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Journal of the Nelson and Marlborough Historical Societies, Volume 1, Issue 2, November 1982

Finance

Finance

Campbell himself had no illusions as to the cause of the Society's staffing difficulties. In conversation with a Quaker visitor in 1853 he admitted that in Nelson as in England "there is much difficulty in procuring the requisite funds and the character of the instruction is of a lower grade than he desires from his inability to pay the master such a salary as would invite a competent man to undertake it".

The major source of the Society's funds were the subscriptions and donations of better off citizens and the fees paid by the parents of pupils. As many of the purchasers of land had not come out from Britain to the settlement, the number of settlers of substance was not as great as the New Zealand Company had anticipated and not all of those that did come felt that it behoved them to contribute to school funds. Saxton relates that he declined to subscribe to horse racing on the request of George Duppa because the latter (who was on his way to making a fortune in New Zealand) refused to subscribe to Campbell's schools. Nevertheless the Society received a few windfalls such as the assignment to it of the revenue from the properties of Frederick Tuckett and the presentation of a flock of goats by Wm. Fox.

The fees paid by the parents of the pupils were very low indeed. In 1847 a mere 2 pence a week per child was paid when only reading and writing were taught and 3 pence when instruction in arithmetic was given as well. Not more than 6 pence a week was paid by any one family and a member of the Committee of the Society might issue a ticket for the admission without charge of any child in cases of family distress, subject to the review of any such concession by the Committee. These were very generous provisions. When the Mechanics' Institute in Wellington opened its school for children in 1842 the weekly charge was 6 pence a child for tuition in the three R's.

Having exhausted the springs of local benevolence and collected as much as it deemed reasonable from parents, the Society naturally looked to the colonial government for aid. There its hopes were at first frustrated. The Education Ordinance of 1847 made provision for grants of public monies to be made only to the three main churches. Under the terms of this Ordinance the Governor made grants to the Bishop's school and the Wesleyan school but not to the schools of the Nelson School Society which as a lay body was disqualified. In 1849 Sir George Grey after a visit to Nelson did arrange for a small annual grant of 35 pounds to be made to the Society out of funds put at his disposal by the British Parliament not from funds appropriated under the Education Ordinance. It was only after the establishment of the Nelson Provincial Council in 1853 that the Society began to receive more generous grants from public funds – 180 pounds in 1854 and 400 pounds in 1855. The Provincial Council from its inception showed itself to be a firm supporter of the Society.

page 24

In default of adequate public grants over the decade 1843–53 the Society was only kept solvent by the generosity of its treasurer and superintendent Matthew Campbell. Campbell's assiduity and benevolence were a by-word in Nelson. He was the driving force and benefactor of the School Society. It was not for nothing that the Society's schools were universally referred to as "Campbell's Schools". Some of the schools were built on land that he personally acquired and made available. He willingly made good the Society's deficits from his own personal resources. In 1848 the Society acknowledged a debt of 150 pounds 18 shillings and 4 pence to Campbell on account of the erection of several schools Moreover this amount did not include "a considerable sum due to him also on account of current expenses". Indeed it seems very doubtful if anything like the Nelson School Society would have arisen from the initiative of the United Christians and carried on to build up a system of schools had there not been a benefactor and a leader of the calibre of Matthew Campbell.