BISHOP SCHOOL.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXIII, Issue 321, 19 December 1889, Page 2

BISHOP SCHOOL.

The Bishop's sohoolroom, whioh waa gaily decorated with ferns, flower?, and bunting, was crowded on the oooasion of tha distribu tion. of prizes at 11 o'clook this morning.

The Most Bey, the Primate, who presided, said he was happy to sse so many present. There had been no great inorease in the population, but the larger attendances showed a growing interest in the sohool, which was

highly appreciated by all oonneoted with it. He felt that they were cingulaiiy fortunate in retaining tbo services of Uc Harkneas, in whom the boys had a good friend. (Ohe9rs.) The sohool was kept going entirely on its own merit?, and without any endowments, and it was owing to the position that Mr Harkness h-d won as a teacher that iff) success was So largely owing The examinations had beon principally conducted by persons outside the eohool, and great pnins bad been taken over them. The report of these would now be read : — Mb. Q-. Harknkss' Report. Mr G. Harkness, of the Bridge street school, reported that he had undertaken the mathematical part of the examination. The .range of work was an extensive one, com<> prising the first six books of Euolid, Trigonometry to tho solution of triangles, Algebra (including permutations and combinations), and arithmetic. In Euclid and Tiigonometry the work of the highest form was very unequal, Hamilton, with 76 and 80 per cent respectively, completely eclipsing the others. One of the boys showed an inventive genius for discovering other methods than those of Euclid, and the palm assurance with which he almost invariably took the predicate for granted, and thus tried to draw some conclusion quite foreign to the preparation, was quite refreshing. The Trigonometry of Form B was splendidly done by Dartnall, and both Hunter Brown and Hamilton were good. The Algebra of Form A and B was thoroughly done throughout the whole of each olass. The Arithmetic was very good throughout with the exception of Form C, who did not seem to be at home with <ihe papers. Other details were referred to. Miss Harrison's Report. Form V.— Pbyoiology.— The Phyßiology papers were all fairly well answered, Tomlinson, Keble, and Dartnall ii did very satis'ao6ory work. Tomlinsoa's paper contained some first-rate answers, and Keble and Dartnall ii deserve commendation for olear and •aoourate knowledge. Most of the papers showed an intelligent grasp of the rudiments of phyalology, and all were fairly well ex pressed, though tho hard namts appear to have caused confusion in some cases. No paper was without faults in spelling. One question whioh was not in the course of instruction was answered entirely at random. The questions on the structure of the body and action of the heart were particularly well answered, and on tho whole the result of the examination on this subject was very good. Miss Harbison's Report. History. — Form V.— The papers on this subject were tolerably equal on the whole. Keeble and Dartnall ii have done the best. No paper was faultless, but in every paper there were some good answers. Some.papere showed great confusion, on the point of the succession of the Kings of England, and in the matter of spelling there is much room for improvement — but nearly every paper - showed a vivid realisation of the historical > characters named, and an accurate recollection ' tion of the events connected with them, The language was nearly always desoriptive ; and to the point. Mrs, Suter's Report. Form VI. — Tempest (Shakespeare) anc Puritan Revolution . —Tho papers of Talboi on both these eubjiots were far superior t< those ol any other boy, and may be clasaec sa very gcoJ. Dartnall i, aud Lovitn i, nr< nexfc in order, aid nearly equal. Tokln? th< answers generally in the whole form, thn ippeara fco bo a fuirly accurate knowledge o: tho eubjeotß, but thorn is a want of cl-arneei and conciseness in tho mod-J of exi;ro;sioo and th» ftpollirg is by no means perfect. Form V. — Geography, Composition, nnc Grammar.— ln tbis fcrm also there appeari to be a tolerably acourate acquaintance wW the subject, and several of the papers an very well written, well expressed, and rights speU. Kempthorne and Dartnall ii pr« worthy of Bpeoial commendation. '■ ho pap-ri of TomSinson have been also oorofully writtan, bat in many of the others the writing is bad, and the spelling very dofeo'dve, Comments by the Bishop. The portion under atudy, viz,, tbo Commonwealth or tbe Puritan Revolu'ioo, is one in which the sympathies of tho teacher au'l fho toxb biok will b^ markedly manifest in the epithets used by the boys in describing tbo characters. It buouM be borne in mind t'jat both p*nfea iv tho time of the Stuarts find Commonwealth straggle wished for a despotism iv religious matters. The Puritans wcto &9 arbitraiy •md deapolic whfn they had the unper hand as any Archbishop or Bishops. If the. one side insisted on a uniformity of rite and ceremony the other aida prescribed the Praycjr Bcok, and ejoc.'ei tbps; who used it, and made it a otimo to use it, and it was net till long after thai; ronl tolera ion was made part of the English Constitution. It is on« thing to say the Puritans deaired a purtr form of worship, another to ssiy they cie&ire>l what they tnought was a purer form.

Mr Kempthorne'b Report.

The Rev. J. P. Kempthorne who examined the lower room in English and mathematics, reported that a very considerable advance had been made, the boys being well grounded, and the work neatly done. The weakest point was the reading. Arithmetio showed a marked improvement.

Ma G. Hodgson's Report.

Mr G. Hodgson reported that in book*keep_ ing the questions were answered in a very creditable manner, while some of the papers of Form VI were unusually good, and clearly showed that the boys possessed a considerable acquaintance with the theoretioal and practioal parts of book-keeping and double-entry, aJknow'eUge tbat will doubtless be useful to many in after life.

The prizes were tnen awarded as follows:

Soriptore — (Presented by His Lordship the Bishop of Nelson) Form VI. : Hamilton ii ; V., Keeble ; IV„ Washbourne ; 111., Holloway. English— Form IV., Talbot ; V,, Dart-

nail ii lst, Tomlinson 2nd ; IV., Washbourne ; 111., Griffin, lst, Severne 2nd, Levien iv. 3rd, Rochfort 4th. Mathematics — Form A., Hamilton i ;

B„ Dartnall i ; O, Koeble j D„ Trask. Latin — Form A., Hunter-Brown • B, Hamilton i ; O, Keeble. Book-keeping— Form A., Hamilton i

8., Bird. Writing — (Presented by W. W. Dartna:

Esq.) Upper Room, Levien i j Lower Room Holloway.

Drawing— Bennett.

Extra for Good Conduct— (Presented to Lower Room by Mrs Holloway) Levien iv,

The Bishop said there was about to be a ohange in the Btaff, Mr Harris, by whom several generations of boys had been taught, having resigned the position of drawing master, and he (the Bishop) wished to express his sense of the devotion he had shown to his work, and the interest he had invariably

taken in the boys. (Cheers.) He had just been informed that the boys, desirous of showing their goodwill fco Mr Harris, had subscribed for the purpose of purchasing an eaey ohair, whioh he now had great pleasure in presenting to him as a mark of their kindly feeling towards him, Mr Harris briefly thanked the boys for their kindness in thinking of him.

Bir Harkcesa desired to convey the congratulations of himself and the boys to the Hishop on his elevation to the position of PrirnntG, Io a speoial manner the boys at

tending tho 'Bishop's school looked upon him as our Bishop, and felt*, a certain amount cf pride io knowing tbat o?*r Biehop was Primate of all New Zealand. Ho felfc quite sure that bis new responsibilities and cares would in oo way lessen the intores"; he took in the sohool. Ho thanked tho Bishop and the examiners, and could say that the report whioh

had obeered him most was that on book keeping. Tbe objeot ho hed in view was to mako ihis a commercial school, and with thnt objeot book keeping and shorthand were to form prominent items in the ourrioulum. One weak feature he hrd to allude to wos the bad spelliug, whioh in ?ooie oases he was inolined to regird as au infirmity, ja.-t ns muoh bo a^ kleptomanie, nnd he woe not sure that this would not bo ino'rea?ed by ths study of shorthand, somo of the boya being already too muoh given to epelli-jg on phonetio principles. Ha would add to tho kind words the Bishop had spoken of Mr Uarrip, with whom be had now had the pleasure of baing associated for ten years. With regar 1 to two of the boys who were leaving, Levien snd Hamilton, ho felt that ho w*?s parting wit'a two old friende, who would be greatly miosed both in the eohool and in aU oateido games. He was able to say that they wem Koing ont into the world better fitted for a commercial life than any boys who bad previously loft tbe Bobcol, and he hoped that their connection with the sohool would be aa influence for good which would follow them through life.

Tho Primate, ia addressing the boys, Baid

that be was phased to think that they ap preciated thsir p-ivileges, and that there was an esprit de oorps among them, and he hoped th»t* they would always remember chat they v bad tho oharaoter of the achoal to k6cp up after they Ief t it. , Vory muoh of the conduot of thoso who were bit must

depend up-.n the senior boya; the language, •oonversution, *>ud whole nono and temper of trie eohool largely c'ependJd upon what they chose to make it, and he w-.s boppy to think ihat fche Bobiors would be good lea if rs having a due ser.se of tbeir responsibility. There was one great question with which both boys and parents would soon be oallod upon to d'-fel; 'h-sfc was th-* keeping up of the edaoauo?i after soLool life wos ended. Amerioa was setting n gnod txampie in this respeot, for th- re there wer elaborate and magnifioent orgauiaavions, : y the help of whioh the work of education wjs oarrhd oj iuto later lifo, j But co organisation would be of use unless there was a desiro an the part of the young m-JU to avail themselves of it, and it would bo for the poronts to see how they could orente and encourage euoh a deßire. The Primate congratulated the masters on the amount of work that bad been done, end the prospects of the sohool, and thanked Mr Harkness for his kindly remarks. He looked upon all the duties that fell upon him as privileges, and he hoped that if it was the will of God that he should be called upon to undertake those of his new position, he should do so with wisdom and humility. An effort had been made during the past year to teach the boys singing, for which they were all deeply indebted to Miss Harrison, to whom the boys had very thoughtfully and liberally last night made a presentation, (Cheers ).

Mr Harkness desired to thank Miss Harrison for many little attentions she had shown to the school, and also Mr Kempthorne for his lessonß in Scripture, and the general interest he displayed in the school, of which he had formerly been head master. (Cheers).

Cheers were given for the Primate, Mrs Suter, the examiners, the teachers, Mr Harris, the teachers, Miss Harrison, and Mr Kempthorne, and the proceedings . terminated.