JOHN McGLASHAN COLLEGE

Southland Times, Issue 23768, 16 March 1939, Page 12

JOHN McGLASHAN COLLEGE

21 YEARS OF EXISTENCE TO BE CELEBRATED The twenty-first anniversary celebrations of John McGlashan College, Dunedin, will be held next week, from Wednesday, March 22, to Sunday, March 26. The school was founded by the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand and opened on February 12, 1918. It came into being through the presentation to the Presbyterian Church of Mr John McGlashan’s home on Maori Hill, Dunedin. The gift was made by Mr McGlashan’s daughters in memory of their father, one of whose cherished plans had been the establishment of such a school. He had been secretary of the Lay Association of the Free Church of Scotland for promoting the Otago settlement from 1847 to 1852 and as early as 1848, in the first number of The Otago Journal, of which he was editor, he had set forth the plan of an academy for bbth boarders and day pupils, where a “sound and liberal education, including instruction in the scriptures,” was to be provided for the children of Otago. In the 12 years of his New Zealand life, 1852 to 1864, Mr McGlashan did much for his church, for education and for the provincial government. He became provincial treasurer and solicitor and, later, deputy-superintendent. The school that bears his name has endeavoured to realize his ideals. Many young men of Otago and Southland have been educated there, many have gained academic success, especially in science and medicine, and many are already prominent in their communities. In addition to its primary and secondary departments, it has provided means for education in other fields of craft and culture, and now, 21 years old, it can look back on the years of usefulness to the community, on a period of good establishment and growth and it can look forward to increasing its value in religious and secular education.