St. John's College Trust.

In the matter of Church Trusts, the same desire to exercise the spirit of ecclesiastical domination appears to prevail. We will indicate one instance of this. The College of St. John the Evangalist, at Tamaki, is under the control of Trustees, appointed by General Synod, and of Governors named, one by each Bishop of the Provincial Church, except by the Bishop of Auckland, who is ex officio Chairman of the Board of Governors. For a considerable time, extending probably over two or three years, there were divergent views among the Board of Governors in regard to the control and management of the College, which disagreement came into prominence and publicity in the matter of the arbitrary exclusion from the College of holders of certain scholarships by the act of the then Warden. This action was approved of by the Chairman, but failed to secure unanimous approval from the Board; some members, clerical as well as lay, held the rustication of the scholars to be beyond the power of the Warden, and indeed of the Board itself, unless wrong doing on the part of the scholars concerned had, after a full inquiry, been first proved. No proof was ever offered. On the contrary, one scholar, by the threat of an action at law, obtained compensation to a considerable amount for the forfeiture of scholarship without trial. This compensation the Trustees were called upon by the Governors to pay, though they had had no voice whatever in the wrongful treatment of the scholars; and the Board did pay upon the deliberative and casting vote of the Right Reverend the Chairman, given at a Board meeting at which but four members were present. As a result, one of the Trustees felt himself called upon to resign his position, believing, that if compensation were due, it should be paid by the persons who did the wrong to the scholars, and not taken out of Scholarship or College Funds.