[ADVERTISMENT.] REV. DAVID BRUCE ON AUCKLAND INSTITUTIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume V, Issue 1364, 31 March 1868, Page 4

[ADVERTISMENT.] REV. DAVID BRUCE ON AUCKLAND INSTITUTIONS.

To the Editor of the Hehald. Sib, —I have to request that you will be so pood as to publish the annexed correspondence. Having published the document to which it refers, you will I have no'doubt, consider it equitable that both sides should be heard. —I am, &c, R. Kidd. U> Collegiato School, Earangahape Road, March 19, 1868. Deer Sir, —In tho Herald of to-day there is published an account of tiio'annual meeting of tho Congregation of St. Andrew's Church, held in the Church yesle-day. You aro r.tated to havo been (he Chairmen, of that meeting, and to have r-jud to the congregation tho " Knport of St. Andrew's Deacons' Court for 1867." That Report is printed as at fell length, and is givon as signed by you. The eighth paragraph of tho Bcport is a - , follows:— "The Hi|jh School, tbonrh not identified with tho congregation or church, continues to occupy tho St. Andrew's School buildings in Srmonds-street, and retains ils position as the moat efficient institution in lho community" I submit; that under these circumstances I am entitled to ask that you will favor mo with what you consider to be proof of tha statement, that " the High School letdns its position as the most efficient institution in tho community." I feel euro that you, tho minister of St. Andrew's Church, would not ro'id to your congregation in the church, and allow the further publication of, a document signed with your name, and conl.-.ininc: such a statement that quoted above, without your being in possession of such data as appear to v 'U to warrant t! o statement. I beg, therefore, to request from you the communication of those data.—l remain, dear Sir. Yours truly, Eev. David Bruce. Robebt Kidd. («T St. Andrew's Manse, 20lh March, 186 S. Dear fir, —I beg to acknowledge your letter of the 19th instant.—l am, yourß truly. The Eev. Dr. Kidd. D. Bruce. (3) Collegiate School, March 24th, ISRB. Dear Sir,—l beg to express my acknowledgments for your prompt courtesy in notifying to me your receipt of my letter of the 19th inst., and at the sama time to sugsrest to you that it is very undesirable that there should be a protracted delay in your replying to the query which I convoyed to you—namely, as to the data which appeared to you to autl orzo the statement contained in tho Report of your Deacons' Court, to the effect that the " High School"' is '* the most efficient institution in the community." I shall feel greatly obliged if you will bo good enough to let mo have your reply as soon as possible, without undue inconvenienco to you.- ! -I remain, dear Sir, Yours truly, Rev. David Bruce. K. Kidd. (*■)" St. Andrew's Manso, 24th March, 1868. Dear Sir, —I beg leave to acknowledge your note of the 24th inet., and have only to add that I remain yours truly, Eev. Dr. Kidd. D. Bhuce. (5.) Collegiato School, March 28th, ISCS. Dear Fir, —I received, two days ago, your noto dated the 24th inst. It is much to be regretted that you should occupy euoh a pceition as that in which you have placed yourself—a position not to be rendered less humiliating by a weak affectation of hauteur. You, the minister of St. Andrew's Church, have read to your congregation in the church, and have allowed tho farther publication of, a document signed with your name, and containing an uncalled for statement concerning your neighbours, without your being prepared to adduce data in proof of the statement being correct. It appears further that you are equally unprepared to adopt the manly and more gentlemanly alternative of making a frank apology. The statement to which I have called your attention has thus been branded with the stigma of boing "not proven." I shall now briefly indicate some considerations that evince the futility of such an allegation. The paragraph of the Report, which I have previously quoted, is so curious as to merit repetition. It is as follows :— " The High School, though-not identified with the congregation or the church, continues to occupy the St. Andrew's School buildings, in Srmonds-Btreot, and retains its position as tho most efficient institution in the community." This queerly worded paragraph can scarcely be taken as exhibiting any special efficiency of accurate or lucid composition. Mriclly interpreted.it would imply that to b» "identified with" St. Andrew's congregation or church is the normal source of an institution's transcendent efficiency ; and reilly such does appear to be your opinion. The paragraph ends with broadly awarding t superiority over all other institutions in tho community—not excepting, for' example, the Supreme Court, or the Loyal and Independent Order of Odd Fellows. The intended meaning, however, is probably no more than this, that tho school held in tho precincts of St. Andrew'n Church, is tho most efficient male school in Auckland.

Had you been content with claimin;: for your school a place among the most efficient schools of Auckland, no one would have been disposed to complain. For my own part, I have, to this I -.y, employed no other languago than that of rsspee when speaking of the gentleman who is the principal manager of the High School. You, however, have dragged in r.he making of invidious comparisons.What is the real test of a school's eminence ? The decision is not to be derived from the "high jinks" of a Deacons' Court, n"r yet from the lordly dictum of an ecclesiastical autocrat, bold to obtrude judgment, but coy as to grappling w ; th ev £,i encCi The most decisive test would be that of results ascertained by a competent and impartial tribunal. In the absence, howeTer, of formal adjudication, thero are eome guarantees of efficiency of such a kind aa to be patent to the public. Such questions as the following will naturally suggest themselves:—What ore the collegiate distinctions gained by the conductors of a giren school ? or what other public evidences are there of " high" reputation in literature or Bcience ? What is the number of teachers in the school, and what the number of pupils? Whi tis the system of discipline? Ta the school supported by sectional or denominational partizanship ? I shall, of course, consider myself at liberty to give publicity to this correspondence. I remain, dear sir, Yours truly, ._ _ ~ _ Robert Eidd. Be v. David Bruce.