GIRLS' COLLEGE.

Colonist, Volume XXVII, Issue 3856, 1 March 1884, Page 3

GIRLS' COLLEGE.

The presentation of certificates fio th« pupils at thi«'Cpllege who gained them last year was'made ■'yesterday by the Bishop of Nelson. The large room in the western wing of the building was well filled with the°pupils and: their friends, and on the platform in addition to-the Bishop, who presided, were Mr- Tancred, the Chancellor •f the New Zealand tJaiteraity, Sir G. M. O'Roi'lct, tht Speaker of the House of lie-

preservatives,! the Misses Edger, and other teachers of the1 College.^ Among those prosent there were also the whole of the members of the University Senate now in Nelson, except Bishop Redwood, who was absent in the country. The Bishop in opening the proceedings said, —It gives us special pleasure to attend on this occasion because we are honored .with the presence of several members of the Senate of the University of New Zealand^ who represent £he highest educational interests of Ne;w Zealand,'as far as secular subjects are concerned, and in whose hands is deposited the bestowal of the highest degrees and certificates of proficiency in nearly all the branches of learning. They have kindly come too to see the firuib of their first arrangements and offers in times gone by, in the .position now attained by the two ladies, the, two lady graduates, into whose hands chiefly the teaching of this College is entrusted When we last met in this place we had only the names of the successful candidates for certificates called out, but had not the pleasure of handing them the certificates and of enabling them to receive the ovation due to them from their fellow students and their assembled friends. They have now not only the, honor they had before, but the additional honor of receiving the testimonials in the presence of so distinguished a company. Further than this, I consider we are fortunate in getting the ear of the students for a shorb time at this period of their studies—in the middle of a term. Ordinarily, we address them when they are all ready to be off for the holidays, and are, for the time, fairly tired of books, or vexed and disappointed ar< the result of examinations, or perhaps, unduly elated at a success which has been won in a sphere too low and not worthy of their efforts And even in the most favorable cases it is not easy to give advice about study to those who are giving it up altogether, or at the most about to enter on a holiday of some weeks, which is so apt to dissipate all counsel however good. Every effort for female education is a compliment offered to the gentler sex, because it rises from a desire that they should be able to hold their own in the various positions of life, at a time when a higher and better education is being offered to the harder sex. It would only be creating a state of misery, if we were to educate men and not women, or if we allowed any great disproportion to arise between them in education. True it is that education should be suited to the probable requirements of the position which a person is likely to occupy ; but then education often improves the position occupied. And it is hard to say beforehand what will be the position which will be occupied. A Hindoo objected to his child learning the multiplication table, or indeed any numbers above five, for, said he, he will never have mora than five cows to look after, and so what is the use of it? The Book of the Future is happily hidden from us. and the assuming of any particular role j in that future, and tying down the person to that particular role would be tyrannical. Therefore we raise the standard of education and give you all the chance we can of fitting yourselves for whatever may be in store for you. You often hear of men being the architects of their own fortune; it is equally true that women are the weavers of their own destinies and destinations. You are here, young ladies, to acquire. knowledge, and, what is far more important, to learn the means of obtaining, correcting, and methodising your knowledge. Do not vex or harass yourselves by the suggestion. What good will all this do me, I will never want it; why should I not have something more interesting, more attractive? Put such thoughts away from you, I pray you. and let other thoughts occupy their room. You must trust us. We trusted others. We are not here in the positions we occupy simply because every step we took commended itself to us at the time. Such steps of study were probably as irksome to us as to you. and had not we yielded our judgment to those more experienced, we should never have learnt much. Remember for your encouragement that Jnot a page nor a line is without its remunerative influence on your mind and character, if it have entailed an effort to overcome some conscious difficulty. You have a reward for every effort you make! not of our giving, but because you live in a universe which is not hurried on by blind chance, but is guided by a wise lawgiver, the axiom of whose government is this, "In all labour there is profit, the talk of the lips tendeth to penury." Thoroughness of work, not for the sake of marks, not for the sake of a prize, but because it is divine to be a thorough workman; let that characterise your midterm work, it cannot go unrewarded. As to whether you get a prize, that depends on three being competitors, but the advantage of your certificates is that they may be gained by any number. No one pushes another aside to get to the top, and each has an equal chance of answering questions put without prejudice to all, I have said you are studying here to qualify you for what may be your future spheres ; let m .■: r.dulge in my fancy a little. You will some of you be teachers by profession, some few may take up special literary work, some will be taken up with a few commercial positions, properly open to women, but be fore most of you lies the ordinary round of family duties, of the daughter, the sister, the wife, the mother, shall we say, the grandmother? Oh, what a sphere, the moulding of a future nation. While we are away at the forge, the factory, and the farm, at the ledger, the line and the level, in the press, or the platform, or the pulpit, you will be in the sanctuary, the Holy of Holies, the home ! You are here to learn how to help | hereafter in elevating, cheering, brightening, that home. We don't think that mere | knowledge will do so, but knowledge used by religious women will do so, and we are here to help the knowledge part of it. It will be your high privilege to make life interesting : to be able to turn in a moment from the lowest sphere of material occupation to the highest of spiritual imagination, from the prose of provisions to the poetry of thought. You will have your minds stored with poetry, your memories well furnished with pictures, and your tongues accustomed to utterance. Ladies, we credit you with the gift of patience. Are we right 1 The present Regius Professor of Greek at Cambridge said to the master of Shrewsbury school, "Those boys came best prepared in Latin and G-reek who came from the hands and tuition of ladies. This is a testimonial indeed. We are in the middle of your term; it may be an important moment —the middle of ■ a day of battle At Waterloo, the Great Duke in the middle of the day, having called up all his aides de camp, actually took advantage of an adven turous Birmingham bagman to send a message across the field to Sir James Kempt to say that if he,persevered in what he.had begun, the game would be all up with them —the message reached him and the Duke used to say that the alteration of Kempt's movements in the middle of the day was the pivot on which the fortunes of the battle turned! So now, young ladies, you are in the > middle of the fray, you are in the very middle of the battle of your term against ignorance, idleness, and indolence. I hope this day may be a pivot on which your course may turn to increased diligence, patience, and hope. •> The proceedings had not terminated when we went to press. His Lordship then requested Miss Edgar M.A., to read out the names of those who had been awarded certificates. On that lady doing bo the Bishop presented the certificates to the following pupils :— Jane Harriet Allport, Isabella Louisa Clark.f.Bessie Eose, Davidson, Mildred B. S. Deck, Annie Bertha Deck, Ellen Gribben, Annie Laird, Maria Peat, Emma C. Eaikes, M. Barltrop, Kitty Hounsell, Florence A. Ancell, A. H. Jennings. Certificates in music were presented to the following:— Jessie Hammond, Edith A. Moss, Maria Peat, Clara Peat, M. E. Fell, L. C. Fell; and certificates for regular attendance,' which Miss Edgar stated were awarded those whc had not been absent a single day during the last year, to Annie Isabella Bird, Annie Pitt, and Minnie C. Pitt.. . Dr. Buteb then requested Mr Tanored, the Chancellor of the University, to address them. Me. Tanched excused himself from a lonj speech on the ground that he was bui recovering from an illness. The Bishop hac made his task more arduous by hoping the] would profit from the advice he (the speaker and his colleagues would give them. _H< wished to say'that he was not in the habit o: giving advice—he did- not know how t( impress jit—and -he generally found tha when hei did give advioo that it r , was no .taken. JHe, wished to acknowledge or behalf of himself and his colleague; the compliment that had bean paid t<

them in asking them to witness thai very interesting ceremony. Before the Instl tution had been opened he had been affordec the opportunity of seeing the whole of th« ari'ahgements. He went over the whole place, which interested, him,very, much. He now felt highly; gratified'With^he Institution, firstly,; becaiise,; he foiind\ that, the] success which had been achieved was owing in s great measure to a lady on whom he had had the pleasure of bestowing the hood which „she now wore, and secondly, on account oi the interest he took in the education of the young. He concluded^by wiphing^he^nstitutidn every success", and. by impr'essing'upon "the pupils the necessity of being diligent and earnest in their studies. . Dr. Sul'er said it had- been suggested to him to request members of the University Senate coming from different centres to address them,.arid he would consequently 'ask Dr Cowie, the Bishop of Auckland, Professor Brown, of Christchurch, and Professor Sale, of Dunedin, to deliver speeches. The Eight Eev. Dr. Cowie had much pleasure in congratulating them on the position their College occupied at the present time. He was present some years ago when the diploma of B.A. was presented to the first lady belonging to a British University and he congratulated that lady on being the Principal of that Institution. After speaking of the healthy situation occupied, by the College, he said he felt that in addressing them as one from Auckland that he represented an injured community, for the success of the .;Nelson i College was impoverishing Auckland, for Miss Edgar and her sister came from Auckland. He hoped that the Nelson people would be grateful to Auckland in consequence, and that in course of time Miss. Edgar's pupils would compensate for the loss Auckland, was now suffering. Pkofessor Buown said he almost felt:an old man in seeing one of his students at the head of that Institution, and two others also present there. He had always been certain that Miss Edgar would succeed, for he had watched her, both as a, student and as a teacher, and he was satisfied that there was not a male teacher in New Zealand who could surpass her. He felt that they were getting out of the' stage of barbarism now that female education was no longer kept back. There was no privilege like.education, and when that has spread there, will no ;. longer be any privileged class except that of intellect and knowledge, The true democracy to which they should aim was the bringing out of the best intellects irrespective of class. He was opposed to the coarser democracy of untalented men, but he hoped to live to see the day when they would have a democracy of the highest intellects, a Government that would send forth men and women of the noblest character to debate for them. Politics was the sphere which must be the highest next to literature, and he would like to see the day when their best women would assist in politics, for there were many women whom it was a shame to confine to narrow spheres. Many of them had intellects even beyond those of men, and he alluded to Mary Somerville and George Eliot. The Professor then referred to the recent examinations, in which he said the. young women were defeating the men, whilst four out of the eight Junior Scholarships were carried off by girls. That was a proof to him that the girls had been kept in the back ground by false notions which had prevailed. , It had been thought they were only fit to learn a little music and a little dancing, but he was satisfied that that Institution would prove their capabilities. From the papers of the pupils after one year's work only he was satisfied some of the girls would take a very high position in the martriculalation. Professor Sale did not know why he had been called on to speak. The previous speakers had been able to congratulate themselves on being connected with that Institution and its principal. After those speeches he supposed it would be proper for him to say something of an opposite tendency. The old theory was that man was the lord and king of nature, and that woman was his partner, but they were now going to the opposite extreme, and he was sorry to say his friend Professor Brown was already there. All the arts and professions were to be as free, to women as to men, and the world was to be turned topsy-turvey. When his Lordship the Bishop read out a list of the subjects for which one of the certificates was awarded he could not as a father help thinking what he would feel if his little girl brought him home such a certificate, and perhaps asked him questions on those dreadful subjects. It was written, "Be not righteous over much," and he would say be not studious over much, for they might learn too much. He would be sorry to see the grace and charm of women sacrificed to the power of intellect. The Hon Mr Eolleston then at the request of Dr Suter aro3e. He was glad to hear some of the lernarks of Professor Sale. It seemed to him that there was a very great risk of people cramming facts and calling it education, for that to his miud was not education, The man who knew one thing well would generally take a prominent part, and have great influence. To his youug friends he would say, never be disheartened when you can't do a thing, for if you can't do one thing you can another, but by all means do that one thing well. He did not think much of extempore speeches, and there was one thing they might learn from him—that it was very injudicious to say anything till they had thought the matter over. Mr C. Y. Fell, as representative of the Governors, desired to express their thanks to the members of the Senate for their presence. He said he could scarce refrain from breaking a lance with one or two of the speakers, for he had yet to learn that educated women lost any of their charms. He said that the Governors of the College felt proud of their Institution, and especially of the younger branch of the College—that of the girls, and he referred to the circumstances and difficulties attending its establishment. In conclusion ha stated that they recognised their connection with the New Zealand University and heartily welcomed the members of the Senate. His Lordship the Bishop put the motion that a vote of thanks be accorded the members ef the Senate, and this was carried by acclamation. The Hon J. W. Barnicoat in a suitable speech moved a vote of thanks to his Lordship the Bishop, and this hf ving been carried and duly acknowledged, the proceedings teri ruinated. ■: '