KING'S COLLEGE CONTROL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20594, 19 June 1930, Page 12

KING'S COLLEGE CONTROL

M IMPORTANT CHANGE.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND SCHOOL

' NEGOTIATIONS FINALISED.

SUM OF £20,000 SUBSCRIBED

An outstanding event in the history of Anglican religious education in New Zealand occurred yesterday, when an agreement, was reached for tho purchase of King's College by the trustees of St. John's College, one of tho oldest religious foundations in tho Dominion. The effect of tho agreement is that after tho legal formalities havo been completed, King's College will becomo- nn endowed school under tho direct control of thr. Anglican Church, on a similar footing to Christ's Collego, the Wanganui Collegiate School and To Ante Collego. It is now disclosed that to make tho transfer possible, friends and old boys of King's Collego havo raised in .recent months r» fund of £20,000. Tho St. 'John's Collego trustees, who, as Archbishop Averill stated last December, will take over liabilities amounting to nearly £60.000, have been authorised by the General "'Synod to apply for the benefit of King's Collego a trust fund of about £15,000 accruing from the sale of the property in Parnell formerly occupied by the Church of England Grammar School, .which went, out of existence 27 years ago. , ./ The Preparatory School.

Tlip status of King's School, Remuera, the preparatory school associated with King's College, is not affoctcd by the transaction, as tlio school is under separate ownership. Provision has been made, however, to maintain tho association between the two institutions on tho present basis.

"It is a matter of great satisfaction that the response to the appeal has been so gtinerous, and an evidence of tho need felt for a, school of 'this.-nature, a school conducted on definite religious principles," state the St. John's Collcgo and King's' (College authorities, in a joint statement issued yesterday. "Tho transfer of tho collcgo is an event of great importance." "The British Empire owes a debt to its public schools, which it is beyond tho power of man to estimate. New Zealand, the farthest .outpost of the Empire, has an educational system which is unique and of. great benefit to the community; it has also its public schools, and each is supplying a need. The Church of England has in the past, through Christ's College, Wanganm and Te Aute, supplied in some measure the education which the public schools have given to tho Homeland, and now to this list is definitely added King's College., A Widor Significance,

"There is ; howover, a wider significance than this. Tho great Bishop SelWyn's ideal, through tho step now takeu, approaches its fulfilment. The bishop, from his earliest days in New Zealand, ever had before hini tho vision of a great educational system founded on 'the best precedents of antiquity,', an institution which should bo 'the key and pivot' of all his operations. It is fitting that in that part of New Zealand which was the centre of his work, which has buildings which speak his memory, where are yot'somo who remember him,-thoro should now bo a great school, established on tho principles which he laid down and carrying into effect his intentions. There is a final significance in this event; it is a testimony to the faith, the labour, the sacrifice of many, who in the past havo laboured and into the heritago of whose labours the present generation has now entered.

"King's College is definitely a Church school in "which the system of education is founded, and maintained on religious principles, but its doors are open to tho children of parents who may not be members nf the Church of England. Tho trustees have before them a great work; they have taken upon their shoulders a great responsibility, and they ask, and ask with justification, that the Church people, in the civil province of Auckland ana tho ecclesiastical . province, of New Zealand will give them their support. History of King's College.

"in King's College there arc now tmited the traditions and the history of the first school," the old Collegiate School of St. 'John, established first at Waimate and, afterwards moved to Tamaki; the traditions and history of the old Gramnat' School at Parnell, those of King's College, Reiiiuera, and of the Pah School, together with "the more modern traditions of tho collego at Mangcre. There aro some still living who arc old boys of the earlief schools; many who remember/that their fathers, were educated there; a vast'number of old boys of King's College. To the united goodwill and interest of all the trustees of St. John's College make their appeal for earnest- support, and living interest, and they,,are confident they \\'ill not appeal in vain.''

King's College was founded in 1805 by Mr. Graham Bruce, who had been assisting the Rev. IV S. Smnllfield .in his school .at Tamaki.' It was opened at Remuera in the buildings now occupied by Kinc's School, and •was carried on by Mr. Bruce until his death in 1905. in the following year it was bought by Air. C. T, Major, under whose management it made great progress. In 1912 Mr. Major purchased and amalgamated with it, the gohool'«whicll Mr, Siiiallfield had conducted at The Pah, Onebuiiga, under tho name of St. John's Collegiate School, since 1901, the year of Lis departure from Tamaki. An Ideal Realised. King's College to-day is tho outcome of a. vision conceived many years ago by Mr. Major. On purchasing the school ho said it would be the aim of his life to join all the Church of England schools in Auckland and to found a public school •which in time would take a foremost place in tho Dominion. After the amalgamation of The Pah School, Mr. Major offered the goodwill of King's College to any responsible body which would pledge and, bind itself to fuund and build a public school on the best traditions of tho great public schools of England. This offer was taken up in 1914 by ihe present board of King's College, of which board the Archbishop, then Bishop of Auckland, was an active member. The board, owing to difficulties resulting from tho war, was delayed and hampered in its work, but eventually the present college at Mangcre was erected. Tho cost of the land and buildings has been in tho vicinity of £IOO,OOO. Mr Major continued to act as headmaster until 1926, when ho was succeeded by the present headmaster,. the Rev. 11. K. Arclulall.