WAITAKI OLD BOYS

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 121, 18 November 1929, Page 11

WAITAKI OLD BOYS

THE LONDON DINNER

MR. MILNER ATTENDS

ROYAL INTEREST

(From "The Post's" Representative.)

LONDON, 10th October.

. The annual dinner of the Waitaki Old Boys' Association of Great Britain was held at the Trocadero Restaurant on Bth October, when the headmaster, Mr. Frlnk Milner, C.M.G., was present. ' 3VIr. A. L. Haslam presided, and the guest of the evening was Mr. W. Bulkeley-Evans, secretary of the Public Schools' Employment Bureau. Proposing the health of Mr. Bulke-ley-Evans, Mr. Haslam referred to his close association with Mr. Milner in the scheme under which some twenty English public school boys had gone out to Waitaki to prepare themselves for life on the land in i\ Tew Zealand. "There they are to be under Mr. Milner 's guardianship. He is to exhibit towards them, to adopt a mediaeval expression about the Court of Chancery 'the watchfulness of a nursing father.' The arrival of boys from the public schools of England should be of great benefit to Waitaki. Fresh blood is always" beneficial, and I can think of no better influence to bring into the school than that of the English public school boy." (Applause.) Mr. Bulkeley-Evans said: "My heart is very much in the subject of public school boy migration, and I have tried to get boys worthy of their opportunity. The old scheme, which achieved a large measure of success, has gone, as schemes do when there are changes of Government. Now the new scheme has .come up, and I hope it will develop. The Government; however, is'not fikely to help any private schemes in New Zealand at present. -'"The boys we send out must have capital. It is no good sending out boys from good homes to be farm labourers all their lives. It is, however, a tremendous problem for-parents to fit them out with sufficient capital. I ani sorry that the* scheme has been cold-shouldered by the Government, and that, as a result, the outlook at the moment is about as dark as it has . ever been." Proposing the toast of Mr. Milner, and the School, Dr. A. J. Harrop said that the schools of New Zealand were engaged in a. very wholesome rivalry. "I think I may, without undue pride, say that "Waitaki is among the" leaders in the race. Have we not in our genial chairman to-night an example- of • the results of Waitaki's training? Coming to England with his LL.M. and a_ Rhodes Scholarship, ho qualifies for his Oxford doctorate and strokes his college boat almost simultaneously. Not content with this, he proposes to spend his third year at-Oxford not in legitimate ease, in that city of dreaming spires and lost causes, but in adding to his honours the degree of Bachelor of Common Laws.' (Applause.) I feel that the very fact that old boys in England meet together to preserve their connection with the.school is in itself an^eloquent tribute. The school 'is carrying on in good style in-Mr. Milner's absence, under the able guidance of Mr. M'Culloch. Victories at Rugby against - Christchurch and Timaru send a thrill through us even at this distance. Of Mr. Milner himself it is unnecessary for me to say a great deal. The reception he has had in this country is adequate proof of the reputation he has won for Waitaki. and for himself." (Applause.) . THE FIRST SECTOR. Mr. Milner said: '/it is a very fine tribute to the school that you are able to keep 'this institution going so far away from New Zealand. It forms a social agency wherein old boys can fraternise and, by keeping in touch | with the school, gather in intensified measure the fruits of that collegiate spirit which is growing with the years. From a huge mass of 75 letters from boys which I had by a recent mail, I gather that my absence has caused, if anything, an accentuation of vitality in the life of Waitaki. (Laughter.) "I want to tell you how I came recently to meet Mr. John Harkness, the first rector of Waitaki.. Blundell was playing cricket for Cambridge at Cheltenham, when a gentleman approached him and said that he had heard that he was a New Zealander. He asked if Blundell knew Oamaru, and when he replied that he had been educated at Waitaki, Mr. Harkness, for it was he, remarked: "That is a pleasant surprise. I was the first rector there.' " Mr.' Milner then described how he Had located Mr. Harkness at Cheltenham with Mr. Robert Milligan's aid, and had had a long, talk with him on the early days of the school—the more Important because some of the early records had been destroyed. Mr. Harknesß had promised to Write down his 1 reminiscences for publication in the official history which would appear at the time of the school's jubilee in 1933. The original plan of Waitaki had been too closely on the lines of Eton for colonial conditions, and by insisting on the school's national character' the governors had to some extent alienated local sympathy. "As a result," Mr. Milner said, "Mr. Harkness went through a somewhat purgatorial experience, but I can say that, after listening to him, my respect ~for him is unbounded. Very few men would think of prospects such as he relinquished in going to New Zealand without the iron entering into their soul.'' THE QUEEN'S INTEREST. Mr. Milner referred briefly to his audience with the Prince of Wales, and addpd that when he was presented to the Queen at Buckingham Palace she said: "My two sons have both told me of Waitaki. Why didn't we see it when we were there?" He went on to speak of the various education conferences he had just attended on the Continent, of education in England, and of his' impressions in general after his recent extensive tour.

Mr. Haslam expressed the pleasure of the association that Mr. E. P. Lee, chairman of the Board of Governors, had' been able to attend the two reunions during the year. Mr. Lee, in replying, said that in his opinion anyone in 'New Zealand who was in control 'of education in any way should visit England at the request of the State. He could not believe that anybody who had not left the Dominion could possibly keep abreast of educational progress.

On the- motion of Dr. Harrop it was decided to elect Mr. Harknes's an honorary member of the association, and to send him a messago of greeting and thanks for his work for tho school in its earliest days. The following officers were elected:— President, Lord Strathspey; committee, Messrs. A. L. Haslam (chairman), E. P. de Vries (hon. secretary), L. C. Webb, Dr. E. E. Macintosh, Dr. B. C. Eennie, and Dr. A. J. Harrop.