MR. WELLS' RETIREMENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18225, 19 October 1922, Page 6

MR. WELLS' RETIREMENT.

Mr. T. U. Wells, headmaster of the Richmond Road School, whose retirement is announced, is an educationalist of distinction. In a service that is famed for the calibre and lofty ideals of its members, Mr. Wells occupied a prominent place. No individual better typifies the general qualities of the profession. He belongs to that order of men who regard their wort not as a means of livelihood but as a mission for progress toward a higher plane of life. To tho school he brought scholarship and wisdom, and his influence always carried an inspiration to good citizenship, but his efforts ware not confined to the schoolroom. His outlook was wide, and he had the energy and capacity to make him prominent in the councils of education and the governing bodies of institutions. The value of- such individual labours cannot be assessed, but general results provide the monument' of all those who bring patience, zeal and vision to the task. Not the least of Mr. Wells' many services was his recent mission to North America, where he officially investigated the education systems of Canada and the United States, and it was in some measure due to his recommendations that the junior high school system, recently initiated, was adopted. Fortunately Mr. Wells' retirement from the ranks of active teachers will not deprive the city and the Dominion of his ripe knowledge in matters pertaining to education. He retains his health and mental vigour, and his readiness to serve in an honorary 'capacity will doubtless bring- him many more busy years of high endeavour.