THE VERE FOSTER ART AND WRITING COMPETITION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 8986, 25 February 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE VERE FOSTER ART AND WRITING COMPETITION.

A MAORI BOY WINS A PRIZE. Tim work of the successful competitors in tho Vere Foster annual art competition for school children is now on view at the Memorial Hall, Farringdon-strcet, London. The competition, which includes the subjects of writing, lettering, drawing, and painting, was instituted by Mr. Vere Foster seventeen years ago, being now open to pupils of either public or private schools throughout tho British Empire. In connection with this annual competition, nearly 5000 prizes have been already distributed, worth altogether upwards of £2200 ; and the pupils of 3000 schools of all classes have taken part in the competition, which has extended to every county and every large town in Great Britain and Ireland, as well as to Australia, Now Zealand, Malta, and Rangoon. This year 196 boys have competed and 433 girls, representing twenty--six counties in Ireland and thirty-nine in Great Britain. In ordinary writing there are 312 competitors, and the specimens shown are very creditable. One of the successful competitors is a Maori youth, named Haraki Hoeratere, of tho Ohincmutu native school, near tho scene of the recent great earthquakes in New Zealand. Other pupils of this interesting seminary contribute creditable specimens of handwriting. Of course it is English handwriting in one of Vere Foster's copybooks, as in the case of the ordinary competitors. The highest prize in this department (£3) was for the third time awarded to a boy, W. G. B. Stromach, aged 16, a pupil of Merchiston Castle School, Edinburgh. The Maori boy takes one of the five-shilling prizes. The awards for handwriting were made as usual by Mr. Vere Foster himself; those for lettering, drawing, and painting by an experienced committee. In lettering, the highest prize, £2 10s, is awarded to David Dryden, a pupil of the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle-on-Tyne. In drawing' and painting, the competition contiri.v, to be very satisfactory, especially »': the subjectof flower-painting, in which subject —though there is no super-excellencethe work is generally so good in quality, and so numerous in quantity, that Mr. Vere Foster has divided it into two classes —simple and advanced—and has greatly exceeded the number of prizes offered, besides issuing a very large number of certificates of honourable mention, in hope of encouraging some of the recipients to make more ambitious efforts. In advanced flower-painting there are twenty comEetitors. Some of the copies are even etter than the original chromo-lithographs for softness of tint and delicacy of touch. A similar competition is invited for 1888, when £617 is to be given in prizes—£269 for writing and lettering, and £348 for J drawing and painting. I