RECOLLECTORS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 14 May 1925, Page 4

RECOLLECTORS.

(By John Harre--Headmaster 1576-7). Fifty years age the group of schools of which Hawera} school was one were controlled by tfie Patea Education

Board, afterwards merged into tire Wanganui board. The chief school in the group was the Patea—for iyr those days Patea was a much larger .town than Hawera! The chairman waff Mi*. Tom Middlemas- —a shrewd Scotchman, who took good care to see that the Patea board was well endowed wijth large grants of land —the revenue frotfi\ which -helped to pay what was then considered" good salaries to their teachers. While in charge of the Hawera school 1 got about £3 a week. The Patea board had no inspector of their own, and the examinations were conducted by Dir. Robert Lee, the Wellington school inspector. One can imagine the *,! mount of travelling he would do. in order to cover the scattered schools in his charge. While ! was at Hawera we had to be content with one visit in the year, and even less in my

predecessors’ time (Messrs Chamberlaip and Harkness), for ff was the third who had charge of The school. Boys and girls of .to-day may look back with pity on ’their* predecessors in connection with games. As a matter of fact, there vyere no organised games in the . smaller schools at all. ±he bigger hoys spent their play-time m chasing one. another about the grounds, .the smaller ones in digging holes, in the soft soil near the school. The girls divided their; time j between skipping rope and marbles. On wet days pupils were allowed to'erod’d into the single porch,or crawl under the buildin o . There were no shelter sheds then. Pupi's came from all parts of the district to the Hawera 'School, these from a distance on horseback. The young Homes came from their uncle s place at the AVaingongorO', Ruby Gore and the Hicks from near the Tangalioe. No one but Maoris lived on the other side of the Tawhiti, and it was considered to he quite out of the question to allow them to attend. As. the metalled roads extended only a short way from the centre of the town it was almost impossible for young (pupils to. come any distance in winter.* The cirriculum was confined to the / three It's, with a little geography and historv. There was quite an outcry when T introduced ; a little fancy printing and drawing. But in spite ot all our drawbacks—and. there were many —a o-ood foundation was laid, and I understand that quite a number oi my old pupils have risen to eminence in various professions, the law, medicine, and the church,! aud, what I consider quite as good, intelligent farmers ana tradesmen.”

(Bv “Hori.”) When the writer entered the Hawera School for the first time it had been in existence about seven years, so I can lay claim to being one of the early pupils; but, of course, there are many other ones living in these parts and elsewhere who -attended the school from the outset of its activities. Neverthe- t less, I will try and add a few reminiscences that have left their impress in my memory durum the time I was a pupil at tlie school. < ‘Jn the year 1882, when I first came to. Hawera* as a. youngster, Hawera was a busy little town. There were no railways, aud 1 can recall being driven up from Patea, accompanied by my people, bv the veteran expressman, Mr George AYilliams. That gentleman is still hale and hearty, and has never shifted from Patea, where he still resides. I have seen him several times on the Hawera bowling green during the past season, and for his years he carries his age extremely well.

■‘‘Though so many years have passed away, 1 still have recollections of my old teachers. The one in particular, my old headmaster, Mr Alex Mair, will always live in my. memory, for he was a master, notwithstanding his strict discipline, whom everyone respected. I fancy even now being able to see him standing at the school door ringing the hand-bell, which called the scholars to lessons. The school in those days did not possess a belfry like the present one. Sir Mail- put'his Whole life into his work, and obtained splendid results at the end of the year, when the inspector’s examination took place. Several weeks before that event occurred, he used to forcibly remind the pupils that the time was drawing near 1 for them to. put forth their best efforts, ‘Now boys and girls,’ he . would remark, ‘it is only six weeks until the examination.’ This was his hardy an. muil, and >ve boys and girls looked, for it every year. Looking up an old file of the Star of 1887, I noticed that at the annual concert that year, which, event was always held in the old Town Hall, now the Opera House, the chairman of the School Committee, Mr Thomas Hutchison; afterwards a stipendiary magistrate, referred ■to the excellent report of the school inspector, for that year. Hawera School had the best results of all the schools in the Education Board district. “As mentioned before, there was a conceit at the end of the year, when the prizes won by the scholars were presented. Looking over the files previously mentioned, I read the. account of the annual, concert, in 1887. The remarks bv the reporter on those who recited 'at that function were very edifying. It said that the work of the pupils, mentioning four or five in particular j compared very favourably with those competing in an elocutionary contest in the Town Hall a few days previously. There, was also special mention of an item given by Mr Robert Law, who was designated a probationer. The piece he gave was the well-known old song, “The Bells. Mr Law was afterwards headmaster at Kaponga. School, I think. I also noticed in another part of the. paper a humorous paragraph mentioning that an old native who, on seeing so many children marching down ,to the concert, exclaimed that the pakeha ichildlren ■were at the same as the bee, this being swarming Tinie in the mind of the old Maori. ( ' In those days the! school was not in. the happy position of possessing a . piano, and Mr IMLair taught th© chil- j dren singing by the tonic sol. fa. method. 1 Instead of getting his note from the { piano, be always “had recourse to a tuning fork, and it was quite, funny to hear him after he had given the fork ■ a bite between his teeth hum to himself “Do-me-so-do.” “The headmistress in those days was Mrs Horneman, now residing at Northcote, Auckland. Like Mr Mair, she was a very energetic teacher and. a strict disciplinarian, having greta control over her pupils. She went to live in the Mangatoki district after laeving the Hawera School, where her husband was engaged in farming pursuits. Mr . Horneman died at Auckland a few years ago.' . ; “Amongst other teachers in my time were Messrs Ambler Woodhead, Arthur Tompkins, Richihgs Grant, Alex Matheson, (now of South Africa), Percy Jackson (now headmaster at Feilding), and David Syme. The lady teachers were Misses Hobbs, xsrunette, I. Hutchison. There were others, I suppose, but theseare all whom I am able to recall whilst penning these notes.. “I noticed whilst perusing the report of the concert previously referred' to that there was a. prize given for the most popular boy in the school. This was awarded to Guy Livingston. During the time this pupil was at the school he was a sort of leader amongst the other boys. Being a big fellow, much bigger than most of the other boys, we always looked to Guy to take the lead in all* our proposals and plans, aud if any of the smaller boys were molested by a bully, Guy was always appealed to to intervene. On one occasion I remember the headmaster giving Guy his last strapping with the taws. The culprit was called out into the middle of the class-room, and the old master laid on the strap very severed. Guv took the ‘cuts,’ as we called it. without wincing. At last, tseeing that- the strapping had no visible effect on the scholar, Mr Mair remarked u\ a disconsolate tone, ‘Go to your sefi.t, Livingston, I woij’t waste any move energy on you,” or words to that effect. I nope my old schoolmate will pardon me for writing of him in this manner; but we boys naturally looked . upon\Guv as a hero in those days, and did wot consider ‘the punishment fitted the ciiime.’ ”