EARLY DAYS OF SCHOOL

Taranaki Daily News, 24 March 1932, Page 12

EARLY DAYS OF SCHOOL

OLD BOY’S REMINISCENCES NUMBERS INCREASE SLOWLY. MEMBERS OF THE FIRIST BOARD. ' (Continued from Page 11.) The Hon. T. Kelly, M.H.R., was at that time 'chairman of the Education Board, and he was appointed one of the Mew board, thus forming a connection between the old board and the new. The members of the first Board of .more were Captain Cornwall, Mr. A.. H. Halcombe, Mr. Gibson, Mr. T- Kelly, Mi. G. A. Marchant and Dr. Hutchinson. The first meeting of the board took place on October 23, 1889, when Mr. Halcombe Waft elected chairman. As time went on it was noticed tna whereas the number of.girls did not increase much, the number of boys fell oil Steadily until there were only 16 or H •n the roll. The question engaged the attention of the board, with the result that it was decided to separate the boys - and girls and appoint another teacher. Muss Drew joined the staff about this * After the separation of the boys and •irhs a slow but steady increase in the numbers took place. After Miss Montffomery had resigned, Miss C. D. Grant, M.A., was appointed, and for some years the staff consisted of the principal and Mr, H* H. Ward on the boys’ side, ana Miss Grant and Miss Draw on the girls Of the opening of the school and the very early years, Mr. W. _ Rawson writes: -I have.no difficulty in biingin<r before my -mind’s eye the whole ■cene and even the faces of many of the boys who, while waiting the arrival of the appointedhour for the opening, climbed the tower for the hist time that day, and saw before them that glorious view of town and country, mountain, hill and dale, sea and island. And a big sturdy lot those first High School' boys we,. for many of the settlers’ sons who had been away from school a year or morion. their fathers’ farms were sent back for another term or so. ■! ■ , ' ‘‘lt is not to be wondered at, he continues, “that in tliat 'first year- we. had. a football team tliat twice defeated, the New Plymouth Club seniors. In the first game both Mr. pridham and’ Mr.; Toms, the second master, took part, and victory was attained after -a hard struggle by ’the ’ narrowest of margins. Tn the second game, the win was a substantial one, though this time we had not the assistance of the masters—and in those days Mr. Pridham was a back hard to stop when, he got fairly into his stride. One of our smallest boys, though—Frank Lever—used to tackle him with certainty, and ‘the head’ used to laugh with the rest of us to find, his downfall brought about by the small lad clinging' to his shins. "In cricket, too, the school more "than held its own in those early days, and its athletic career, therefore, had a most' auspicious beginning. EARLY PUPILS OF SCHOOL. “Some of the boys then at the school were Alf Bayly, well known for his football prowess in later years, and his brothers Charlie and Walter, Tom Hemptotf—the most popular boy in the school,'and'one of the best footballers who ever represented Taranaki —Kenneth and Luff Sheet, Tom Furlong, Fred pearson, Walter Messenger, L. Webster, E. Hursthouse, R. and J. Wilson, Giddy, Humphries, Henderson, Manners, Brooking, Cunningham, T. and E. Elliott, J. McNiece, J. Connett and Hunt, while a little later came the Fookes, Websters, Cornwalls, Carthews and others from various New Plymouth schools. “In-the second year boys were, not so old nor so big, but still I think there was no school l in the province that could have been a worthy rival at either winter or summer games. It was in the years following that we had to come down and look lower than the town club for our opponents, and, during the remainder of the five, years I was there, we had some strenuous struggles with the Central and Waitara schools. In one football match with the latter in, 1886 our opponents scored a goal in the first ten minutes of the game and it was only in the last 20 minutes that Charlie Cornwall pulled the match out of the fire by scoring three tries, which, according to the rules then in existence, put us ahead by one point. “On Mr. Toms leaving the school to go, I think, to Canada, his place as second master was taken by Mr. Clarke; and it was about this time that the wing was added to the school buildings, and the Girls* High School commenced its career'under Mis's Ramsay, who was followed a year or . two later by Miss Montgomery. . “TAKEN TO WORK TOO EARLY.” “The school had many difficulties to contend, with, one of the greatest being that boys were taken away ..to work at too early an age. The result was that the number on the roll dropped considerably lower than it should have done. Had it not been for this I think the Girls’ High School would not have found a home in the same building. There is no doubt that their being under the one roof injured both schools in the estimation of the public. “There were other difficulties I was too young to understand at the time, but- which have been brought home to me since, and I think Mr. Pridham has hardly been given the credit duo to him for the manner in which be met them. One little instance of these: Most boys are proud to wear their school colours, but Mr. Pridham, with the idea of encouraging a proper feeling and esprit de corps among us, made it a rule that we should wear a school cap. A great outcry arose, and many of the boys, backed up by their parents, refused to comply, and some of those Who did would, immediately on leaving the school grounds, substitute another hat. However, Mr. Pridham was firm and tactful, and in course of time we were all wearing the caps. “The first dux of the school was James Wilson, and he held that position for three years, though he had a close race once with W. W. Hunter. Robert Pardy was another who came out at the top of the school, and, in addition to his ability in class, was a fine runner and footballer. He had learned the Victorian game in Australia and his wonderfully clever kicking was an eye-opener jto us. “Some of those in the cricket and football teams with me at this time were Stan Humphries, Will Webster, Fred Thompson, Charlie Cornwall, - Arthur Hempton, Will Robson, David Teed, Fred Brooking, Ernest Fookes (who afterwards represented both England and Taranaki at Rugby), Kingdon, Olsen, W. Irvine, F- and J. Carthew, HRawson, and A. Reunell.” Recalling the school as it was in the late nineties, Mr. H. R. Billing says that the number of boys on the rolb was about 40. The .school had twfl football teams and one cricket With the limited number of jrafc difficult to get two football

The school used to play the Stratford District High." School and junior teams in New Plymouth. One season, the season of 1900, was particularly successful, the; school football team' playing six matches, winning all of them and scoring 74 points without having a point scored against them. At cricket the school team without masters used to play the Central team with masters. At that time there were only three forms in the school, third, fourth and fifth forms, with an occasional sixth form. High school education had to be paid for or earned by scholarships until the free place system was introduced in 1905. The complete records of the school for the first thirty years of its history were lost in 1916 "during the ‘?■' "’Hfatbe Theatre Royal in New Plyoffice of the secretary of in the bliikling, and the destroyed.