PRINCIPLES OF MANHOOD

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 135, 9 June 1932, Page 8

PRINCIPLES OF MANHOOD

ADDRESS BY LORD BLEDISLOE VISIT TO DILWOETH SCHOOL. HIS EXCELLENCY IMPRESSED. The sincere interest which he takes in the youth of the Dominion was evidenced this morning when his Excellency the Governor-General, accompanied by the Lady Bledisloe, paid a visit to the Dilworth School, on the Great South Road. Their Excellencies were received by the heaemaster, Mr. N. Gibson, and the board of trustees, consisting of Archdeacon Mac Murray, Archdeacon Simkin, Professor A. P. W. Thomas and Messrs. R. P. Towle and J. E. Makgill. His Excellency made a thorough inspection of the school before addressing the lads outside. He passed through the class rooms and saw the pupils at their lessons, and was evidently impressed by the spontaneous replies he got to his questions. In one room three lads responded promptly to their names, and they proved to be triplets from Gisborne, and the great-great-nephews of the foundef of the school. In the same room were two lads from Ulster, who came out last year. One of the provisions in the endowment for the founding of the school provides for the sending of children of Ulster parentage out to New Zealand, the founder, James Dilworth, being a native-of L'lster. Origin of the SchooL In welcoming their Excellencies, Archdeacon Mac Murray referred to the origin of the sciiool. It had been founded by the bequest of a settler who came to Auckland from the north of Ireland in 1841 and had a large estate in Auckland. The building in which the school was now carried on was his old home. The school was founded in 1894, and boys of people who were in indigent circumstances and of good character were eligible for admission. It was not until after a number of years that the endowment yielded sufficient money for the school to be opened, but it had increased from a roll strength of 15 in 190G to 133 to-day. The trustees had acquired a fine property of 180 acres at Wiri, where it was intended to build a new school to accommodate twice the number. That proposal was in abeyance because of the present economic conditions. His Excellency's Address.

Addressing trie boys, his. Excellency said that his visit had been a pleasant surprise, because lie had found evidence, both in the class rooms and outside, of efforts to stimulate self-help. The features that impressed, him most outside were the swimming bath, "which had 110 shallow end, making it imperative for those who entered it to learn to swim; secondly, the knowledge that an annual camp was held where the hoys exercised their ingenuity in doing their own work; and thirdly, the school gardens, where the pupils kept in touch with Nature and realised what it was to join in the task of producing the necessaries of life.

" I am told you come from homes where money ia not too plentiful," said his Excellency to the boys. "I am not sure that is not a very good thing for you. It will make you realise that your future well-being and success -in life depend largely, if not altogether, on your own efforts, and that success in life depends on your capacity to learn while young." " Two Finger-Posts in Life." Referring to the building of a new school, his Excellency said that what was more important than the building of an edifice was the building up in every young boy of the principles of manhood. He made reference to an item of news which he had recently read cbnccrning a motorist who had reported that the direction of sign posts had been reversed by boys. There were two fingerposts in life, one of which helped to individual benefits and national prosperity, and eventually to heaven, while the other pointed the way to national decay, feebleness, and misery, and ultimately to liell. While the road pointed by the first sign-post was rough and narrow, and strewn with Tadiant wild flowers, it led through a tangle of bush to the golden garden in the distance. The other sign-post pointed along a well-paved track, which was very often more attractive. Helping hands would lend temporary assistance along this track, but self-reliance was graduallv and surely sapped, and eventually it led to a bottomless pit.

"Tho school," concluded his Excellency, offers a splendid opportunity to make real men of vou, and I hope you will take full advantage of it and keep your eyes 011 the golden mountain which God alone can illuminate." i 'V'; I' lo request of her Excellency, Lord liledisloe asked the headmaster to give tho pupils a holiday in honour of his visit, n suggestion which met with the evident approval of the lads who. at the call of the head pupil, responded with tlircc lusty cheers for their visitors.