NOTABLE OLD BOYS

Taranaki Daily News, 24 March 1932, Page 15

NOTABLE OLD BOYS

MANY DISTINCTIONS GAINED £ 7 t PROMINENCE IN DIVERS WALKS. J t brilliant scholastic success. ® I 3 WORK IN PRACTICAL CITIZENSHIP. ?, ii The work of the school as a train- c in" school for service in every walk of life is reflected in the careers of the old boys of the school. It is impossible ' to o-ive any complete record of all the activities which are being carried on by old boys in every corner of the earth. It is possible only to outline briefly a few of the outstanding distinctions. Old boys of the school, besides carryin" on the traditions of. the school / abroad, have played and still are in" a considerable part in the public life of New Plymouth, the home of the school. ' j The present chairman of the High Schools Board of Governors, Mr. H. R. Billing, was a scholar at the school in _ 1897-98-99-1900. He was dux and head of the school in 1899-1900, and captain for several years of both the fiist eleven and the first fifteen. He was appointed a member of the board in January, 1923, and in the following year was j elected cliairniaii. He has been a member of the board for the past nine years and chairman for the past eight. Other old boys of the school who are members of the present board are Mr. J. S. Connett, chairman of the Taranaki County Council, Mr. P. J. H. White, a g member and previous chairman of the Taranaki Education Board and Dr. E. F. Fookes, who has taken a particularly active part in all the activities of the f school and the Old Boys’ Association. t e OLD BOYS’ PRESIDENT. ® PROMINENT IN PUBLIC LIFE.. ® Mr. Gordon Fraser, appointed presi- ® dent of the Old Boys’ Association for this, the jubilee year, came to the school at the age of 12 in the year . 1897, and remained at the school until 1899. 4,t school he was a member of the first ” fifteen and runner-up for the dux prize, o which was won by Henry Billing. . ° Mr. Fraser has taken a prominent part in the business and public life of g New Plymouth. As managing director of Burgess, Fraser and. Co., Ltd., his j business interests are spread in New Plymouth, Hawera and Hamilton. In addition he is a director of Egmont Col- ° lieries and of the New Plymouth Invest- g ment Society, and has at one time and another held many public positions. In public life he has held the positions ot president of the Taranaki Club, president of the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce, president of the New Plymouth ■ Tourist and Expansion League and chairman of the north committee of t the Egmont National Park Board. As £ a steward of the Taranaki Jockey Club j and a member of the District Com-. mittee of Taranaki racing clubs he has j taken a keen interest in sport. ■ i I i RISE IN BANKING CIRCLES. <■ •• _. . ■ . ] MADE GOVERNMENT AUDITOR. s , £ Appointed recently to the position of j Government auditor to the. Bank of . New Zealand, Arthur Hempton first s went to the school in the year 1886. On t leaving school he entered the service of ] the Bank of New Zealand, being four ( years on the staff of the Waitara i branch. ' , < His rise in the bank was a steady < progression to more and more respon- < sible positions. He rose rapidly to £ managerial positions in New Zealand, 1 and was selected for service in the ) bank’s London office. On his return to ] New Zealand he continued to win pro- i motion and was appointed several years j ago to the position of assistant general £ manager, being second in command to t Sir Henry Buckleton. His appointment ] as Government auditor to the bank was t a high tribute to his integrity and cap- t abilities. 2 — s ■■',•' ' ’ 1 MAYOR OF NEW PLYMOUTH. i ] CHIEF JUSTICE OF SAMOA. £ Chairman of the school board of governors for a time, mayor of New Plymouth and later Chief Justice of Samoa, James. E. Wilson, SAL, passed through the school in the early days with distinction. After almost a life- ] time of public service, Mr. Wilson died j at Auckland in 1923. The son of Cap- 1 tain Wilson, of New Plymouth, Mr. £ Wilson after leaving school adopted law i as his profession and, after qualifying i as a solicitor was taken into partner- < ship with the late Mr. J. B. Roy. Later 1 he was appointed to a magistracy, in I which capacity he was stationed first at ] Westport and later at Auckland. He £ was marked out for distinction and s honoured with the appointment of £ Chief Justice of Samoa but had to re- £ sign for domestic and health reasons, i He returned to the Bench in Auckland i and took a keen interest in the forma- 1 tion of the Auckland branch of the ( Old Boys’ Association. During his resi- s dence in New Plymouth, Mr. Wilson i took a deep interest in civic affaire, and supported .every project which had aj £ its object the welfare of the town. He served as councillor and later as mayor. It was during his term as- mayor in 1914 and 1915 that the tramway construction was commenced and to him > fell the honour of turning the first sod. ' ■ ■ f ] SURVEYOR-GENERAL. i — < EARLY PUPIL OF SCHOOL. ( Appointed to the position of Sur- 1 veyor-General of New Zealand in 1929, 1 Mr. H. E. Walshc was born in New Ply- i mouth in 1881, and was admitted as i a pupil of the school in 1897. After J leaving school he entered the Lands and t Survey Department and was sent to 1 Gisborne, where he received most of his c earlier experience. He played a large 1 part in the cutting up of some enor- t mous estates on the East Coast, notably 1 the Piri Piri and Tangoio estates, I Later he was engaged on a magnetic c survey in the South Island. Prior- to 1 his appointment as Surveyor-General, i he was chief draughtsman in the Lands c and Survey Department. ' a i NOTED SCIENCE SCHOLAR. I I RESEARCH WORK AT HOME. J One of the noted science scholars at c the school, K. C. Roberts, first attended *■ the school in 1915. Four years later he 1 won a University National Scholarship and left to continue his studies at Otago 1 University. At Otago University he won the c Smeaton Research Scholarship, which 1 -enabled him to continue his studies in England. There he took his Doctorate £ of Science and lias been continuing his > research work at London University. 1

CROWN SOLICITOR. APPOINTMENT IN TARANAKI. Appointed to the position of Crown ■Solicitor in the Taranaki district in the year 1931, Ronald H. Quilliam attended the school in the years 1905-6-7. He won the general excellence prize in 1906 and was a member of the first fifteen and first eleven. He left the school to continue his studies at Nelson College, where Mr. Moyes, in those days, uas a master. It was partly due to this meeting that Mr. Moyes became headmaster of the school when Mr. Pridham resigned, as it was Mr. Quilliam who strongly adit was Mr. Quilliam who strongly urged him to apply for the position of principal at New Plymouth. < After leaving Nelson, Mr. Quilliam took his L.L.B. degree at Victoria College and came to practise in his father s office at New Plymouth in 1914. He left for the war and returned to take up practice in New Plymouth again in the year 1919. CLASSICAL PRODIGY. ' Z CAREER OF RONALD SYME. Probably the most brilliant classical scholar New Zealand has ,ever produced, Ronald Syme while at school won a Junior University Scholarship, headin" the list for the whole of New Zealand. In the following year he entered Victoria College where he at once attracted considerable notice with his work in languages under Professor Rankine Brown. After being two years at Victoria College he went to Auckland to assistant to Professor Dettman. In Auckland,, he took his B.A. de"i’ee, gaining senior university scholarships in Greek, Latin and French. The next year he took his M.A. degree with double first class honours in classics, and won a post-graduate scholarship. He left New Zealand to continue his studies at Oriel College, Oxford, where he went from success to success. At the annual encaenia at Oxford in 1926 he read both the prize Greek and Latin compositions. The encaenia is an Oxford ceremony held every -year to commemorate the founders of the colleges, at which prize poems and prose compositions are read. To have won either the Latin or Greek compositions in competition with candidates of so high a standard as 'those of Oxford University would have been a "i-eat honour, but to have carried off both was-nothing short of remarkable. Oriel College he was also awarded the Bishop Fraser Scholarship for postgraduate work, and left for Rome for a period of research work. In the year 1929 he was awarded a Fellowship of Trinity College, Oxford, and was appointed tutor and lecturer in classics. In the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge a Fellow is a member of the governing body, and a Fellowship is a coveted °distinction bestowed only on scholars of exceptional ability. FIRST RHODES SCHOLAR. / ALL ROUND EXCELLENCE. The first Rhodes Scholar produced by the school was Monte Barak, who was elected Rhodes Scholar for New Zealand for the year 1926. He came from the Warea school to the High School in 1916, and remained at the school until 1921, having a notable career. During each year ±rom 1916 to 1921 he was top of his form, and in 1921 he was dux of the school and won a University National Scholarship. While at the school he was twice a member of the shooting team which won the Weekly Press Shield and was a prefect and a member of the first fifteen. Leaving school to continue his studies at Canterbury College, he completed his B.Sc. degree in 1924, and won the Sir George Grey Scholarship. He took a leading part in almost all the main activities of the University, being elected chairman of the Students’ Association, chairman of the New Zealand University tournament committee and head of the residential college, Rolleston House, ile represented Canterbury College at Rugby and was selected as emergency for the New Zealand University team to play Sydney University. He represented Canterbury College in shooting at the inter-university tournament, and in 1925 was gazetted second lieutenant of the New Zealand Engineers. After continuing his studies at Oxford for several years Nir. Barak was awarded a Fellowship at the University of Princeton, remaining in America until last year, when he was appointed to a position as lecturer on the staff of London University. 1 SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. ABILITY IN MATHEMATICS. Awarded the 1851 Exhibition Science Research Scholarship for New Zealand for 1929, R. M. Dolby, M.Sc., had a distinguished scholastic career. The scholarship, of an annual value of £250,, is generally esteemed as the big academic prize of the year. One scholarship only is awarded each year in New Zealand by the Commissioners. Entering the school preparatory department in 1914, he soon showed high ability, being especially brilliant in mathematics and science. In 1924 be was dux of the school and won a University National Scholarship. He left the school to continue his studies at Victoria College, where he won further success, taking his degree in science in 1928 with first class honours. He was engaged for a short time in research work at Massey Agricultural College at Palmerston North, and left in 1929 to continue in scientific research in England.

YOUNG MEDICAL MAN.

DISTINCTION WON ABROAD.

' Barely in his thirties, Dr. Derek Denny-Brown, M. 8., Ch.B. (N.Z.), D. Phil. (Oxford), M.R.C.P. (London) has already had a brilliant career in medical work, specialising in research work on the nervous system. After winning a Taranaki Scholarship at school in 1918 he went to Otago University to study medicine. He qualified at the beginning of 1924, but remained at Otago for another year a-s lecturer in anatomy. JL'here he began the research work on the nervous system which later led to his becoming a specialist in that branch of medical science. In 1925 he went to England and- while engaged in post graduate work'* at the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases, Queen Square, London, he was awarded the Beit Memorial Research Fellowship which took him to Magdalen College, Oxford. For research work at Oxford he secured a doctorate of philosophy in 1928, aud was awarded the Jenner prize for research work.' He returned to the National Hospital at Queen Square,as 'house physician, and last year was appointed senior medical officer. In the same year he was awarded the Rolleston prize open to graduates of both Oxford and Cambridge for papers on experimental researches on nervous disorders, which he read before the Royal Society in London. He spent a short holiday with his parents in New Plymouth in August of last year, and returned to take up the position of registrar at the National Hospital, to begin a consulting practice and to take up an appointment as neurological registrar and clinical assistant in neurology at Guy’s Hospital.