CHRIST'S COLLEGE.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 11151, 18 December 1901, Page 8

CHRIST'S COLLEGE.

COMMEMORATION DAY.

ANNUAL DISTRIBUTION OF PRIZES

Yesterday being Commemoration Day at Christ's College, special sarvicea were held in the College Chapel at 8 a.m., and again at 11.

The Her. J. A. Julius preached the sermon at the latter service from the text— "Herein do I exercise myself to have always a conscience Void of offence toward God and toward men. ,. In the coarse of his sermon he mentioned that the hope of the founders of the College had been to train up young men for service in the Church, and this hope had not been unrealised, for one old member of the College had been installed Dean the previous day, another was to be ordained the following Sunday, while a third, Archdeacon Dudley, had recently passed away at Auckland.

Dean Harper read tfce first lesson, the headmaster tae second, while Bishop Julius offered up a special prayer for fcue College, and pronounced t-tie final benediction. Mr Morion, the Uhapel organist* played the Hallelujah Chorus at the conclusion of the service. INSPECTION OP THE CADETS. Yesterday afternoon the Christ's College Cadets were inspected by Lieut.-Colonel Webb, the officer commanding the district. There were fifty-nine officers and men on parade, under Captain Cotterill and Lieuts. Taylor and Stringer. Major U. V". Richards, the instructor, superintended. The corps was put through company movements by Captain Cottersl, manual and firing exercises by Lieut. Taylor, end physical drill, with arms, by Lieut Stringer. At the conclusion of the drill, Lieut.-Colonel Webb spoke a few words to the corps, complimenting them on their evenness and the condition of their arms. Their drHi, he said, was for the most part good, but the marching was not quite so good as it might have been. The otner movements had' been fairly weH done, and the manual and physical exercises had been distinctly good. The skirmishing done had not b&en realistic, although it had J>oen an admirable spectacle. Many of them would be leaving the College, but wherever they went they would always feel the benefit of the elementary drill and discipline they had obtained. The corps had reached their majority that day, and ho hoped it would always be as good as at the present.Before the corps were dismissed, opportunity was taken to make a presentation to Major Richards, who, early m March next, intends leaving the colony after conducting the corps through the first month of the new year. On behalf of the corps, Captain Cotterill presented Major Richards with a silver cigar case and a silver flask. Both articles bore suitable inscriptions. . The recipient feelingly acknowledged the gifts.

There was a large gathering last night of parents and friends of those attending Christ's College in the Diocesan Library, which was filled to its utmost .capacity, on the occasion of the annual distribution of prizes. The Warden, his Lordship Bishop Julius, who presided, was heartily applauded as he entered the room. Proceedings opened with the singing of a, verse of the National Anthem.

In the course of his report, the headmaster, Mr CL F. Bourne, referred to the loss by death of the Venerable Archdeacon Dudley, the Very Rev. Bean Jacobs, Mr Justice Grasson, and Trooper Dudley. Speaking of what had been, done by past and present boys, be stated that with respect to. the entrance examinations of the New Zealand University at the end of last year. C. F. D. Cook and W. Wilson had obtained respectively the seventh and the eleventh scholarships. Cdok was the only candidate from any school who took Greek, and he was glad to know , that be had not lost anything by doing so since his marks in that subject were very nearly as high as the highest obtained by anyone in the much less arduous subject of English. At the same examination J. L. C. Merton and' W. W. Triggs obtained credit, and H. D. Cpok passed; while in' the ordinary examination for matriculation six boys were successful. Referring to the successes of old ■boys, he mentioned W. 'L.'Scott, who won the senior University scholarship in chemistry,* and was equal with another for the scholarship in mathematics. At Canterbury College A. P. Cox f had obtained an exhibition and school honours in political science in the College examinations. At Home, L. H. Greenwood had become a foundation scholar of Ms College, King's College, Cambridge. In another sphere, E. Harper, W. Rolleston, and G. M. Hutton had been honourably " mentioned in despatches by Lord Roberta; ami'Hutton 'had .the D.S.O. conferred on him. In Clrrasfcokirch two "old boys"- !nad obtained distsnguished (honours. Tfhtey' might well be proud that when the citizens of Christchurch desired to choose amayor to. represent jfchem during what they knew would be a notable year in theihfisfcory of the colony and the city, .they. had. found the man 'whom -they deemed fittest for £he position on a Christ's College "old boy"—-Mr A. E. O. Rhodies. (Appkuse.) Again, they ihad just seen a Christ's College boy, Canon Walter Harper, raised, to the unanimous satisfaction of the diocese,. to the high dignity of dean. -.(Applause.) Regarding school matters, the £eadmaster referred to the resignation by Dr. Evans of a portion of Ibis work, and the appointment of a new master, the Rev. R. T. Matthtews. . After & connection with tihe school of twenty •<«■«* years,' Major U. V. Richards was about, to leave them, said 'he expressed this ihigfh sense of the obligations ■under which the school, > and especially the -Cadet Corps, were to him. The corps owed everything to Major Richards, who an 1881 ihad orgam'soj it. Concluding, the stated tihab the Boys' reading-room food been made suitable for the purpose for ■which it wias meed, oiwt for this tfaey ihad to thank *b» graafc interest taken in it B>y Mr Andrews. : Mt Collins,' also, (had found time from ihisinany engagements, both to superintend aird work- hard at the formation of terraces, in iplaygiround, which Wad already been found very useful. (A-pplaaise.) Ik this Mr Collins tod been ably assisted by Mr Flower. In addition to 4he .members of (has staff he had mentioned, he wished to thank the renwoiwJeT for tjie manner in which they had discharged <tlheir duties. His Lordship the Bishop said he regretted he was not an old boy of Christ's College, but. if he were he could not love the College more than he did. (Applause.) There was a large number of prizes to be given, and they were to hare the speech of the evening from an old boy who had just taken the highest position in the diocese he (Bishop Julius) had to give; therefore •he had only a word or two to say to them. There were boys who were difficult to teach, whilst others were quite the opposite, owing to their co-operating wills. He impressed on his hearers the necessity of will-power in getting knowledge, and? referred to the case of Sandow, the strong man, as one which showed what could be accomplished by the exercise of the will— the strength of whose body* had ibeen acquired as much by force of will as by exercise. This force of will had a great deal to do with success in life, and if they only set high ideals before them they would certainly attain a high measure of success. In these days, when competition was so kesn, it was almost a necessary thing for any boy desirous of making his way. Jn the attainment of that high Teligious character, which had been one of the objects of the founders of the College, he believed that by the grace of God, will Had a great deal to do with it. CoDcindinsr, his Lordship said he was very pleased with the successes tiiat the College bad won dtaing the past year, and wished them all a pleasant holiday and a'merrv Christmas and a happy New Year. J

Dean Harper, who was received continued applause, said that though his Lordship had told them he was to give the speech of the evening he -was sorry to say that he was not prepared to make anything like a speech. Referring to the ancient history of tie College, Dean Harp&r said that with the exception of one or two present, he could l look back a greater distance in -the liistory of the school. He had been under three' headmasters, and he had the happiest recollection of bis school days under the late Dean, and had learned even then to appreciate hie learning end scholarship. After referring to the other headmasters he said that tihrough all these changes the one great ideal of the founders

of the Collego—that it should resemble .'as closely as possible thus*' grand institutions, tie public sohools of England—had been always leapt in .view. OneiJang he had , in his. mind. They had heard on excellent sermon from an old boy- on the Vocation of a clergyman. He did not say that the meia purpose of the College was to train men- for the ministry; the intention was to turn out useful citizens, who -would serve God and their fellow-creatures; but one purpose was to encourage boys to enter the ministry. He would appeal to the boys before him to think seriously of such a high vocation, and from his own experience he could , tell them that if they selected it they would never regret their choice. He had been looking through the school lists, and found that some 2000 boys had passed through the school. How many had taken holy orders? \t his memory served him right, only about fcvrentv-sevsn—or it might be thirty. He did not think that a Church of England school, founded on such distinct principles, had quite done its duty in contributing to tike ministry of the Church, and he earnestly a4ked th.3 hoys now attending it to think seriously over the matter. Concluding, he titrated them- for the hearty reception they h4<l given him, and also for bearing in mind thfc great honour —which he hopea he duljf appreciated'—conferred on him by the Bishop in giving him the dignity of Dean of Christchurch. (Applause.) {His Lordship Bisnop Julius then presented the prizes as follows: — "(Upper Fifth Form —Latin, A. C. Smith; ' French, P. G. Greenwood; English and Science, I*. B. Stringer; special, J. G. L. Vernon. ' Lower FEfth—Latin, French, and Science, P. J>. Farrow; English, W. Bulnois. •■ ■Remove—Latin and French, N. M. Bell; English, K. H. "Williamson; Science, H. E. Gi'heepie; special, A. G. Staveley. Upper Fourth—Latin and English, A. E. Hobbs. Special Form—Latin _and French, H. L. Widdowson, first in each; Latin (second prize), W. C. Durant; French (second prize) ana English, A. D. Nelson; extra price, G. W. Waymouth. Lower Fourth—Latin and French, A. G. T. Parchas; English, H. M. Overtonland A. CT. Purchas, equal. ! ~ , Third Fonn-JLatin and English, :W. H. G. Baker. '. Second Form—Latin and English, J. G. Denniston. First Form—l English, G. R. Maodonald. Divinity—S. W. Jameson (upper l fifth); G. A. King (lower fifth); S. W. Crichton (remove); C. G. Turner (upper fourth); A. D. Kelson (special); A. C. j.. Purchas (lower fourth); J. V. Tyree (third); F. C. Archer and A. Jf. Hancock (second); E. W. .Mathe-ws (first). - ■ , Mathematics—S. W. Jameson (Alpha, second division); J. S. Triggs (JUeta); JN. M. Bell (Gamma); E: H. S. Hamilton (Delta); P. G. . Schumaehe-r and H. L. Widdowson \£); A. P. NichoJe (BIJ; D. Chapman (B2); W. H. -G. Baker (C); A. E. Strange (Dl); J. H. Knudsen (l>2); G. R. Macdbaald (El);. J. L. Hartl&nd (E2). '

Special prizes—Elementary science, E. H. S. Hamilton. Physical geography, H. E. Gillespie. Bookkeeping: At. ±J. Cotton. Drawing—Advanced, X H, S. Hamilton; elementary* G- A. Bridges; artistic, O. H. G. Morton; lower school, A. W. Hancook. ■ Music —Upper School, K. J. S. Murchison; Lower ScTtool, J. G. Denniston. Writing—Over 15 years, G. Fulton; under 15 years, "W. Bulaois; Lower School, H., B, Douglas. Warden's divinity prizes— J. W. Crichton (remove), E. C. H. H. Eawnsley (upper fourth). Tyndale divinity prizes—JT. P. Dixon (third), C. K. IJath&ws first, A. E." E, Bourne second, It. W. Bridges third, and F. C. Archer fourth (second); B. W. Jfathews (first;. Balfour divinity prize—W. W. Triggs. Tancred prizes—History—Class A, the special prize W. W. Trigga, second. J. S. Triggs; class B, F. It. W. Thompson Ist, A. D. JN elson 2nd; class D, J. G. Desnniston Ist, A. C. T. Purchase 2nd. English Clas3 A>-'the special prizo w. W. Triggs, P, G. Greenwood 2nd; class iJ s I\ D. larrow Ist, JEL A. Dayison 2nd; class C, E. C. H..H. Uawnsley; class B. J. G. Denniston Ist, L. W. Bnggs 2nd. Latin, French, and Engiish—W; W. Triggs. German, jnatheeatics, and science—EL l). Cook. " A, D. Holderness (Rhodes Cup and headmaster's medal) Ist, W, M. Everist 2nd;- class 81, M. K. liitchfield, J. M. Murray class B2 and recruits, A. G. Staveley; classes B3 and CI, W. Holderness Ist, W. L. Steele 2nd; classes C 2 and D 2, S W/P. HopTrins Ist. Potts. 2nd (extra prise). lK>wer School—Division 1, H. ii. Douglas;, division 2, R. T. Newton. Marksmanship (BaUarrtyne Cup)— -C. It. Orbell. Carpentry—Upper School, Class A r E. F. Irving; class B> C." H. T. Merton;, liower School, T. L. Steele. Good conduct prizes to the following choir boys were also given M. Ballantyne and Bell. The..headmaster explained that the Rhodes Cup had been given by Mr A. E. G. Rhodes to pdmmemorate jtris term' aa Mayor of the eity^ The various prize-tafcers were "waniily applauded, the winner of the Tancred priaes, W. 'W. Triggs, receiving*much applause. During the evening the following eongs were given: "The 010 Green Lane/ , "Sleigh Song," and "On the Maroh." Mr A. J. Merton, music master, played the accompaniments. The 'College song was given at the close of the proceedings, also oaeers for thiQ Bishop, the Dean, the headmaster, and &ajor 'Richards.