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No. 23.
Copy of a despatch from Governor Grey, to Earl Grey, relative to reserves to be set apart for educational purposes.
Government House, Auckland,
March 22nd, 1849.
My Lord,—
| 1. | In referenced my despatch to your Lordship, No. 130, of the 9th December, 1847, detailing the system of public education, which I thought most applicable to the circumstances of this Colony, and enclosing an ordinance, the object of which was to secure the introduction into this country, and the permanent operation of the proposed system of education; adverting at the same time to your Lordship's despatch, No. 47, of the 27th June last, in which you notified to me that Her Majesty had been pleased to confirm and allow the above-mentioned ordinance, I have now the honour to state to your Lordship that, as the means of education have been afforded to the Natives of this country, so has their desire to secure a good education for their children increased; and your Lordship will find from the enclosed letter* from the General Superintendent of Wesleyan Missions, that in one institution alone, which has been established under the authority of the Ordinance sanctioned by Her Majesty, 130 children are being boarded and educated, and a great number of others are desirous of obtaining admission to the same institution. |
| 2. | Under these circumstances, I find that the means of procuring proper food for the various educational institutions which are already in progress, will become a very difficult matter; whilst as by law the whole of these institutions must necessarily be conducted on the industrial system, the pupils of the establishment, could, if there was a sufficiency of land at their disposal, not only produce sufficient supplies for their own support, but they would at the same time be instructed in the improved modes of agriculture, which, as the people of this country are distinctly an agricultural race, would confer the greatest benefits upon themselves, the European population, and generally upon the whole country. |
| 3. | In this young country, where such waste tracts of land remain unappropriated, there is no difficulty in obtaining a sufficiency of land for each educational institution in its immediate vicinity; but, I do not, without receiving express instructions upon the subject, feel authorized in conveying lands to these institutions, unless they pay for them in cash. |
| 4. | The only mode in which they could pay for the lands they require, would, however, be by deducting the necessary sum from the funds placed by the Government at their disposal for the purposes of education; and the result of this would be, that at a moment when education appears so necessary for this race, just emerging from barbarism, considerable sums intended for educational purposes would in point of fact be diverted from their legitimate object. |
| 5. | Under these circumstances, I have felt justified in directing that, until I receive further instructions from your Lordship, sufficient reserves for the wants of the Native children to be boarded and educated in these establishments, should be kept apart for the use of each institution; and as a considerable value will be given to these reserved lands by the improvements that may be made upon them, I think that it would be an equitable rule to allow each religious denomination, at any time within ten years, to purchase these lands at the upset price of £1 per acre, as the value which the lands will have then attained will have been wholly conferred upon them by the improvements made upon them by the institution, it being at the same time made a condition of these grants, that the lands could not be disposed of, but were solely conveyed for the purpose of being used for the support of an educational establishment, which was to be conducted under the superintendence required by law, and in all other respects in conformity with "The Education Ordinance." |
| 6. | I think the result of this system would be that each of these institutions would, in a few years after its establishment, entirely support itself, and that all Native and half-caste children, as well as all destitute European children, would receive an excellent and useful education. |
| 7. | I should, perhaps, add, as rather an interesting fact, that I find that wherever these institutions are established, the European out-settlers are very anxious to send their children to the day schools which are conducted at them. |
I have, &c.,
G. Grey.
The Right Honorable Earl Grey.
* Not printed.