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Application was made by the trustees to the District Meeting to apply to Conference for permission to sell the land, an offer having been made by the General Government to purchase it. I produce a letter to that effect :— Copy of a Letter from the Hon. Wμ. Fitzheebebt to the Eev. Isaac Haeding. Deae Sic, — Treasury, Wellington, 4th December, 1866. In reply to your note of the Ist instant, requesting me to furnish you with a Memorandum, saying " that it was at my instance you were induced to seek of the Wesleyan Conference of 1865 permission to sell the reserve, and that I agreed, on behalf of the General Government, to purchase, at the price of £50 an acre, you agreeing to take payment of part of the purchase money in Government debentures : but, that after the terms of purchase were arranged, and there was a change of Ministry, that I proposed that the Provincial Government should take the property, and that that was agreed to, with the understanding that the land should be used for public purposes, and the terms of sale to be as arranged with me on behalf of the General Government," I beg to state that your recollection of the particulars of our negotiation is perfectly accurate, and I hereby confirm the accuracy of your recollection on this subject. I may state that I was, at the time of the negotiation referred to, the Treasurer of the Colony, and that two changes of Ministry having occurred since, I find myself again in the same office. I have, &c, William Fitzhbebeet. The negotiation for the sale to the Provincial Government took place between the Eev. Mr. Harding, and I presume Mr. Brandon, on the part of the Provincial Government, but the agreement was never formally put in writing, nor was any conveyance made. The agreement, however expressed, was to sell the land for £3,500. The Eev. Mr. Harding received of that amount, as part of the principal, the sum of £1,150. He was to receive, by the agreement, 8 per cent, upon the balance, and the Provincial Government have already paid £588 as such interest. Interest has been paid up to the 29th February, 1868. A portion of the money so received has been appropriated for the erection of a new church and parsonage in Wellington. This was by way of loan, at 8 per cent, interest, which interest has been paid to the trustees. The sum of £200 has been lent to the Wanganui Wesleyan Church Trust at 8 per cent. Another loan of £100 has been made to the trustees of the Greytown Wesleyan Church (Wairarapa), at the same rate of interest. The interest has been paid to the account of the trustees, their object being to devote the proceeds of the money received to educational purposes, and, as a nucleus for a school, a purchase of land has been made by the Eev. Isaac Harding and myself at Manawatu, for £286, consisting of 258 acres 3 roods. I believe the grant of the land has been issued to five trustees, viz., David Lewis, William Clark, James Entwistle Watkin, David Kinniburgh, and Charles Edward Luxford, as trustees for the Wesleyan Conference, i.e., for the purposes of the Wesleyan denomination. The opinion of Mr. Thomas Eussell, of Auckland, was expressed to the effect that we had such power to sell under the Act, in the following note : — Copy of a Letter from Mr. Thomas Eussell to the Eev. Isaac Haeding. Deae Sic,— Wellington, 20th October, 1865. I think Mr. Moore has taken a hasty view of the question. Notwithstanding what Mr. Moore has expressed, I adhere to the opinion I have already given to you, that the trustees named in the deed signed by Mr. Watkin are trustees of the property;—that the property is held by them upon the trusts expressed in the Crown Grant and the New Zealand Model Deed. In the Province of Auckland we have always acted upon this view, and it has never been questioned. I have, &c, Thomas Eussbll. Mr. William Clark and myself are treasurers of the fund arising from the grant for the Wesleyan College Eeserve at Wellington. I will furnish a copy of the New Zealand Wesleyan Model Deed. I hope that the Commissioners will perceive that the object of the trustees has been throughout to appropriate the proceeds of this land to the object contemplated by the original grant, viz., the advancement of education, as, whatever the powers given or assumed, the money itself has not been diverted into any other channel, but is being put out to interest to increase it for the same purposes. I know the land comprised in grant, page 15, 14.2. E. It is land purchased with trust money belonging to the Wesleyan Society, which money is a part of the proceeds of the sale of the chapel, pew rents, &c, which was devoted to the purchase of land, there not being room on the ground for the site of a school that we had desired to put up. It was altogether a private purchase. The Eev. William Kirk stated that, as far as his knowledge goes, he concurs in all that Mr. Lewis has stated.

Presbyterian Church.

[Evidence taken before Mr. Domett, at Wellington.] Memoeandum for the information of the Commission, by Mr. E. E. Stbang. In 1841, when Governor Hobson first visited Wellington, the Eev. Mr. McFarlane, the first clergyman sent out by the Established Church of Scotland, waited upon His Excellency, accompanied by Mr. Strang and some of the first Colonists. His Excellency pointed out a convenient site for the 3—H. 21b.