EAST TAIERI SCHOOL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22100, 2 November 1933, Page 12

EAST TAIERI SCHOOL

(Contributed.) The past and present pupils of East Taieri are this week celebrating the eightieth anniversary of the opening of the school. In some districts —East Taieri being one of them —it seems to be difficult to fix the exact time of the commencement .of school life. The Rev. C. S. Ross, in his book “Education and Educationists in Otago” says: “In the course of 1851 a considerable increase in the attendance at the school [in Dunedin] is reported; and, in addition to a girls’ school, which was opened in Dunedin under the care of a female teacher, three other district schools in accordance with the suggestion of the committee of settlers were established at Port Chalmers, North-East Valley, and East Taieri, with an attendance of from 20 to 30 pupils at each.” While it is not unlikely that children of school age had been assembled for the purpose of being taught before the erection of any public school building, no reliable information on this point has been discovered, and there seems to be no person alive who can supply the information. As regards the first school building, the position is different. A small book recently discovered among early East Taieri records discloses the fact that in 1852 a fund was established for the erection of a suitable building to be used as a school and church. A meeting of "the subscribers to the building of a schoolhbuse and preaching station” was held in Mr M'Gregor’s house on November 5, 1852. with Mr Andrew Todd, sen., in the chair. Mr M'Gregor. in whose house this first meeting was held, was Mr N. J. B. M'Gregor, of “ The Grange ” farm, which adjoined the site of the present church at East Taieri. The first business was the appointment of a Building Committee, and Messrs M'Gregor, Marshall, Oughton, and A. Todd, sen., were appointed. Mr Andi’ew Todd, jun., was appointed treasurer, and Mr D. P. Steel clerk. At the same meeting a plan and specification of' the building, prepared by Mr Langlans, _ was considered, and the committee was instructed to confer with Mr Langlans regarding it, and to advertise for estimates. Apparently the estimates wore too high, so a fresh plan was prepared by Mr Proudfoot. Mr Langlans’s tender for the ereo-

tion of the building was accepted, the work to be completed by May 1, 1853. The minute book, which was kept with the same meticulous care and regard to details as has characterised the early records of East Taieri. contains copies of. letters written by the clerk to Captain Cargill and the. Rev, T. Burns, and an agreement with Mr Alexander Gebbie, the first teacher. The clerk wrote to Captain Cargill on January 11, 1853, as follows: “Mr Langlans’s tender for the erection of the schoolhouse having been accepted, the committee is desirous that permission should l>e givdn to the sawyers employed by Mr Langlans to saw the timber in the big bush, as it is more accessible than Saddle Hill, and the committee is willing to pay the percentage.” The “ big bush ; referred to in this letter was in the neighbourhood r>f the road now known as Bush road, Mosgiel. The letter to the Rev. T. Burns, who probably, had an interest in the bush at Mosgiel, was on the same subject. I The- first school was erected on the church property, near the present entrance to the church. The agreement with Mr Gebbie exhibits in some degree the'Scottish caution of the early settler. It runs as follows:—"Dunedin, September 7, 1853. Mr Alexander Gebbie. Sir, —We hereby engage you as teacher of the Taieri School for three years from the middle of October, at a salary of £40,. with the use of the ground attached to the schbolhouse. It is understood that, should a majority of the subscribers be dissatisfied with you before the expiry of the three years, that you remove on three months’ notice being given, aud we will give valuation for fencing and whatever crop may be on the ground at the time.” Mr Gebbie was schoolmaster from 1853 to 1856, when the school was brought under the jurisdiction of the Otago Education Board, and Mr John Hislop was appointed master. On Mr Hislop’s retirement in 1860, Mr James Waddell was appointed, and he occupied that position from 1860 to 1890. He was succeeded by his son, Mr James N. Waddell, who was master from 1890 to 1926, and the latter was in turn succeeded by Mr John A. Borrie, the present master. . • The second school building was erected near the site of the first, but oh the opposite side of the road, and was ultimately destroyed by fire caused by an enterprising schoolboy, who put a match to a bird’s nest. The present building was then erected on the same site. The celebrations will taka the form «f

a dance at Riccarton Hall to-morrow night, a gathering of past and present pupils in the school grounds on Saturday afternoon, a. social in Kinmont Hall on Saturday evening, and a church parade from th« School to the East Taieri Church on Sunday morning.