WAITAKI HIGH SCHOOL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19008, 2 November 1923, Page 8

WAITAKI HIGH SCHOOL.

HALL OF MEMORIES. FOUNDATION STONE LAID. CEREMONY PERFORMED BY GOVERNOR-GENERAL. (From Ora Own Correspondent.) OAMARU, November 1. To-day was sports day at the Waitaki Boys’ High School, and the annual athletic function was given additional importance by the presence of his Excellency the GovernorGeneral, who attended at the invitation of the Board of Governors to perform the ceremony ot laying the foundation stone of the hall of memories—the war memorial instituted by the Waitaki Old Boys’ Association. Viscount Jellicoe, who was accompanied by X.ieutenant Dove as aide-de-camp, disembarked from the express at the school gates, where he was welcomed by the chairman of the board (Air E. F. Leo), the rector (Mr F. Aiilner), and the school staff. A guard of honour trom the school cadets was drawn up to receive his Excellency, and their military bearing and ceremonial exercises were admirable. After lunching with members of the board as tile guest ot the rector, his Excellency viewed tlie closing events of the sports, evincing the greatest interest in all he saw, and later on fie presented the cups and trophies to the winners. ’the ceremony ot laying the foundation stone was attended by many old boys of the school from great distances, among whom was Air Clutlia , Alackenzie, whose father, Sir Thomas Alackenzie, was also present. I A raised platform was lined by a guard of honour and occupied by old boys who served in the war and the parents of old boys killed in the war. 'lne Chairman read apologies from the Acting-Prime Minister (Sir Francis Bell), the Hon. C. J. Parr (Minister of Education), and the other members of the Ministry Admiral Sir Lionel Halsey cabled felicitations and commended the school on the form its memorial was taking. Air Lee, on behalf of the Board of Governors, welcomed Lord Jellicoe, and expressed their appreciation of the honour he had paid the school. Some time ago, he said, the Waitaki Old Boys’ Association decided that it was its duty to see that the school’s war record was completely memorialised, and it had collected for that purpose the sum of £4600. This had been supplemented to the extent of £IOOO by the boys, and the staff had added to this. There would be a subsidy from the Government, while the boat'd would further augment the sum, so that the sum available for the Hall of Aleinories and the quadrangle would be about £IO,OOO. The hall was to be well named a Hall of Memories. One looked back to 1914 when the Empire was in great peril and its freedom and liberty, were at stake. Those responsible for the welfare of the Empire decided that only by the co-ordination and pooling of all her means of defence and all her resources could Great Britain survive. This mount a great sacrifice and an unprecedented obligation upon all and Waitaki played its part. It sent 673 old pupils on active service, of whom 120 lost tneir lives. Alany ©xWaitakians wore rewarded by suitable honours and decorations, and one of them—the late Sergeant Donald Brown —was awarded the Victoria Cross. This was a record of which the school might well be proud, but one must recognise that all the manpower and woman-power of the nation would have availed nothing without those to direct and control the great forces, and such leaders were not lacking. Among such leaders was his Excellency, Viscount Jellicoe. who was chiefly responsible for the organisation of the Grand Fleet. It was recognised that the name of such a great leader on the corner-stone of the hall would; dignify the occasion, and convey the fact to generations to come that Waitaki’s achievements in the war were appreciated in the highest quarters. During the war the Waitaki boys laid the foundation stone of conduct, and it was hoped that those who followed would raise a super-structure worthy of their memory. To those who lost their boys the gathering would join in the consolation that whatever sacrifice was made, it was in response to duty. The hall that was to be erected would be the outward and visible sign of the effort the school had made, and an incentive to those who followed should the occasion arise to go and do likewise. His Excellency, after expressing his sense of the honour conferred upon him in asking him to perform the function of laying the foundation stone of the memorial, said that .memorials were particularly valuable in schools, where they left an indelible impress on the plastic minds of the pupils. Such memorials imbued pupils with pride in their school and loyalty to their country. In the case of the British Empire, composed of a League of Nations actuated by the same ideals, pride in the Empire was encouraged, and fittingly so when one thought of what that Empire stood for—protection of the weak, th« sacredness of treaties, the spread of Christianity, and the fostering of civilisation as exemplified in her effect on Egypt and India. The Union Jack had always stood for justice and liberty, and those who lived in its shadow had cause to bo proud. The memorial that day was to commemorate the great deeds done by the Waitaki boys, and not only the old boys, but those of th<> present and the future, would view with pride that Hall of Memories, recalling what it meant in courage, loyalty, and sacrifice, particularly sacrifice. Such qualities were as much needed in pence as in war. and went to mol.-e them good citizens. Therefore, he Ousted that all who entered the hall would depart determined to follow the great example of those whose memories were enshrined within. He had no doubt, from what he had seen of the school and what his brother officers had told him that shonld the call come again—and God forbid That it should —Waitaki would perpetuate the record created by those in whose memory the Hall was being erected. His Excellency then nerfomred the ceremony of setting the foundation stone in place, saying: “To the glory of God and in honoured memory of the old boys of (bo Waitaki High School who gave their lives in the Great War, I declare this stone well and truly laid in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” The rector (ATr Aiilner) conveyed the staff’s deep sense of the obligation imnosed upon it by His Excellency in identifying himself so graciously with the commemorative project. All knew under what a deep debt the nation lay to the skill mid organisation of Admiral Jellicoe, who had welded together that peerless naval instrument that stood ns a bulwark between German ideas and our system of civilisation. That day was a red letter day in the history of Waitaki. and should go down in its annals in gold. The stone which His Excellency hud just laid was a durable and dignified memorial to enshrine forever the memory of the great sacrifice mad© by Wailnki’s sons. It wag intended that the hall would contain a full record of those old boys who went from Wnitrki. Of those 670 Iws. 210 were granted commissions, and 110 held non-commissioned rank. Altopether 105 were decorated by His ATnjestv the King. Of these Sergeant Donald Brown was awarded a posthumous V.C., and to mention one or two others. Captain Ardagh was recommended for the V.C., and Captain J. H. Massey, M C., D. 5.0.. Croix de Guerre with r>nhn». was mentioned in both British and French despatches for the handling of his battery on the Aisne. Waitaki shared with the other schools of the dominion the honour of carrying on the noble traditions of the great public schools of the Old Country. Field-munphal Sir W. Robertson had said that had it. not boon for the public schools being able to furnish 50,000 officers as the outcome of their system the War Department would never have been able to organise the army and lead it to victory. In that connection the secondary schools of New Zealand had played an honoured part. It was intended to plant an avenue cf memorial oaks from the main road to the school. It was a privilege and_ a responsibility for a schoolmaster to be ringed by the plastic environment of boyhood, and a ceremony such as that in whirl) they were participating afforded an opportunity of exerting a revivifying influence on the school life, T f the Enmirc ever again called for tlie high-soided allegiance of its youth Wailaki would not bo found wanting. Air ointha Alackenzie snoke for the old hovs who had returned. Tie pa hi a splendid tribute to those of his school-fellows who fell and lo the spirit which pervaded the school life at Waitaki. After the National Anthem had been sung the school buglers placed the “Last Post” and the “Reveille.” Towards the close of the ceremony rain fell and somewhat interfered with the programme. To-night his Excellency was the guest of ths u,a Boys’ Association at a reception.