OUTRAM SCHOOL.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21242, 24 January 1931, Page 7

OUTRAM SCHOOL.

MEMORIAL TABLETS UNVEILED. RE-UNION OF EX-PUPILS. A memorable event in the history of the Outram School, and one of considerable interest to the residents of West Taieri, took place in the Outram schoolhouse yesterday, when the roll of honour of ex-pupils of the school who fell in the Great War, and the honour board containing the names of the duxes of the Outram and original West Taieri Schools since 1879 were unveiled. There was a large attendance of present and past pupils and friends, and among those present were Mr A. E. Ansell, M.P., Mr J. Horn, M.P. (representing the Otago Education Board), Messrs W. J. Strong and S. J. Harrison (ex-headmasters of the school), Professor S. F. Hunter and Mr A. Y. Hendry, chairman of the school committee and of the Outram Town Board. Mr John Campbell, vice-president of the Outram and original West Taieri Schools Ex-pupils’ Association, occupied the chair. Following the singing of a verse of the i National Anthem, the chairman welcomed those present and said that it was their duty and privilege that day to honour the memory of the brave lads who had fought for them and for their country. Apologies from Messrs E. White, (president of the Ex-pupils’ Associa-■' tion), E. A. Searle (headmaster of the school), D. T. Fleming, M.L.C., D. Smyth and J. M'Neill, were read, and Mr Campbell then called on Mr Strong to speak on the duxes’ honour board. Mr Strong said that it seemed well to him that the committee had thought fit to provide a record which perpetrated the name of the best boy or girl in the school each successive year. In the teaching profession children were sized up in different ways. There were the good boys and girls, the better boys and girls and the best boys and girls, and the board which would now look future generations of pupils in the face would act as an incentive to the good ones to work hard and become the best, so that they might have their names on it. They had to remember that the school would be there for all time, and that as the present' generation passed on the board would still be there as a reminder of those who had made their names in the school. Whilst he had always thought that a dux board was a fine thing to have in a school, he had often wondered why the names of those boys and girls who had not been duxes, but who had passed through the school and made their mark in the world, could not be honoured in some manner. It would be a great thing if something like a career board could be established, so that each pupil of a school when he or she reached the top of the tree in any walk of life would have his or her name placed permanently on record. He hoped that the teachers would hold the dux board before the pupils so that they would all strive to emulate the achievements of those whose names were on it. Mrs W. Snow then unveiled the board. Mr Ansell congratulated the committee and those for the erection of both boards, especially that in honour of the boys who had done so much for them all. The younger children, fortunately perhaps, would not remember much of the stern, hard days of 1914-1918, and it was a duty which lay on all parents and teachers to let the younger folk know what the soldiers had done for them. In the early days of the war they had seen thei? sons depart with an unbounded faith in their ability to see the job through, and now that those dark days were past it was a pleasure to remember what a great fight the boys had put up. Sometimes they were inclined to overlook what the mothers did. When a mother gave her boy she gave her all, and yet mothers sent their sons off with a glad heart, confident that they would play the game and do their best. To the children he would say that they owed a debt to the soldiers because of the hardships they endured and the injuries they receivedinjuries in some cases that incapacitated them for the rest of their lives. Others who were spared, although they carried no visible wounds, had their lives shortened and their constitutions undermined as a result of their war service, and it was a duty ahead of the children of the present day to see that these men did not want. In these days the British Empire was in a parlous position, but surely, like the brave lads whose names were on the honour board, the people could face all their difficulties with stout hearts and have unbounded faith in the future. Confidence, faith and hard work would eventually bring everything right. The roll of honour was then unveiled by Mr Strong, whilst Mr H. Walker, an ex-dux of the school, played the “ Last Post.”' Mr Harrison congratulated the committee on having procured a dux board, which, he considered, supplied a long-felt want, and would act as an incentive to future generations of boys and girls. He felt, however, that such a record, while undoubtedly serving a good purpose, was of little use as far as the less brilliant scholars were concerned. Nevertheless, honour board or no honour board, many of these finally made their mark; in their case it was “ dogged as did it,” and so in after life they were found beating the duxes after all. Referring to the roll of honour, Mr Harrison paid a tribute to the sterling work done by Mr D. Wylie, who had gone to no end of trouble in collecting the names for the board. There was a feeling to-day that all such memorials should be done away with on the ground that they were keeping alive a spirit of militarism. He considered that the roll of honour just unveiled would have the opposite effect, for he was sure that the present teachers would impress on the children that they should not want to fight - for honour and glory, but for duty, and so instil into them a desire for peace and a horror of war of any kind. Mr Horn in expressing his own and the Education Board’s congratulations to the committee, pointed out that Otago schools maintained the highest average attendance of any in New Zealand, and impressed on the parents present the importance of sending their children to school regularly. Professor Hunter nnd Mr Hendry also spoke briefly, and hearty votes of thanks to the speakers brought the gathering to a close. In the. evening a re-union of cx-pupils which took the form of a social and dance was held in the Oddfellows Hall.