RECOLLECTIONS OF OLD WITNESS DAYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2996, 16 August 1911, Page 78

RECOLLECTIONS OF OLD WITNESS DAYS.

DEDICATED TO DOT’S LITTLE FOLK’S CLUB. By Am Old Witness Boy. In an idle hour, enforced by illness, I sit down to pen a few linos. They come from one who owes a good deal to the Otago Witness, and to whom the honour was vouchsafed to be one of a band of pioneer juvenile writers to the columns of that paper in the years that are now fast approaching the age of “ Auld Lang Syne.” At our public school in Hyde, on a day dating away back into the seventies, I was chatting with a schoolmate—Miss Mary Flamank —in the lunch hour. ' We belonged to the seniors of that little school, and few of you can form any idea of what it was like. It was built entirely of corrugated iron, and stood on a spur in Hyde Gully, detached from all other buildings, and surrounded by diggers’ claims. It was really a church, which was lent by the church people for school purposes. The desks at which we were seated were fastened lengthwise to the side-walls, folding down when not in use. and we sat in rows down each side back to back.' The master had a chair and a table just under the pulpit at the far end, and hanging on a nail driven into the pulpit was that well-known old Scottish educational adjunct, the “ tawse.” The education imparted was much on a par with the primitive arrangement I have described for those were the days before New Zealand adopted our free, secular, and compulsory system to which you D.L.F. owe so much in support, and of which I hope you will ever loyally stand. That is why I say I owe much to the Witness, and incidentally to Miss Flamank, now Mrs Wilson, a wellknown Southland teacher, for she it was who first suggested in that chat I have referred to that I should become a contributor to the Riddles Column of the Otago Witness! Miss Flamank was herself a contributor, under the nom de plume of Ismay, and I at once enrolled in the ranks, taking for my pen name the then appropriate title of “ Juvenis.” You Little Folk. I know, hold the memory of the late Mr Wm. Fenwick in very high esteem. Just the other day I re-read in an old Witness the remarks of Harry, Awkward Ned, and others on the occasion of his death. But to those of us who formed the Riddler band of ye olden days he was equally dear, and, speaking from a long personal experience, I, too can say that to know him and bo associated with' him either in press work or personally was to love him. Ho had the knack of smoothing over difficulties and of drawing out all that was best in those who wrote for his pages, and many of us know and feel that we are better men because we knew Mr William Fenwick. I do not know if .any of you have ever looked into the history of the Riddler Column. Many men who made their mark were juvenile contributors to those pages. Mr Malcolm Ross, the well-known New Zealand journalist and alpine climber, was one; the Rev. Mr A. Don, of this city, another; the late Mr F. A. Joseph contributed regularly; the late Mr A. Beverly was a contributor who stood high in the ranks; Mr James Christie, late editor of the Bruce Herald, and Mr Abel Warburton, proprietor of the Rotorua Times, are also amongst the names I can just now call to mind. Most of those men were country 'lads, who found their bent by becoming contributors to the Riddiler. The work in connection with the composition and solution of the problems was educative, and it was of immense value to “ way-back ” boys and girls, whose facilities for obtaining education were so primitive as those I have described. As one grows older one is apt to dwell on the past, and perhaps particularly when laid aside from active work pne is thrown on one’s thoughts for company. - It just struck me to-day that it might not be out of place were I to write you these few lines, particularly as it seems that the connection which was begun between the old Riddler Column and myself is to Ido hereditary in that I have two sons members of your band. We may almost look upon the old. Riddler Column as the venture that paved the way to D.L.F.-dom, and as our country grows older, those traditions will become dearer. The Otago Witness has many traditions associated with its advent and career. Who has not heard of the diggers’ hut cheered by its weekly appearance, and of the haste the old-time folk made for their mail and weekly paper ? An old identity who died at Woodside recently had a hut stored with Witnesses, every issue intact, for years and years and years. It began with our province almost; it grew with it, and in its pages are recorded the sayings and doings, the hopes and fears, and the joys and sorrows of those who have passed across the “ Great Divide.” But, perhaps, the Witness has no better tradition i f than that connection with the education of | the young, and particularly of those whose » lot is oast in isolated places. To you of i D.L.F.-dom, including the new Dot, that

worthy successor of the found or of the page, and also your genial editor, who so ably maintains the high tone for which the Witness has ever - been famed, I send an old boy’s hearty greetings —aye, and the greetings of one who hopes in spirit always to remain a boy, and can only deem it a high honour if some little portion of the influence of the Witness discipline iwhioh he has undergone, and some small share of that love for the youth of our fair-land that has all down the line been a feature of the lives of those who have controlled that department of Otago’s household weekly, have left that impress on his own life and character. J. J. RAMSAY.