OBITUARY

Evening Post, Volume CIII, Issue 142, 19 June 1922, Page 8

OBITUARY

MR. ROBERT LEE

A WELL-KNOWN EDUCATIONIST.

The death occurred yesterday at his residence, Belvoir, Lower Hutt, in his eighty-fifth year, of Mr. Robert. Lee/ in his day one of the foremost educationists of the Dominion, and who was for over half a century an especially notable figure in the educational life of this district.

I The late Mr. Robert Lee was born at Grantham, Lincolnshire. He was educated i first at a small private school, and afterwards at the Grantham National School, j At an early age, he displayed considerable ability in his studies, and after serv- , ing four years as pupil teacher, gained, j when under the age of seventeen, a firstclass Queen's scholarship, which took him to St. Mark's College, Chelsea, London, for a period of two years. Here he pursued his studies with such diligence and success that he was allowed the privilege of a. third year's tuition. At the close ■of his college career, he was appointed by the principal (Derwent Coleridge, youngest son of the poet), resident master of the college and master in charge of the upper division practising school in connection with the institu- j tion. This position he occupied for two years, when he resigned in order to accept an appointment a-s headmaster of All Saints' School at Preston, Lancashire. Here he remained for five years, and was then appointed to the headmastership of the Bishop's School at Nelson, New Zealand. , This appointment was conferred by Bishop Chapman, the late Bishop of Colombo, who was at the time on a visit to England, and acting for Bishop Hobhouse, first; Bishop of Nelson. ' Mr. Lee came to New Zealand in the beginning of 1864 in the ship Memento.' He conducted the Bishop's School at Nelson .for ten years. In 1874, he was appointed chief inspector of schools under the Wellington Education Board. The standard system was introduced by him during the Srst year of his inspectorship in Wellington, and that system-was widely adopted. About two years later, a modification was made, and a system of six standards was brought into general use. More recently, Mr. Lee acted as editor of "Longman's Geographical Reader of New Zealand." FORMER TRIBUTE FROM BOARD AND STAFF. j On the occasion of the retirement of Mi-. Lee from the Wellington Board of Education in June, 1914, the members of the board and the administrative staff expressed their deep regret at his severing his official connection with the board. In an illuminated address presented along with a purse of sovereigns, they said: , "Mr. Lee, your career as inspector and secretary, chief inspector, member of the board, and finally chairman, is unique in the educational history of tha Dominion. Forty years ago, when you first took control of this district, nothing that could be called an education system existed. There was no syllabus; th» teachers, with few exceptions, were uncertificated and untrained; the school buildings were for the most part of the crudest description; of apparatus there was practically none. The admirable system of public instruction which in these1 adverse circumstances you established and directed is a monument to your scholarly attainment and administrative ability.- ButS ; the possession, of' distinguished professional qualifications was by no means all that was required of you. The ' strenuous days of early colonisation, the bvidgeless and often roadless districts which; in the course of your arduous-itineraries'you had to traverse, made demands on you that only the possession of an exceptional physique enabled you to meet. To-day, when you vacate the chair, for the last time, over 170 well-equipped primary and district high schools, with upwards of 18,000 children in attendance, havo taken the place of the fifty scantily-attended and poorly-staffed schools of forty years ago. Finances have been raised from a condition of extreme depression and placed on a thoroughly sound footing; and in general -efficiency the district is now second to none in the Dominion. In all this progress and improvement your sound judgment and wise direction have been conspicuous factors. Your control from the chair has always'been characterised by unfailing courtesy and scrupulous fairness, and in their continuous re-elec--1 tion of you to that responsible position your colleagues only showed that proper appreciation of your sterling worth' which is felt by the district at large. In con--1 elusion, we, not only for ourselves, but on the part also of the school committees and teachers of this district, wish you from the bottom of our hearts every happiness and good fortune in your proposed visit to the Old Country, a safe return, and a prolonged period of that leisure and ease to which your unremitting and successful labours in the great cause of education so justly entitle you." . AN INSPECTOR'S TRIBUTE. Speaking to-day of the worth and work of the late,Mr. Robert Lee, Mr. F. H. Bakewell, senior inspector of .schools, said: "My association with Mr. Lee dates from 1886, when I first came into the service of the Wellington Education Board. There was only one inspector lit that time, a.nd Mr. Lee was so identified with the position and had •so mi' pressed, his personality on the district that, long after his retirement it was a common experience for his successors to bo addressed as Mr. Lee by parents and children. Full justice has never been done to the great pioneering' work in education done by Mr. Lee in the early days of Wellington. When Mr. Lee took over the district in 1871 there was no real. education system in existence; the schools, with the exception of a few of tho large city schools whose teachers had been.specially imported from Home, were as a rule in charge of uncertificated and inexperienced men and women, doing their best in most adverse circumstances, but without training and without definite courses of instruction to guide them out of this chaos. Mt. Lee organised a system which, on the passing of the Education Amendment Act, fell readily and effectively into line with the new requirements. His district extended from Wellington to Wanganui, I think; and in the early 'seventies his itineraries, with bad roads and bridgeless rivers were undertakings requiring exceptional physical powers. His robust physique was matched with a strong character and personality which was felt and acknowledged by all who served under him. My personal recollections were of the happiest and most affectionate nature. lam indebted to him not only fo: professional advice and guidance, but for many acts of personal, kindness Mid consideration." "lit his. conduct of educational matters in i^js '-district, and in the spirit of fairness Vitli which he performed his duties, he set a standard which, his successors found it no easy (ask to follow. The majority of his associates in educational work' have ■ passed away, but his name is still » household word with Hie older settlers. To me. and to my former senior inspector. Sir. T. J!. Fleming (now senior inspector in Ohigo), the death of our olrl chief is indeed ji miittor of (loop :ind personal regret." Jlv. Ue was a member of tin: Wellington Hospital Board lor two years as

one of the representatives of tho contributors.

The late Mr. Robert Leo leaves a widow and the following sons .and daughters to mourn their loss:—Mr. Robert, Lee (Auckland), Mr. Phillip Lee, Mr. Lincoln Lee (Auckland), and Mr. Derwent Lee (Lower Hutt), Mrs. H. M. Hey wood (Wellington), Miss Ina Lee, Miss -Myrtle Lee (England), Mrs. M'Gregor Turnbull (Hawkes Bay) Mrs. B. M. Grant (South Africa). The funeral will take place to-morrow at 1.30 p.m. There, will bo a service at St. James' Church, Lower Hutt, and the interment will take place at the Taita Cemetery.