THE JUBILEE OF WELLINGTON’S FIRST COLLEGE

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 57, 29 November 1924, Page 13

THE JUBILEE OF WELLINGTON’S FIRST COLLEGE

WELLINGTON COLLEGE ' ' ' ■' ? I ' - ■' ■ : '■ ■ . . < ~ — - COMMEMORATION OF JUBILEE WEALTH OF HISTORY AND TRADITION EMINENT GUIDES OF YOUTHTUL LIFE BRIDE in., reverence for an historic.past.is a sentiment that has influenced the fate of nations', and, notwithstanding the rise of democracy, will probably do so to the end of time. Wellington College is rich in history and tradition. It commenced, like all kindred institutions,' modestly. But it kept . pace with the times and has grown with the expansion of ideas, until it has reached a high standard in cultural education. It has endowed the young nation with illustrious men, even to the youngest winner of the Victdria Cross. Its future is pregnant with development. There never hts been, and never will be, sufficient accommodation for all those who would wish to take up the intermediate or ultimate phases of their educational training to fit them, for the battle of life. Education is to-day the fetish of the citizen' of New Zealand. Three millions and a quarter were spent last year on education by a population of a little over a million, and a quarter—an average of £2 Bs. Bd. for every man, woman and child, including Maoris, in the Dominion. The real significance of this will be apparent to those who compare the rate of expenditure here with that of other and older countries of the world. In the .earlier days of the colony, the spirit of adventure which prompted men to seek a wider sphere of action, untrammelled by convention, resulted in a goodly proportion of emigrants being men that had received sound education in the. public schools of the United Kingdom, and it was not long before these men/ were co-operating with the administrators of the colony in transplanting the English system of education in new and productive soil. In these days of competition for social and public dis-' tinction, we are apt to overlook the struggle our fathers had in a young country to educate themselves and their children. One notable instance of that struggle was certified to in Parliament recently by the latest recruit to the Cabinet, who stated that he owed his early education in the backblocks to the industry and interest of a “remittance man” from Home. Enterprising individuals, in , the face of tremendous difficulties, set up the first schools in New Zealand. What has now come to be known as Wellington College was one of the number. The establishment of a college in Wellington was the subject of a Crown grant by Sir George Grey, then Governor of the colony, in 1853. Provision was made in the grant that any student would have the right to study Latin and Greek, and, as soon as funds could be provided, there should be night-school conducted there. Sir William Fitzberbert, Sir Charles Clifford, and Sir William Fox were among the ear]v trustees. It was not, however, until 1867 that the college became a reality. " THE FIRST PRINCIPAL At the - beginning of that year, Rev. H. E. Tuckey, 8.A., Cambridge, and Mr. W. S. Hamilton opened -a school under the name of “Wellington Grammar School” in Woodward Street. To Mr. Tuckey’s scholastic attainments were added,-during his residence at. Cambridge, laurels gained at athletics. He had been a famous oar, having rowed, in. the “Head of the River” boat and represented his university in the winning boat at the Oxford-Cambridge race in 1853. The school prospered, and the title was altered to the “Wellington College and Grammar School.” Pending the erection of new buildings, the classes were conducted in one of the o’d barrackrooms, which stood so conspicuously on the Thorndon Reserve. It was'here the first cricket club was formed. There are few surviving old boys who can recall the first cricket match, which . was against Crofton College (St. Hill’s). Although the record has not been preserved officially, it is understood the match was won by Wellington College. The match was played bn Clapham’s Paddock, on the south-east side of Fitzherbert Terrace. This vacant space was the venue of many athletes, but its grassy slopes have since been replaced by stately houses and gardens. In 1868 the College moved to Clifton Terrace, into new buildings. Rev. T. A. Bowden, B.A. Oxford, Inspector of Schools for the Wellington Province, accepted the position of with Mr. Tuckey and Mr. Hamilton as his assistants. Four years later it was affiliated to the , New Zealand University. It was about this time that Professor Kirk ; commenced giving lectures. In 1872 the trustees were replaced, by an Act | of the General Assembly, by a body corporate, styled the , “Governors of j Wellington College.” The affairs of the college-have since been adminis- I tered by that body.. . ' , I When the Wellington Savings Bank was wound up the balance of its funds was handed over to the Board of Governors, with the consent of the • Provincial Government, on condition that four exhibitions be established, to be given to scholars of elementary schools. Among notable gifts to the i college in these early days were £lOOO by Mr. Walter Turnbull in 1874, ! and £5OO each by Messrs. G. Moore and W. Rhodes, the interest of which | provide the Moore and Rhodes scholarships. j THREE NOTABLE EVENTS j In 1874 Mr. Kenneth Wilson, M.A., Cambridge, became headmaster, j Another notable event of that' year was the erection of the first portion : of the present building. For this purpose about £l5OO was collected by ! private subscription, which was subsidised by the Provincial Government. | Financial difficulties embarrassed ■ the governors in the later seventies, ncces- i sitating the remodelling . of the institution. A third notable event was the appointment of Mr. Joseph Mackay, M.A., Aberdeen, as headmaster, arid his choice of Mr. J. P. Firth as one of his assistants. Under Mr. Mackay’s guidance the college attained to a degree of prosperity never before experienced. . ... ' The college was disaffiliated with the university in 1881, and the chronicler of that period says, “the financial result of this ‘proceeding to have been eminently satisfactory.” Relieved to some extent | of its financial burdens, the college made immense strides, and the ac- j commodation was taxed! to the ut most. ‘'THE BOSS" A GREAT ’‘DOMINIE’’ TRIBUTES FROM/PAST AND PRESENT Tributes of two generations have been passed to “The Boss,” as Mr. ’ J. P. Firth became known in the years he held the post of headmaster. The college lost him for a while, for in 1886 he resigned, in order to have the advantage of a university course, and, with that object, accepted a position on the staff of Christ’s College. Mr. A. Heine, a former master, who edited the “Old Boys’ Record,” published 5 in 1891, thus speaks of Mr. Firth’s resignation: “The name of J. P. Firth will ever be remembered with pride by all old boys who were fortunate enough to be' associated with him. A strict, but impartial and capable master, his teaching was a source of terror to the boy who evaded his work. Although a strict disciplinarian, he was ever ready to lend a helping hand to anyone in difficulties. Besides an eager enthusiast in all sports, a very prince of athletes himself, he took the greatest trouble ' to instil into the minds of the boys that healthy love of outdoor sports which is so essential to a youth’s physical training. The most .important feature in all his work, however, was his earnest endeavour to preserve a high moral bearing in all the actions of his boys—an endeavour in which he was eminently successful.” This is the first published tribute to a man who later became headmaster, and with whose name has been associated the progress of the college until he retired with the honours of lengthy service thick upon him', four years ago. Nearly forty years after this tribute was made to Mr. Firth, the Prime Minister said that Kipling must have had such a man in mind when he wrote: — . If you can fill each unforgiving minute With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run, Your’s is the earth, and everything that’s in it, And —what is more—you’ll boa: man, my son!

“THE BOSS” NEVER SATISFIED From tlie time of his appointment as headmaster, “The Boss” was never satisfied. He had plans that spread far into the future, for the improvement of the college buildings and playing-fields. Hardly was the ink dry on his appointment when ho outlined his new proposals for playgrounds. They met a prompt and generous response from old boys of the college, and, in March, 1893, new grounds were commenced, at a total cost of £2IOO. Five years later, M r . (now Sir) Francis Bell endowed the college with swimming-baths as a memorial to his son, Francis Dillon Bell. The subject of another memorial in the college was the death, in the same year; of Henry Somers Cocks, a master who worked with every fibre of his being for the goad o f the college and the boys. M hen the South African War broke out the old boys of Wellington College were well represented among those that set out for the kopje and veldt; the record gives no fewer than thirty-four among the contingents that left New Zealand. At the beginning of the present century, the ranks of the masters were supplemented by the arrival of Captain F. M. Renner, who commanded the college guard at the farewell to Lord Jellicoe in the middle of the present week. i HIS FIRST HOLIDAY It was not until, he had served for ten years that “The Boss” took a .holiday. It was ten years of • strenuous, sustained effort, in which neither time, money nor self were spared in effecting one central object—a good account of his stewardship. He had, in the interval, converted a marshy bog and gully into one of the finest playing-fields in the colony, demanding a concentration of effort and unfailing courage in the fact of wellnigh insuperable obstacles that few men could have exercised. During his first ten years the school roll had trebled; buildings had expanded; the Cadet Corps had grown to two companies; in studies and games, the college had held its own with all other secondary schools; new and flourishing Old Boys’ Clubs had been founded—in short, the creation and maintenance of a sound school tradition that called for all that was best and manliest in the boys. These were some of the results achieved by Mr. Firth in his first ten years of office as headmaster. In 1904 another playground was planned on a site described in the college record as “the useless hill between the school and the baths, and the equally useless gully beyond it.” The academic attributes of the college were thus referred to by the president of the Institute of Accountants of New Zealand: “It is greatly to the credit of the Wellington College that boys from its ranks have captured all three prizes offered to the secondary 'schools of the colony, as they did in 1902.” “HOWLERS" OF TWENTY YEARS AGO The college has its record of schoolboy “howlers,” as well as of scholastic and athletic prowess. Taking a selection from a period, twenty years ago, the following are interesting:— “The white horse of ‘Tom Brown’s Schooldays’ was calved on the Malvern Hills.” “An artistic galvanometer has two magnified needles.” “A hostage is a large bird in South Africa.” “There are three kinds of volcano—extinct, instinct, and dormitory.** ATHLETICS AND SCHOOLING Mr. Firth took an interesting part in 'the controversy in«the newspapers in 1907, on the effect of athletics on schooling. He said: ‘'The schoolmaster’s work lies very largely in the classroom, and his efforts are directed towards the boys’ acquisition of knowledge, and still more towards the training of the boys’ minds; these things do not by any means ■sum up his work , and anxieties, for there is a much more important thing than either—the boys’ character. An important means by which to influence the boy in the right way, to get more closely in touch with his feelings, to give linn opportunities for developing his individuality and his manly qualities—among which I rank highly usefulness and self-sacrifice — is afforded by school games and athletics. That is why I rejoice at the approaching completion of our new playground, rendered all the more necessary by the building of the new school. That is why, apart from, the physical goqd resulting from the exercise of wholesome employment, so much trouble is taken at this school with the boys’ out-of-class occutions. Of course these things may be allowed to occupy too much of the_ boys’ attentions and thought—they may be regarded as the only thing desirable—but at this school very strenuous efforts are made to prevent play from assuming too important a place. That Satan finds mischief for idle hands is an ever present difficulty for the schoolmaster, whose aim should be to keep hands and minds busy with healthy occupation. It is true that at times the boy attaches, too much importance to athletics; but the danger he thus incurs is a grain of sand to the mountain of danger that threatens the boy who, slack in his class-work, takes no part in the athletic side of the school life. His mind wanders—and assuredly it does wander—it does not roam over the clean fields of health and the plavet of games, but wades through the garbage of the gutter of idleness.” FREE PLACES AND NEW SCHOOL The new school was opened in 1909. Associated with it were the laboratory, masters’ room, headmaster’s room and assembly hall. The whole building was furnished with single desks. Both buildings were practically full when the new one was opened, so great was the demand for admission to the college. At this time there was a long controversy on the decision of the Government regarding free places at the college. Against this proposal there was a strong contention that the independence of the college was leing seriously disturbed. Mr. Heine, who was acting as headmaster during Mr. Firth’s second absence in England, expressed the opinion that the free place experiment had failed for two reasons—the standard of proficiency was too low, and there seemed to be'a tendency to neglect, in the qualifying schools, the principles underlying the teaching of English. Mr. Firth was not satisfied when the new school was built. “If we could have our new playground completed—unfortunately, we have spent £l5O more than we possess and wo require another £3oo—with our excellent swimming bath and this building, we should want only a large gymnasium to make us comparatively satisfied with our equipment,” he remarked. It was about this time that the tennis courts were made. “The Wellington ian,” the useful half-yearly record of the ’doings of the college, expressed pride, in 1912, in the record of some of the old boys of the school. Allan McDougall, Rhodes Scholar, had been appointed lecturer to an English University; P. W. Robertson, another Rhodes Scholar, achieved a like distinction; Alex Gray was a K.C.; A. M. Myers had been Minister of Railways; and F. M. B. Fisher, Minister of Customs. MODERN LIFE AND PLEASURE “The craving of modern life for the easy, comfortable and pleasant is the very thing the schoolmaster should set himself to avoid,” said Mr. Firth in one of his addresses in tho year before the Great War. “It is good that a boy should have difficulties to meet. It is good that he should feel that he is not playing but really working. It is good for him to find that the joy of effort, the joy of successful effort, is worth more than all the pleasures he hopes to find, and never does really find, along the easy road.” A NEW WELLINGTON COLLEGE The third year of the Great War saw plans definitely laid for the Memorial Hall and the new Wellington College, to replace buildings now 50 years old. Tho foundation stono was laid last year by Lord jellicoe. The contract is for £45,630, including dormitory block £29,060, and kitchen block £14,100. Wellington College stands to-day—or the college now being built will stand, on its completion—practically” through the efforts of one man. It is given to but few to possess tho personal magnetism to inspire others; it is only one in a thousand that can pass on his enthusiasm and gain whole-hearted co-operation. That this power has been the means of bringing Wellington College to its present standard any old boy will testify, for he will remember how the school's beloved headmaster fired him personally, so that he was prepared to forego his play hours to form one of a cordon to march in lin» across ths new playing-fields, in search of weeds or stones that might spoil it. Perhaps the best key to Mr. Firth’s attitude in these matters is to be found in his first address to the boys when he took up his post, thirty-two years ago. “I have come here,” he said, “as headmaster. You come to learn, Ito teach. You will be given ample opportunity for learning, and for play; I will assist you in both. When you work, work hard; when you play, play hard; if you must fight, fight hard, but hit always above the belt.” THE SCHOOL AND THE EMPIRE The Great War was an ordeal that tested institutions, as well as nations and individuals. Wellington College stood the ordeal. In the first Expeditionary Force that sailed from New Zealand and took Samoa one man in every ten was an “Old Wellingtonian.” From 1890 to 1912 tho total number of old boys who passed through tho school was 2836. Of that number no fewer ”than 1643 went on active service. This record, especially when seen ir the light of the casualties suffered, and the distinctions won, reveals the quality of the manhood produced by th© college.