The grants to the Church of England at Motueka, Province of Nelson.

These grants, which have caused much local dissatisfaction, appear to have conveyed an amount of land (consisting of reserves originally made for the benefit of the whole of the Natives residing around the settlement of Nelson), disproportionate to the relative number of Natives of that denomination in the settlement. The attempts to establish a school there must be characterized as failures. It would only seem just that the Trusts in this case should be so altered as to give the whole of the Natives of the Province a share in the benefits contemplated when the reserves were originally made. By a combination of the rents of these reserves with those of the town of Nelson reserves, a fund would be obtained amply sufficient to establish a good and efficient boarding-school in the last named place, of which all the Natives of the Province could reap the advantage. There is an accumulation of about £1100 accruing from rents of the town and Motueka reserves still vested in the Crown now to the credit of the Trust in the hands of the Commissioner of Native reserves (Mr. Alexander Mackay, whose management of those Estates deserves every commendation). The aggregate rental amounts at present to about £1200 a year, which will increase every year, as the page 291lands are let on rentals increasing with the length of the terms. It would require, then, but little additional assistance from any funds Government might have for the purpose, to establish the proposed school at a very early date.