese of Christchurch. I know the land comprised in section 91, Kaiapoi District, Native Reserve (C. 18, p. 250). It is in my occupation as manager of the Industrial School for children of the aboriginal native race. The school consists of sixteen girls and one boy. The course of education is in English, and is the same as that adopted in the primary schools of the Province of Canterbury. The youngest child is about seven, and the oldest fifteen years of age. The girls make their own clothes, cook their own food, and are fitted for domestic service. The ground is all fenced in with posts and rails, ditch, and planted round with gorse, and, with the exception of 2 acres, is under English grass. Tho buildings comprise the house, schoolroom and dormitories, teacher's room, the manager's house, stabling and outhouses, and a church. The church is of wood, shingled, and will accommodate about 200 persons. The Maoris in the district attend the Maori services, and there is a special English service for the school, my family, and the Europeans on the reserve and in the neighbourhood who like to attend. The buildings are all of timber, except the part occupied by me, which is of sun-dried bricks, on. a burnt brick foundation. The buildings are in good repair. The land not occupied by the school and other buildings is used for grazing purposes, in return for which the school is furnished with milk and meat at a reduced rate. The fences are repaired and kept in repair, and some were put up, and the land was laid down in grass, at, or mainly at, my expense. When the reserve was made, the Maoris understood it was to be for a glebe; but as this could not bo by law, the grant was taken in its present form. We shall have nineteen pupils presently. We have not accommodation for more than twenty. I prepared and presented to the Synod a Report upon the condition and prospects of the Native race in this Island, of which the printed paper produced is a copy. I also read a Paper on the same subject at a church gathering in the Town Hall at Christchurch, which is printed in the Lyttelton Times of Tuesday, 16th November, 1869. The facts stated in those papers are the results of my own observations in this Island.

Wednesday, 19th January, 1870. Mr. Alexander Lean, being duly sworn, states : I produce a paper (8., pp. 61-2) bearing my signature. It contains a list of the educational reserves (rural lands) not let up to the 11th January, 1870. Since that date Reserves 933 and 934, comprising together 996 acres, on the River Hawkins (Waianiwaniwa), have been let to George Holmes at annual rents of 2s. per acre per annum for first seven years, 4s. per acre per annum for last seven years, of a term of 14 years. I produce a paper (O, p. 62). It contains an account of town sections being educational reserves not let to the date I.lth January, 1870. None have since been let. I produce another paper (D., pp. 62-3). It contains a list of the educational reserves let up to 11th January, 1870, with the acreage, situation, names of tenants, dates and terms of leases. Appended to