ADDENDUM.
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ADDENDUM.
BALANCE sheets of the receipts and expenditure of the colony from November, 1850, to December 1st, 1852, having appeared in the Times of this day, with the signature of the Government Inspector attached, I feel myself called upon, with reference to some of my observations regarding the Ecclesiastical Fund, to make some remarks upon them.
The accounts are most unsatisfactory, each of the audits commencing with the month of November of one year, and terminating with the month of December of another. Thus, the balance in hand on December 31st, 1852, being the period to which the first audit extends, was 90l. 3s. 1d. only; whilst the audit of 1852, instead of commencing with that balance, commences with a balance in hand of 10,956l. 19s. 5d., being the balance of November 13th, 1851; so that it is impossible to separate the real receipts and expenditure of each year, or to make out what debits and credits are contained in both audits. For example, by the first audit
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it would seem that the Association had expended up to December 31st, 1850, on account of the Ecclesiastical Fund, 3,918l. 15s. 8d.; and by the second nudit, that during the period of that audit they had expended an additional 11,512l. 9s. 2l., making the whole payments on account of that Fund 15,431l. 4s. 10d.; whilst, according to the Inspector's Report, the whole sums receivable by the Association on account of that Fund, amounted to 11,666l. 13s. 8d. only, which is absurd.
Again, it is said in the Report of the Inspector, that the sum of 10,200l., belonging to the Ecclesiastical Fund, has been appropriated by the Association, in four different sums, to the general expenditure of the colony, and that the Association have allotted land, corresponding in value, to trustees for "ecclesiastical and educational purposes;" but none of these transactions appear upon either of the balance sheets, nor is there any clue given by which any one can ascertain either the quantity of land assigned, or the date of the assignments, or the price per acre at which such land has been charged to the trustees. This latter is a most important omission, because it is self-evident that, the land being for Church purposes, ought not in justice to be charged with the ecclesiastical pound per acre; whereas, prima facie, it appears to have been so charged. It is also important for the purpose of elucidating the bona fides of the Association, that the times when the advances
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were made should be correctly set forth; because if the whole amount of the Fund which has been applied to its legitimate purposes does not exceed, as is shown in the following paragraph, 1,466l. 13s. 8d., and 3,918l. 15s. 3d. of the Fund was, as appears by the first audit, made use of by the Association in 1851, they must have dipped into the Fund from the very outset of the undertaking.
Again, the balance sheets are lamentably deficient in not showing the actual amount received on account of the Ecclesiastical Fund, or its actual expenditure. These amounts are only to be got at by the Inspector's Report; and as that report states that the whole sum receivable on account of the Fund was 11,666l. 13s. 8d. only, and that the Association devoted 10,200l. of it to other purposes, it follows that the real payments for ecclesiastical and educational purposes has been 1,466l. 13s. 8d. only, instead of 11,512l. 9s. 2d., the amount stated in the second audit.
Again, there appears in the audit of 1852 the following unintelligible item: --
Creditor.
To 1 advance on guarantees invested in land
as per contra - - - - 12,000l.
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Now, it is impossible to make out to what the per contra refers. There is no corresponding item on the debit side of the account, nor any item which in any manner seems to relate to it; but the great difficulty to be solved is this, -- Why did the Association, being destitute of all funds (except the Ecclesiastical Fund), advance 12,000l. on "guarantees invested in land" at all? or why, having made such advances, if the "guarantees" are substantial, did they not assign them to the trustees as securities for the monies they had so improperly taken from the Ecclesiastical Fund, instead of allotting to them unprofitable land?
One thing only is clear, that the unfortunate colonists have advanced very many thousand pounds beyond the ordinary value of their purchased lands, in full confidence that therefrom churches and schools would be erected, and ample and permanent provision made for the due fulfilment of all religious and educational offices and duties; and, that at the end of two years they find the funds exhausted, and themselves in the possession of a small unendowed church at one town, a temporary building at another, and a quantity of unreclaimed unprofitable land (valued to them, as they believe, at 3l. an acre), at the present time altogether unsaleable, and which, now that the artificial price created by the promises held out by the Association has vanished
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into air, can never be expected to realize more than one-third of the price at which it has been charged to them; whilst they are themselves erecting a church at their principal town by private subscriptions.
It is impossible to entertain a doubt that the public will require, and that the highly honourable men who have patronised this Association will insist upon the production, by its managers, of a full and detailed account of the mode in which every shilling of this sacred Fund has been expended; and it may not be beyond hope, that either by transferring to the trustees the above-named guarantees, or by other means, the Ecclesiastical Fund may yet be restored for its original purposes.
The lands actually sold, according to the Inspector's Report, falls so short of the quantity stated by me, which quantity is in accordance with popular belief, that I feel it incumbent upon me to add, that I received my information from an officer of the Association at the Canterbury rooms in the Adelphi, who referred to a printed paper.
I subjoin the balance-sheets and the Report of the Inspector.
C. W. A.
January 28th, 1853.
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THE CANTERBURY ASSOCIATION.
BALANCE-SHEET, FROM THE 13TH OF NOVEMBER, 1851, TO THE 1ST OF DECEMBER, 1852.
DEBTORS.
| 1851. |
£ s. d. |
| Nov. 13. By balance at the bankers' - £10,902 8 2 |
|
| By cash in the house - 54 11 3 |
10,956 19 5 |
| 1852. A. R. P. |
|
| Dec. 1. By land sales, 9,718 1 7 |
29,161 18 3 |
By advance on mortgage of the miscellaneous
reserves purchased by the Canterbury Association |
10,000 0 0 |
| By passage-money and freight |
4,727 11 4 |
By interest on cash deposited with the
Colonial Bishopric Fund, &c. |
249 12 1 |
By subscriptions received by the Society
for the Propagation of the Gospel |
45 2 4 |
| By J. J. Bulkeley, for the Rev. H. Jacobs |
40 0 0 |
| By sales of maps, books, &c. |
27 1 4 |
| By purchasers in Gladstone for the site of town |
112 10 0 |
By J. R. Godley, for two bills debited to
the Association in error, on the 3d of May, 1851 |
1,000 0 0 |
| By subscriptions in aid of the Association's liabilities |
5,032 2 0 |
| |
£61,352 16 9 |
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CREDITORS.
| 1852. |
£ s. d. |
| Dec. 1. To payments on account, viz.:-- |
|
| The ecclesiastical and educational fund |
11,512 9 2 |
| The emigration fund |
26,355 12 8 |
| The miscellaneous fund |
4,361 10 4 |
To advance on guarantees invested in land,
as per contra - |
12,000 0 0 |
| To bills drawn from the colony |
5,332 0 0 |
To the Crown balance, due from land
sales to the 5th of October, 1851 |
1,679 14 2 |
| To promissory notes from last account |
35 0 0 |
| To balance at the bankers - £69 12 8 |
|
| To petty cash in hand - 6 17 9 |
|
| -- |
76 10 5 |
| |
£61,352 16 9 |
Dec. 15 1852. H. WEDGWOOD.
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COLONIAL ACCOUNTS.
BALANCE-SHEET, FROM NOVEMBER, 1850, TO THE 31ST OF DECEMBER, 1851.
RECEIPTS.
| 1851. |
£ s. d. |
| Dec. 31. By the miscellaneous fund |
2,529 11 0 |
| By the emigration fund |
3,166 12 5 |
| By the ecclesiastical and educational fund |
327 18 6 |
By land sales in the colony, viz.:--
Town lands - £4,071 10 0
Rural land - 1,050 10 0 |
|
| |
5,121 10 0 |
| By pasturage licences |
535 10 0 |
| By timber-cutting licences |
223 14 0 |
By loans, viz.:--
Local Government of New Zealand - £2,400 0 0
J. R Godley - 120 19 6 |
|
| |
2,520 19 6 |
By remittances from England, viz.:--
In cash - £520 0 0 |
|
By credit on the Union Bank for 3000l.,
less the commission charged thereon - £2,941 3 6 |
|
| |
3,461 3 6 |
By bills drawn on England, viz.:--
On the credit for 10,000l. - £4,832 0 0
On the Rev. Thomas Jackson - 500 0 0 |
|
| |
5,332 0 0 |
| |
£23,218 18 11 |
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PAYMENTS.
| 1851. |
£. s. d. |
| Dec. 31. To the miscellaneous fund |
13,289 2 0 |
| To the emigration fund |
4,113 1 8 |
| To the ecclesiastical and educational fund |
3,918 15 8 |
To the repayment of loans, viz.:--
Local Government of New Zealand - £1,600 0 0
J. R. Godley - 120 19 6 |
|
| |
1,720 19 6 |
| To advance on account of the Soames scholarship |
7 5 10 |
To the Crown, amount due for timber-cutting
licences to the 7th of August, 1851 |
54 11 2 |
| To the Rev. Thomas Jackson, for J. Baines |
25 0 0 |
| To balance in hand |
90 3 1 |
| |
£23,218 18 11 |
Dec. 15. 1852. H. WEDGWOOD.
"REPORT OR THE GOVERNMENT INSPECTOR.
"42. Chester Terrace, Dec. 14. 1852.
"Sir,--I beg to inform you that, in pursuance of their Lordships' directions, I have inspected the accounts of the Canterbury Association, and I enclose a balance-sheet of the expenditure in this country since the last audit, and a similar sheet of the expenditure in the colony from the first commencement up to the close of 1851, the latest period to which complete accounts have been received.
"On the face of these accounts it appears that the gross amount for which the Association are chargeable for land sales, pasturage, and timber-cutting licences, amounts to 34,988l. 1s. 1d., the proportion of which accruing to the Crown and the miscellaneous fund is 5,831l. 6s 10d. each, and to the ecclesiastical and educational fund and the emigration fund, 11,662l 13s. 8d. each.
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"The expenditure in the colony on the first establishment of the settlement for roads, buildings, surveys, and other items coming under the miscellaneous division, were necessarily very large, and the total net expenditure under this head, in this country and in the colony, amounted together to 16,841l. Os. 10d., being 11,010l. 14s. in excess of the proportion allowed by the charter.
"The net expenditure of the emigration fund is also in excess of the legitimate proportion to the extent of 10,9111. 16s. 11d. The land sales having almost wholly ceased, the Association were disappointed of the funds on which they had relied for the payment of the second half of the freights becoming due on the arrival of the emigrant ships in the colony.
"The comparatively small demands for ecclesiastical and educational purposes in the infancy of the colony had allowed a considerable balance to accumulate to the credit of that fund in the books of the Association at the commencement of the present year; but the whole available resources of the Association having been required to meet the excess of expenditure in the other departments, it was determined to make good the balance due to the ecclesiastical and educational fund by an allotment of land. Successive appropriations of land, to the value respectively of 6,900l., 2,250l., 750l., and 300l., were accordingly made in favour of the trustees for the ecclesiastical and educational fund. By this means, the amount of land sales was apparently increased by the sum of 10,200l., and the responsibilities of the Association proportionally augmented, while no addition was made to their actual resources by the transaction.
"It appears to me that such a proceeding was hardly in accordance with the spirit of the charter, which requires that one-third of the land sales should be appropriated for ecclesiastical and educational purposes. But here the whole proceeds of the land sales had already been expended on other objects; and, instead of money, a tract of land, which may remain for an indefinite period before it acquires a saleable value, was appropriated to the fund in question.
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"Doubtless, the money being spent, it was a choice of difficulties , and it is not easy to see out of what fund the balance could have been recovered under any circumstances.
"I have the honour to be, Sir,
"Your obedient Servant,
"H. WEDGWOOD.
"James Booth, Esq., &c."
