SELWYN COLLEGIATE SCHOOL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13394, 21 September 1905, Page 10

SELWYN COLLEGIATE SCHOOL.

[OOMMCMOATEB.]

Tho formal opening of this bcliool, •which was fully reported in ' your last issue, marks a very important event in the. educational history of this city and provincial district. It is au.attempt on. the part, of the Anglican Church, vrhich has ever been keenly interested in educational work, to 6upply a want felt for many years I by those who desired to give their sons the traditional education of tho great English public schools in a form adapted, to the needs of colonial life. That the want has been more than sentimental is evident from tho circumstance that some 70 or 80 boys are yearly sent from Dunedin and surrounding district to schools outside the.province, and that of these not a few are located at Christ's College Grammar School, Christchurch, and the Wanganui Collegiate School, ibotli well-established Anglican schools of the secondary' typo. We. gather from the speeches of "the Primate and the Rector that, Selwyn Collegiate School is to be developed on the traditional lines of an English public school, with such modifications as may be-s deemed necessary in the light of modern educational .requirements. The school 6hould attract many of the boys at present sent to schools ontsido the province. The founders of the school have shown great judgment in connecting it with Selwyn College, and in placing the two institutions under,i one head. It thus renders

the system a complete wliole, and as the is placed at the very door of tho of Otago it is quite evident . that the Anglican authorities fully recognise the educational facilities offered by the University. There was one portion of . the Rector's address which deserves some attention. He explained that Selwyn'College was intended to be a hostel or-resi-dential home for all University students of whatever creed or faculty. As a hostel its proximity to Leith street in a, great measure 'solves the problem of. a residential college so often mooted in connection with Otago University. Under the guidance of the nev.' warden it should

prove attractive, not only to students from a distance, but also to" those who value collegiate life or may desire assistance in

their studies. The scheme foreshadowed in the warden's speech of developing a~'department of post graduate study for New Zealand students who desire to read for the degree of D.D. in a, recognised university in England is of eonsidernblo interest in view of the fact that the Senate of the New Zealand University has not yet carried into effect its resolution respecting the granting- of degrees in divinity. What tlie Presbyterian Church did for primary education'in Scotland the Anglican Church has done for higher education in England. It is proper, therefore, to -welcome the present addition to our education institutions—an addition which may be regarded as a, token of vitality and sturdy enterprise.