WINTON SCHOOL

Southland Times, Issue 21089, 22 May 1930, Page 9

WINTON SCHOOL

DIAMOND JUBILEE SUCCESSFUL BANQUET EARLY DAYS RECALLED Interesting reminiscences of happenings and conditions in the early days of Winton in association with the school were related by old teachers and pupils at the Diamond Jubilee banquet held in the Drill Hall, Winton, last night. The banquet, which was the most important gathering of the jubilee celebrations, was attended by nearly 400 ex-pupils and teachers and committeemen. The hall was suitably decorated and the tables were adorned with the school colours, the central feature of. the decorations being a handsome three-tier birthday cake on which were GO candles in representation of the age of the school. The president of the Ex-Pupils’ Association, Mr. J. P. McWilliam, was in the chair. The following telegram from the Hon. P. A. de la Perrelle was read: “Thank you for you letter and for the invitation to the banquet.! had intended being present at some if not all of the functions in connection with the Diamond Jubilee of the school, but important ministerial business in Wellington prevents my being present. It is with much regret, therefore, that I find I cannot take part in the celebrations. I trust that the reunion will be a great success.”

The Hon. H. Atmore, Minister of Education, wrote as follows:—“I have to thank you for your invitation to me to attend the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of the Winton school, and in reply wish to express regret that on account of other prior engagements it will not be possible for me to attend. I sincerely trust the gathering will be well attended and a success in every way.” The president said he was pleased to see such a large gathering present and trusted that all would enjoy themselves to the utmost. Mr McWilliam then presented to the Winton School a picture of the late Mr. G. F. de Joux, headmaster from IS7O to 1872, presented by Mr T. A. McWilliam, and a photograph of the second headmaster, Mr D. Cameron (1872-1878), presented by Mr W. Hagerty, also an ex-pupil. Toast of the School. After the honouring of the loyal toast, the assemblage stood for a few moments in silent tribute to deceased teachers and pupils. The chairman then asked Mrs James Hamilton, the oldest living pupil, to cut the cake. The toast of “The Winton School” was proposed by Mr G. D. Cameron, who said that with his brother he attended the old school in the Police Barracks. He commenced his schooling about 1871 or 1872, but he did not recall Mr de Joux being the master. He remembered being taught by Mr D. Carneron, however. He left Winton about 1875 and did not return until 1910, when he was appointed stationmaster. Since then four members of his family had attended the school and gained their proficiency. The school had been fortunate in having excellent teachers, who had maintained a high standard of proficiency which was evident by the fine gathering present. A very large number of pupils had passed through the school and had taken their station in life. Several of the old pupils had taken part in local government as members of county councils. The school had turned out some of the higher professions including several doctors, among them two ladies, and also a mining engineer and a member of Parliament. The school had not yet turned out a Prime Minister, but this honour might yet be attained. The reply was in the hands of Master H. J. Lillco, who stated that he was very proud to have been a pupil of the school. The pupils had always been taught to play the game and many of them had been very successful in their later life which could be taken as a tribute to the fine training given them during their school days. The next toast was “Teachers, Past and Present,” which was proposed by Mr J. R. Hamilton. He said he thought the Winton school had been very fortunate in the selection of teachers right up to the present time. They had been of outstanding character and ability and had shown great capabilities in moulding the character of their pupils. Mr Hamilton said this faculty was particularly desirable as character would carry a person a great deal further than scholastic learning alone. The teachers were confronted with a great problem in handling the training of their youthful charges. Education was a great problem in New Zealand and the cost was rising rapidly at the rate of £250,000 a year until it had now reached the staggering total of £3,000,000 a year. The question of whether all this expenditure was justified had now to be faced seriously. The Early Teachers. In reply, Mrs J. T. McWilliam referred to the character of the late Mrs Cameron, who was one of the first headmistresses of the school. She stated that Mrs Cameron was a Campbell and was proud of her descent and was rather reserved in her manner. She had not been able to adapt herself to the conditions which she encountered on her arrival in New Zealand. Mrs McWilliam also referred to the splendid characters of Misses Christie and Birss, who had been mistresses at the school also, the former being a dainty Scottish lady who now resided in Napier. Mrs McWilliam suggested that greetings should be sent to these two ex-teachers from the jubilee committee. Mr A. L. Wyllie said he wished to thank the organizing committee for the hospitality that had been given to visitors to Winton, and he was certain that those attending the celebrations had spent happy times during the various functions. He remarked that he had been spending many happy hours meeting old pupils of the school and discussing the happenings of years ago. He had arrived in Winton on May 16, 1890. Mr Wyllie continued by stating that remarkable changes had occurred in Winton since those days. The improvements to the buildings had been remarkable. On his arrival to the town the primary school at that time was probably the worst in Southland. The headmaster’s residence had been improved considerably, and the school grounds had changed and had been laid out in an excellent manner to the convenience of the present day pupils. The school buildings had been well adapted for the purposes for which they had been designed. Mr Wyllie said that the prospects for present day pupils were very bright, and some of the credit for the Winton school was due to the various committees who had worked hard to make the school the best. He trusted that the present and future pupils of the school would prosper and take an active part in municipal, provincial, and Dominion affairs and leave records of wellspent lives behind them. He was certain that if the pupils would do this, the £250,000 spent on schools in New Zealand would not be wasted. Present Master’s Views. Mr. J. S. Nelson, the present headmaster, also replied. He said he felt that the interest shown by the ex-pupils in their old school was the greatest gesture of appreciation they could show to their teachers. He believed that the school had been founded on high traditions. He urged that the people of Winton should support their school as much as possible and if they did so he ventured to say that in the near future they would not only have a primary school and a district high school, but a permanent high school. Mr. A. A. Liddell, proposed the toast of “Absent Ex-Pupils.’’ At the commencement of his remarks, he asked the gathering to stand in silence for a moment in memory of the pupils who had made the supreme sacrifice in the Great War. Mr. Liddell said he was sure all ex-pupils of the Winton school were greatly interested in the welfare of their Alma Mater. Mr. Liddell re-

ferred to his own schooldays and spoke of the musical teaching given the pupils by Mr. Wyllie, also giving amusing reminiscences of events at school.

The Absentees. Letters and telegrams of apology for inability to attend the celebrations were read from J. Anderson, Christchurch; James Donald, Wellington; Helen Cowie, Masterton; A. T. Birchoil, Palmerston North; E. Thomson, Patea; T. Lampert, Papanui; J. E. Wilmott, Auckland, E. Gibson, Townsend, G. Black, Dunedin; Stanley S. White, Greymouth; A. H. Ord, South Kensington; J. Hope, Christchurch; A. M. Robertson, Auckland; M. Gutsell, Waikawa; E. Duffey, Turakina; E. Waite, Tapanui; W. J. Wiseman, New South Wales; W. D. Wiseman, Auckland; B. Thompson, Brisbane; I. McLeod, Christchurch; M. P. W. Blaithwayt, Canterbury; R. J. Griffiths, Dunedin; A, M. Budd, Kennington; E. M. Millar, Dunedin; E. Logan, Morton Mains; E. W. Mitchell, Invercargill; D. T. Crane, Otautau; D. Boyd, Roslyn; E. Turner, Christchurch; P. Devereux, Colac; K. Johnston, Timaru; W. A. Robertson, Wellington; K. Hutchinson, Wellington; J. Brass, Invercargill; B. Cowie, Alexander; M. Finlay, Dunedin; D. Jenkins, Warpia; R. Wilson, Te Aro; T. Wilson, Rawene; E. Stevenson, Te'Kuiti; H. and G. McNaught, Tahiti; I. Templeton, Whangapepe; B. Bradshaw, Hastings; W. Lindsay, Dunedin; F. J. Hunter, Wyndham; A. Liddell, Wanganui; Mrs. Young, Queenstown; Mrs. Burke, Hastings; J. E. Taylor, Wellington. “We live in an age of progress. Wnat suited 50 years ago is out of date today,” said the Mayor of Winton (Mr. J. A. Broom) in proposing the toast of “Educational Authorities.” He said that the educational authorities were advancing with the times. The old methods of education had passed away and a new system had been introduced The administration of corporal punishment, among other things, had changed very much. With these advantages, the children of /-day had every chance of obtaining a sound education. In addition to the primary and secondary schools, there were agricultural and technical colleges and various other institutions which assisted in carrying on the work of education. The authorities deserved very great credit for the way they had evolved the present system, of which everyone was proud. Board Chairman Speaks. In reply, Mr A. W. Jones, chairman of the Southland Education Board, apologized for the absence of his colleagues Major Is. Rice, Mr L. Evans and the Hon. P. A. de la Perrelle. Mr Perrelle had been a very keen and enthusiastic worker in the interest of education, particularly for the Winton district. When Mr Perrelle attained Ministerial rank, the board had been anxious that he should retain his association with the board. Mr Jones said he wished to congratulate those responsible, for the organization of the jubilee celebrations on their fine effort. A strong progressive spirit was apparent in their arrangements. He had been very much impressed by the illuminations in the streets. “Up and down the length and breadth of the Dominion our educational institutions are now celebrating their jubilees,” said Mr Jones. “This Is only natural; for although the earliest settlements were provided with schools prior to the establishment of the national system of education, the Dominion as a whole looks back to the great Education Act of 1877 as the rock upon which its whole school organization is founded. By that Act free,, secular and compulsory education was provided for the people and within a few years of its enactment the country began to be studded with elementary schools. Indeed, within the first four years over £500,000 —a larger sum in those days than now —was spent in providing new school buildings. The school whose jubilee we are celebrating today dates back to that great period of educational awakening. The Educational Department at that time, and until the end of the nineteenth century, was a small office. Its annual cost did not exceed £3OOO during the first 20 years of its existence. The local education boards and the school committees were the principal administrative bodies. All the central department had to do was to distribute to the local bodies the funds to which the Act entitled them. How changed all this is now, and who shall say whether cr not for the better? The Department is the supreme arbiter and the boards little more than its local agents, while the school committee are left without any executive functions at all. We need in this connection to remember the sound advice given to the people of New Zealand by Sir Charles Bowen, the author of the system in 1897, never to allow the committees and the boards to be swept away. Local interest in education is too valuable to be sacrificed upon the altar of a completely centralized and bureaucratic system of administration.

“What changes these 50 years have brought not only in' the administrative sphere, but in other respects as well. The old rigid syllabus of instruction, with its pass or fail methods of individual examination and inspection has given place to a broad curriculum embracing manual and domestic arts, nature study, appreciation of literature,- art and music, physical culture and games. Medical and dental officers care for the health of the children. Opportunity schools give new hope and outlook to those who fall behind their fellows in the ordinary school tasks. Trained teachers have replaced the old untrained staffs of 50 years ago—teachers whose conditions of work, salaries, pensions, and independence are comparable on the whole with the best in the. world. It is necessary to know the child now. Free Secondary Education.

“Free elementary education was followed in 1903 by the great gift of free secondary education for which New Zealand owes a debt of gratitude to the Rt. Hon. R. J. Seddon. ' In this great social and educational experiment, New Zealand led the world which now follows in the trail she then blazed so successfully. Free technical and free university education followed naturally, the latter the work of the Hon. J. A. Hanan when Minister of Education in the Mackenzie Administration of 1912. Thus to-day, 97 per cent, of the pupils in the post primary schools and 44 per cent, of the students at the university are receiving free education at the public expense. This is a gieat achievement for a small people and it behoves us all—pupils and parents, teacheis and administrators—to unite in the endeavour to justify even more fully in the future the expenditure of £4,000,000 a year upon our education system.

“For those who cannot go to the academic university colleges the ‘university of hard knocks' and the ‘school of life’ provide an efficient substitute from which have graduated some of the finest characters the world has known men, such as Abraham Lincoln. If in our primary schools we can lay the true foundations of character we may safely look to our pupils to make the best use of the splendid post-primary and postsecondary educational facilities now so freely provided. So our young nation may expect to continue to march, as in the years gjne by, in the vanguard of human progresi and to make its contributions to the evolution of the race. In this great scheme: each school plays its humble but important part, and in congratualting you to-day upon what you have accomplished in the past, we look with confidence to the future and feel sure that this school will worthily uphold the great educational traditions a our favoured Dominion,” he concluded.;

Mr. W. A. Service, senior inspector in Southland, also replied and referred to the great benefit that had accrued from the change in the educational system to provide for local administration. School was now a ! place to which children were pleased to go, but the position had been somewhat diffcreit in the speaker’s early days. Conmitteemen’j Services Recognized. '’''■ f. ' ' i . 7' . ■ ' ' ' ' ’ The toast of “Committees, Past and Present’’ was proposed by Mr. J. Reilly, who said that he had enjoyed the reunion celebraticns more than any other days he could

recall as he had met the friends of his boyhood and renewed his early acquaintances. Mr. Reilly paid a tribute to the men who had sat on the various committees that had held office at the school. All had done their very best in maintaining the school as well as possible. There were very many who had held office and among others, Mr. Reilly mentioned Messrs C. D. Moore, Robert Wilson and Andrew Liddell as the three “grand old men” of the Winton School Committee. Mr. Reilly also paid a tribute to the teachers who had taught at the school and said that no reward was too great for those who undertook the task of preparing the children for their future life. Mr. C. D. Moore, in reply, said that it was a great pleasure for him to be present. He was representing the old and present school committees. He had been a member of the Winton School Committee during the period Messrs Cameron and Popplewell were headmasters. During his time as a member of the Committee, he had always done his best for the benefit of the school. The greatest difficulty a school committee had before it was the raising of finance, but in his time the school committees had always relied on the annual school concert, which brought in enough revenue to keep the school going. Mr. Moore remarked that during his time he had seen the' first school, a two-roomed building' on the present site, which was in distinct contrast to the present block of buildings. He recalled that the old committee consisted of Messrs J. Cowie, W. Keith, Mr. O’Brien, M. Daly, W. Russell and himself. Mr R. Wilson also replied referring to his experience as a member of the committee. He said that the committee had experienced many troublous times in its endeavours to maintain the school. He had been appointed with Messrs F. Morgan, F. Jack, W. Keith, A. McLeod, D. McLeod and John Thomson. He reviewed the progress of the school and mentioned the various teachers and committee men who had been associated with it. Mr H. S. Woodnorth, present chairman of the committee, also replied. He said he was extremely pleased to receive on behalf of the school the handsome photographs which the ex-pupils had presented. It was an extremely pleasing thought that had prompted the presentation of them and the memories of the first two teachers of the school would thus be preserved for many years. Mr Woodnorth said he had been chairman of the committee for ten years and during that time he had seen great changes. During the last decade, the new school had been erected and the high school and dental clinic had been added. Mr Woodnorth said he was very glad to extend a welcome to the members of the Education Board. The board had always given a favourable reception to the requests for the committee and had shown a very sincere interest in the educational requirements of the district. In proposing the toast. of “Visiting ExPupils,” Mr J. Lilico, secretary of the celebration committee, said that the ex-pupils' who were visiting the town had shown the greatest interest in the welfare of the school and district and had been extremely anxious to meet their old schoolmates. Mr Robert Watson, in reply, expressed appreciation of the hearty reception and entertainment tendered to the visiting expupils. The organization of the celebration had been very fine and the committee was deserving of the highest praise. Messrs J. Gilmour and C. Bigwood also replied in similar strain. Mr Bigwood said the committee had shown a great deal of consideration in their preparations to the comfort of the visitors to the jubilee celebrations. Other toasts honoured were—“ The Ladies” proposed by Mr L. G. de la Perrelle, responded to by Mesdames T. A. McWilliam and W. H. King; “The Press” proposed by Mr J. G. King; “The Chairman,” proposed by Mr T. Hamilton. During the evening a number of musical items were contributed, the following taking part: Mr G. Lindsay, song; Mrs J. B. Cowie, song; Mr E. Andrews, recitation; Mjs F. Cowie, song; Mr R. Jamieson, song; Mr J. A- Wilson, song; Miss M. Cowie, recitation.