AUCKLAND COLLEGE AND GRAMMAR SCHOOL.

Auckland Star, Volume VI, Issue 1823, 18 December 1875, Page 2

AUCKLAND COLLEGE AND GRAMMAR SCHOOL.

His Honor tho Superintendent, Sir George Grey, X.C.8., presided at the distribution of prizes awarded by Mr Lusk and the Rev. S. Edger, examiners of the Grammar School classes. The list was published by us yesterday with the exception of the following prizes presented by tbe examiners :— English : Fourth Class, Angus Gordon ; Third Class, R. Skeen ; Second Class, L. Dv Moulin. Latin and Mathematics: Fourth Class, C. Westpfahl; Third Class, C. Z. Clayton ; Second Class, J. A. Pennalligen. Sir George Grey was received with loud applause when he entered, and also when he arose to address those present. He spoke very eloquently upon the importance of educating the feeliogs with the reason. We regret that our space will not permit of the publication of the address in full, but one extract will show the tenor of the speech. Sir George said :— "As you go on in life you will find that men will very seldom ao that which reason points out as the best thing for them to do, and will seldom strive after what their reason points out, but what their feelings point out they go straight at at once. If you fancy anything, you will go for it at once ; if you want to do anything you will do it, but will not reason very much about it. The result of that is, you will see, that education must be to make your reason and feeling act together. You will find this as you go on in life, that education won't make you a bit better than you were before, unless you have improved your reasoning faculties. That is, the boy who can read or write, or who knows the multiplication table, is not necessarily a better boy than one who does not know the multiplication table, but he has the* means of making himself a much better boy if be likes. Now, really these are important things for you to recollect, that you can only make good men by continually accustoming yourselves to do this—to convert the reasons of the mind to action, and by this means at last you will begin to do right things from habit. You will have learnt very little at school unless you have learnt to be good, as well as having learnt ordinary matters of education, —that is, knowledge of some kind or other that will be useful to you in the world. Now, this leadß me to another very curious point indeed. That is, if you desire to get on in the world, that is, to secure your own happiness, what your reason will tell you to do is to try to secure the happiness of other people. You will find when you come to be an old man, when you come to the decline of life, as I have come myself, that the thing you reflect upon with the greatest pleasure, is not that you have gained so mnoh money or got so much property —that is likely rather to trouble and embarrass you, —but if you find you have done good to your fellow-men, that will be your comfort, and you will find the good you have done the thing that will come back to you in old age, giving you very great pleasure. Let me eive you an illustration of what I mean. You nave all seen the new hospital going up on on the hill, I have no doubt. Well, some thirty years ago I thought it would be a very great thing for Auckland to see a hospital going up there, and I took a very great deal of trouble to get an endowment and to have the hospital built, and that hospital was the old hospital below. Well, when I was unwell a few days ago, it was a great pleasure for me to see that other men had taken my idea, and that a new hospital was going up, which will be a great blessing to the city for a hundred years to come. That gave me very great pleasure then,?as I have told you, [ and I think from that yon may imagine the

delight you will experience by doing that which is for the good of your fellow-men. I therefore earnestly request this of you, that you will all recollect that whilst your nobler and finer feelings are cultivated by : he study of history, and by tho s'udy of ;hs ancient writers, that that excitement of your finer feeliDg Will draw you on to noble actions, and will tempt you to try to imitate what was great and nobly done by other people before you."