GRAMMAR SCHOOL JUBILEE.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 197, 20 August 1919, Page 9

GRAMMAR SCHOOL JUBILEE.

A NURSERY OF CITIZENSHIP. HISTORIC T3 OAK AND PROGRESS. HFTY YEARS OF INTEREST. "The Old Boys' Association of the Auckland Grammar School will to-morrow and on Friday bold celebrations in .honour oi the school's jubilee. Auckland's principal institution for secondary education was opened nity years ago last Jlav. and besides being one of the oldest centres of secondary learning in Ne'.v Zealand, has ior some years possessed the largest roll of any boys' college in the Dominion. It can indeed claim to bo one of the greatest nurseries of citizenship in our Britain of the £outh. and its history carries back to the days when the young colony was kicking clear of its swaddling clothes. Among its earlier scholars arc names whicn have become honoured in the councils and progress of New- Zealand, and names ■whose bearers nave won success and fame in other lands. The school can

justiv point with pride both to its own progress and to its scholastic record. A review of its history i≤ interesting.

The foundation of the Auckland College and Grammar School, as it was called a few years after its establish-

men;, was due to the loresight of Sir George Grey in his first governorship,, in making provision in the shape of four Crown grants. These grants, made between October. 1850. and December. 1553. consisted of about 85 acres in the city of i Auckland, 62 acres in the suburbs of I Auckland, 20S acres of land at Pakurangs. and 5 acre.« at Devonport. The' deed of trust set forth, inter alia, that in addition to the usual course of educa- ■ tion in the English language and mat he-; mstics, and in such other branches of learning as the trustees may direct, all | students should, if they so desired, receive instruction in Greek and Latin; that upon all school days other than half j holidays the school or schools should be ; kept open for the purposes of instruction for such two hours in the evening, be- • tTveen 6.30 and 10 o'clock, as the trus- j tees migrit. direct. It was also stipulated that persons of all classes or races tvho might inhabit the colony were to be In all respects equally admitted to the school, and that such proportion of the, students maintained Or supported under the endowment should 'be free scholars,' as the trustees for the time being might deem compatible with the state of the trust funds. EARLY VICISSITUDES. 'Nothing iva3 done towards utilising j these endowments for several years, but ! in the year 1556 the General Assembly ■ paeeed an Act vesting these endowments in the Superintendent of the Province of ' Auckland. Two years afterwards in the BupermtendencT of Mr. John Williainsou I the Auckland Provincial Legislature passed the Auckland Reserves Act, eu- j abling the superintendent to lease the j endowment for 21 years. The town and most of the suburban properties were j then cut up and leased. It is interesting t to note that the only other endowment ' to the school was one of two acres in i Symonds Street, by the Provincial L-egia-laiure, in IS7I, as a site for a e-chool, and from which a move was made rather more than two years ago to the present ■ fine home on the slopes of Mount Eden. . An endowment of 3 acres in Howe Street, i 1.569, wa? revoked, and the land was j Eubsequently handed over to Education Board as a site for a girls' high school. It was not until 1566 that the Provincial J Council decided that the endowment j iund3 had accumulated sufficiently to I ■warrant the establishment of a grammar* school in the city of Auckland. It was! then considered that the estimated rev-1 enue, amounting to £1835 per year. I •would cover the cost of a modest establiahment and leave a surplus of £500 to accumulate for the benefit of the trust.

Bui the e-jperintendent of The day. Mr. T\ W hitaker, did not view the matter in the same hgirt, and a sharp paasege of anns zook place between the two tranches of the 'Legislature on the subject. The matter was ultimately 6he3ved ior the year, and the new superintendent, Mr. John Williamson, showing fennsalf to be sympathetic to the proposal, in February, IS6S, the Council ceased the Grammar School Appropriation Ast, which provided for the appropriation of a t=um of £1.304 Iving at the sinw uninvested in the bank for the es-| tabUsament of the school. A hitch | occurred in the operation of the Act. however, and it was -not till the followiig year that the efforts of the Pro■nncra.l Council were rewarded and the *Aool e-jt-abiished. The immigration; "oarraxis in Howe street, ajid the three! acres, on which, they stood were set apart' es Grammar School buildings and play- i ground, and the requisite arrangements i>ehig at ]a.st accomplished, applications were invited for a staiT of masters. The Duke of Edinburgh was on a visit to the colony at the time, and he performed the opening ceremony on May 17. ISO 9, iti the prepuce of ''governor Sir George Bcwenj end Lad- Bowen. the Superintendent o ; the Province. Mr. the Grammar School CommiiNsioners, Lieut.CoL Peaeoeke, M.L.C., Judge F. D. Fen*ra, of the Native Court, and Mr Archibald Clark, M.H.R., and many of the leading citizens. On the opening of the school in Howe Street th.-> headtuasier wae the K«-v. Bobsrt Kidd, M.A.. *£JX, and associated with him were a second master, an assistant master, a music master, drawing master, an-1 a drill master. The school opened with 7S pDpjk, nearly ail of whom were transferred by Dr. Kidd from the private *«boo] he had been previously keeping in!Vies.;ey College, Upper Queen Street. THE FAMOUS '"BARRING OUT." The school remained in rhe Howe Street buildings for two years, and cmj ilay 1. is?!, was tnm«ferred to the Albert Barracks. I'pon thk change. Mr. Farquhar Macrae became beodmaster, *itli Dr. Ki.ld a= elaseica.l master. Sever, J"ear= passed, aid then in June. IS7S, a remarkable incident in the tirtory of the school. TULi was the 'barring out" on June 13. 1878, whicßi the removal of the school Ironi the Albert Barracks. The Government- Improvement Commission had <i«::ded to occupy the building luider tne terms of a previous agreement, but a> no] Bimiediare siiitable accommodation could oe fonnd for the Mr. Ma.rae pro*J*Wd. The protect was unheeded, and t 3 * v-ommission even .puj bailiffe in pos|*=ekin, go the headmaster took the law Sj» ius ora ixaads, eject-ed jie baiMs,