DEATH OF RECTOR

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 134, 4 December 1944, Page 4

DEATH OF RECTOR

MR. FRANK MILNER

A GREAT EDUCATIONIST

P.A. OAMARU, December 3. The death occurred yesterday afternoon in dramatic circumstances of Mr. Frank Milner, C.M.G., M.A., rector of the Waitaki Boys' High School, aged 69 years. Within a few minutes of his cutting a ribbon to open a newlyerected gateway to Milner Park, he collapsed and his death was announced shortly afterwards. Mr. Milner was retiring at the end of the present term. His successor will be Brigadier J. T. Burrows, now serving with the N.Z.E.F. in Italy. The ceremony of opening the memorial gate was the first of several functions and presentations to mark Mr. Milner's retirement. The inscription on the gateway is as follows: "This entrance was erected by old boys of Waitaki as a tribute to Mr. Farnk Milner, C.M.G., M.A., rector, 1906-44."

Milner Park, a fine sports area of 10 acres, was Mr. Milner's jubilee gift to the school in 1933. After cutting the ribbon to open the gateway, Mr. Milner was speaking of the type of intermediate departments attached to secondary schools of which he had been such an ardent advocate when he collapsed and fell forwards from the low platform, landing heavily on the ground.

. ir. Milner was born at Nelson in 1875 and received his education in that city. In 1893, after attending Nelson College, he won a New Zealand University junior scholarship and subsequently took three first-class honours in languages and literature. Before his appointment as rector of the Waitaki Boys' High School he achieved considerable distinction as assistant

master at Nelson College. His appointment to Waitaki was made in 1906 and his influence in educational matters was soon felt. There were fewer than 100 pupils at the school when he took over; today the roll number is 556.

Mr. Milner was always an advocate c": the attached type of intermediate department for secondary schools, and the introduction of these into New Zealand was" largely the result of his efforts. Sir James Parr, when Minister of- Education, authorised an investigation into the system in the U.S.A., and in 1924 Waitaki was selected as the first secondary school to have an intermediary attached. A man of high ideals, Mr. Milner played a part that far exceeded the narrow limits commonly attached to educational life. In 1921 he attended the Pan-Pacific Conference at Honolulu as New Zealand Government delegate. In 1923 he toured America on behalf of Rotary International, and in 1929 went overseas once more to study education in Great Britain and on the Continent, and he attended education conferences at Vancouver, Elsinore (Denmark), Geneva, and Oxford as New Zealand delegate.. In 1936 he attended the Canadian Imperial Conference on Education at Banff, 'and in 1938 the Conference Oi the British Empire Relations in Australia. He delivered many lectures along the years including the Cawthron Lecture in 1934, when he' dealt with the problems of the Pacific.

Mr. Milner was made a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George in 1925. He is survived by his wife and daughter, Miss Winsome Milner, and three sons, lan, who is a lecturer at Melbourne University, Hugh who is serving with the N.Z.E.F. in Italy, and John, an officer in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, and now a .prisoner of war in Germany Two brothers, Messrs. W. Milner and C. Milner, and a sister live at Nelson.