VETERAN EDUCATIONIST

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 8740, 23 May 1914, Page 6

VETERAN EDUCATIONIST

MR LEE’S RETIREMENT

SCHOOL WORK FORTY YEARS AGO’.

Yesterday Mr Robert Lee occupied the chair at the meeting of the Wellington Education Board for the last time. He is leaving shortly on a trip to England, and advantage was taken of the opportunity for the members of the board and of the staff to give their farewells. At the conclusion of the meeting the staff entered the boardroom, and Mr A. AV. Hogg made the presentation.

Air Hogg said that, in the absence of Sir AA'alter Buchanan, the duty devolved on him of presenting to their respected chairman an illustrated address from the members and staff of the board, together with a purse of sovereigns. Ho spoke in glowing terms of the personal popularity of Mr Lee, and of his fairness and ability as a chairman. The hope was expressed that Air Lee would return from his trip with fresh vigour for the cause he had always bad at heart—education. Air T. R. Fleming (chief inspector), on behalf of the staff, also spoke, voicing the esteem in which Mr Lee was held by all. AN APPRECIATION.

The address was as follows: “ We, the members and administrative staff of the Wellington Education Board, hear with the deepest regret that it is your intention to sever your official connection with the board. Your career as inspector, secretary, as chief inspector, as member of the board, and finally as chairman, is unique in the history of the Dc minion. Forty years ago, when you first took control of this district, nothing that could be called an educational system existed; there was no syllabus; the teachers, with few exceptions, were uncertificated and untrained, the school buildings were, for the most part, of the crudest description ; of school apparatus there was practically none. “ The admirable system of public instruction, which, in these adverse circumstances, you established and directed. is a monument both to your scholarly attainments and to your administrative ability. But the possession of distinguished professional qualifications was by no means all that was required of you. The strenuous days of early colonisation, the bridgeless and often roadless districts which in tho course of your arduous itineraries you had to traverse, made demands on you that only the possession of an exceptional physique enabled you to meet. To-day, when you vacate the chair for the last time, over 170 well-equipped primary schools and district high schools, with upwards of 18 000 children in attendance, have taken the place of the fifty scantily attended and poorly staffed schools of forty years ago. Finances have been raised from a condition of extreme depression and placed on a thoroughly sound footing, and in general efficiency the district is now second to none in the Dominion. “ In all this progress and improvement, your sound judgment and wise direction have been conspicuous factors. Your control from the chair has always been characterised by unfailing courtesy and scrupulous fairness, anti in their continuous re-election of you to that responsible position, your colleagues only showed that proper appreciation of your sterling worth which is felt by the district at large. “In conclusion, we, not only for ourselves, but on the part also of the local committees and tho teachers of this district, wish you from the bottom of our hearts every happiness and good fortune in your proposed visit to the Old Country—a safe return, and a prolonged period of that leisure and ease to which your unremitting and successful labours in tho groat cause of education so justly .entitle you.”

A LIFE OF SCHOOL WORK. Mr Leo, in responding, said that ho felt overpowered at the good wishes that had been expiessed. It was gratifying to him to feel that he had been of some use in the. district. He felt that his time of life was drawing to a close, though he was not yet incapable of work. He had spent seventy years in schools, which was something of a record. Going hack to his early days, Mr Lee said that he was one of seven pupil teachers appointed in his native town. Of these seven, he was the only. one remaining; he was the only one who followed school work to its finality. When he went to London he wias one of six who stopped at the Training School for an extra year. He was one of three,who took the management of the practising school—and he was the only one of these three left. Out of fifty who were in his second year’s class only four were left—and the other three were in the Church. He came to Nelson, New Zealand, in 1864, to take charge of the Bishop’s school, and after o, year there was offered the mathematical mastership of Nelson College, which he was obliged to refuse owing to a three-years’ contract. Mr Mackio was appointed to tho vacancy, anil afterwards became headmaster of the 'Wellington College. In response' to an advertisement in the Nelson papers by the Wellington Education Board for their first inspector, he applied for the position, and was appointed. The appointment was a happy one for him. There was plenty to be done. When ho found that he had to travel the country, he was charmed with tho wooded lands of New Zealand. , - Mr Lee declared that he could not say too much of ths kindness which he had always received from the settlers. /This had made his life very pleasant. The old days had just been recalled to him, the days when he examined fortytwo’ children in a blockhouse at Hawera.' Now there were 800 children in three fine up-to-date schools there. In one day he had ridden sixty miles—from Woodville to near Masterton; but those early days were among the happiest of his life. Adventures had been numerous, - He had had to swim the Otaki river, and had to bo dug out of a bog at Omaka, after which he examined a school. Another time he slept out under a flax-bush, and onoe he missed his way by fifteen miles, and in the end had to travel - fifty miles to get back to the road. He thanked all present for the kindly spirit shown by them, and said he appreciated to the full the presentation of the address. With regard to the purse of sovereigns, it had first been proposed to get him something to wear—but he had enough to wear. (Laughter.) Every pound would mean more enjoyment on the Continent. He thanked all for their farewells, and hoped to meet them on his return. Cheers were given for the retiring chairman, and the meeting broke up.