TECHNICAL COLLEGE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22137, 15 December 1933, Page 6

TECHNICAL COLLEGE

SPECIAL PRIZES PRESENTED Special awards won during the year were presented at the break-up ceremony of the King Edward Technical College held in the hall yesterday afternoon. Mr J, J. Marlow presided on behalf of the chairman of the Board of Managers (Mr T. Scott). Mr Marlow, in his opening remarks, reminded the pupils that they were present not as a mere audience, but as a school. Whence, he asked, proceeded the traditions of long-established schools, if not from the feeling • of loyalty, • implanted, and nourished in the hearts of those who had lived in and near it? A school with traditions did not derive them from its 'wealth, its lands, its numbers, or its age, but from the warmth of feeling engendered by" association with it. If any school might claim to inspire those whom it served, much more can this one. It had the dignity arising from the fitness of its buildings and the excellence of its site. It had‘behind it two generations of service to a grateful community. But it had more than this. It bad been the first school of its kind in the Dominion. It had been conceived in the heart of its 'founder (the late Mr G. M. Thomson) out of deep love for the and ■had been given to . this city to light the path of humanity'.and to guide the footsteps of the ybunig into broader and kindlier ways.

“ Surely no school ever had a founder more inexhaustibly rich in goodwill, or one more universally honoured," the chairman added. “Last year he was able to be present at our closing ceremony and received in public a letter in which the boys and girls told him of their great indebtedness to him for having founded such a school. I am happy to know that we took that chance of honouring him. In

the same spirit, jgst as we honoured his kindly heart, his profound understanding, his readiness to give himself in humble service, I call you to honour those same qualities in the school. Be yourselves guardians of the spirit _ that was his. If you will do so you will forge a link in the chain of memories holding this school cherished in living hearts from generation to generation. For a school is like a human being, never able to reach its highest and best merely as the object of state welfares it needs to be held in affection, by human hearts. Honour the school in this way, and you will honour yourselves." ADDRESS BY MR NINNIS. The principal address was given by Mr H. Ninnis, who was associated with Captain Scott’s Antarctic Expedition in 1910, and was also a member of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s 1914 Expedition. Dealing mainly with Shackleton’s Expedition Mr Ninnis stated that some 6400 men had had hopes of taking part, but the leader had given preference to men with previous experience. In dealing with the voyage south the speaker gave his audience a description of icebergs, stating that they were sometimes mistaken for islands. They were a grave danger, he added,

when .the wind was blowing at the rate of 90 milelj an hour, and it was impossible to see more than 50 yards from the ship through the flying snow. The dividing line between safety and disaster was very fine, and those who were taking part in the two expeditions that had just left New Zealand would, in spite of excellent equipment, face great dangers. If a plane was forced down on the snow it might not be able to rise again, and, as a result, the men on board had to be prepared to walk back. In the south polar region there was a. certainty of the unexpected happening. Mr Ninnis gave an exciting account of how one of Shackleton’s ships was driven from its moorings in a tdrrihc storih, and was unable to return. i For 45 weeks, he said, the vessel drifted, packed round by ice, covering a distance of 2100 miles, and finally breaking free well outside the Antarctic circle. During that time, he added, the 18 men who were on board should have been laying out food depots, but the expedition had had to rely upon the efforts of the 10 men who had been left at the base. The men on the vessel had not known what fate, awaited them, since their craft had been weakened by the ice, but they had piled up some useful records, which had added to the sum of human knowledge. Mr Ninnis gave an entertaining description of the animal life of the Antarctic. The sea, he stated, was full of such life as whalefeed, and formed an excellent feeding ground for seals and seabirds. The penguin bad an enemy t in the sea leopard. As a result, penguins were careful in entering the water and tried to trip each other in an endeavour to avoid making the first plunge. _He bad been asked to answer the question: What good is done by expeditions? His answer was that they added to human knowledge. Those who went south travelled in the same spirit as the men who bad discovered the outlying islands of the world. It was ridiculous to suggest that the Antarctic contained nothing that would be of use to humanity. The prizes were presented by Messrs H. H. Johnston, J. T. Paul, J. M. Paterson, H. P. West, L. Sanderson, and R. Kriox. During the afternoon items were rendered by the school band, and choruses were contributed by the pupils.

PRIZE LIST The awards were as follows: — SPORTS AWARDS. Hockey stick, most improved boy player; Thomas K. Hayward. Hayward Memorial Cup, fastest time in open cross-country race: Robert M'Laclilan. Championship Athletic Sports Shields. —Senior girl, Olga Millar; senior boy, Richard Pilling; junior girl, Molly Gollan; junior boy, Albert Maher, Cadet Shooting Cups.—Senior, Cadet J. M'Caw,; junior. Cadet M. Sinclair.