WANGANUI COLLEGIATE SCHOOL.

Wanganui Chronicle, Issue 12857, 18 December 1912, Page 8

WANGANUI COLLEGIATE SCHOOL.

The annual prize giving in connection with the Wanganui Collegiate School took place last evening. The large assembly hall was filled with parents and friends/and old and present I>oys. Proceedings were very enthusiastic throughout. A 'short concert programme preceded the prize-giving. The time-hon-oured "Forty Years On" wis given by E 4. Harding, and the "Eton Boating Song" by H. B. Hindle, the choruses to both being sung with zest. Then followed three glees. The Principal; the Rev. J. LI. Dovte, then welcomed all, for their presence denoted the interest which they took in the institution. He welcomed the Bishop-of Waiapu. It was the first time on which-the school had been honoured with his presence on such an occasion. The Rev. Dove then proceeded with his annual report, which was as °It is my pleasant duty to give you some kind of account of our school year, taocb thalt might fte attempted from many poinits of view. Probably that o± a boy -would be the-most interesting, and I had thought of setting the task to the third form yesterday, ibuit was deterred by the difficulty of defining exactly what they might or might not say about their masters, in particular about the maste>r who teaches them geography. . , So I must ask you to iput up with something more commonplace m expression and in spelling, and to allow me to speak of the master an my own way. And that way is the one I most Jdesire myself, to 'be left alone to do my own work as quietly and thoroughly as I may.. . ■ ' ,*. Mr Ashcroft left n-s at Easter to take up his curacy in Masterton, and we miss, him everywhere, but not least in the football field and the swimmingbath. Has place 'has been taken by Mr F. H. Latham, of Winchester and Trinity College, Oxford, whose strong and wholesome influence is.already--felt for good in the school. - We welcome Mr Latham, and we welcome also-Mr Jennings, of Nelson and Canterbury College, who has taken charge of the science work, and T am ; heartily glad to have this important, den«rtment at last in strong and capable hands. And here I must not, omit to thank Mr House, of Trinity Hail. Cant/bridge, for taking charge of the physics in the Sixth form, as he has done for two terms past. In addition he- has placed : at the service of the school his skill in rowing, and with excellent effect. This -being said, -T think the story which I have to tell you -will tall fit into three heading |j—sohbol and gymnasium and grounds. The headings are peculiarly material, and they omit 'altogether that wTii^ -Tve boldly keep to the forefront of our education here., the school chapel, placed 'by the old boys in front of all. the first building •to greet the. little new iboy when he joins, the last! iin sight of the hero of many fights as he bids farewell with <a heavy heart to all that is held 'by the magic words "school days." I am omitting the school chapel from my record becaus© there we make our ideals, there we renew them, there lies our future, and my huirfble tale now is not of the future but of the past. There is, however, just one thing to s^y of it, and that concerns the singing. - That which the visitor to, our services first remarks upon is the singing—it is with us the voice of the congregation. It (has been a fine tradition thiat this voice be full and vhearty and reverent •, and what I want to say now is that this "tradition is bemtr maintained. This term the singing in chapel has been as good as it has ever been. And so I pass on to fche school. And here I am not going to bore you with lists and with statistics, nor yet. shall I try to r*ass a judgment for you on •\vhat is being taught and !how > ->- ing done. ■""• j The governing body of the- school have undertaken that this snail be done ! in the most effectual way iby an inspee- 1 tion, .and they will take their oivn way! to acquaint you with the .result. For ourselves, we. have to thank them for I giving us the stimulus and the "sympathy of two able men, Professors Yon ! Zedlitz .anid Picken, of Victoria College, Wellington. -, -..■,-., Their report has riot yet reached us, and therefore I cannot tell you what they -think of the school; the governing body will nt* doubt do that in good time.

Before, however, we leave this building, there is one (thing in the founding -which no parent ever sees, tout about which I want to talk.to iparents for a few moments. ' It hangs in the masters' room. It is a large sheet covered with obscure symbols. On closer examination [these will be found to range themselves in definite liner; and columns: the,columns lie under diays of the week, andl the lanes lead to the names of forms; the thing is_ that very delicate and complicated piece of machinery constructed of psycologic tfaats liammercd out ;by generations 'of (pedagogues, called a school time-table, and it is the daily guide of our "work. Now, whiait a+. first sight you would he unaible, to discover about tKe arrangements here indicated is that they are all niiade so as to secure a steady deepening of thought and1 widening of the. mind for a. 'boy who passes tiro the schbol from a low form to a high one, , taking several years about it; ifmt there is no arrangement made to take in a stranger for a term or two at any given point land1 put him through a short course of "instruction in particular sui»jects. All our work is arranged to cHiueats the boy who stays for four or •five or six years, and passes right through the school from bottom to top"; it is not a system of polishing .or of finishing, or of giving a course of lessons to prepare him foFa business career, or to cram for a particular examination,. If you want them, you must go to a correspondence school—you need not come to tus. And there is a moral to all1 this., which lies in the words "a>ge of entry." I too often have applications for boys to enter aged 15 or 16 years, and, if there is room, I often have to take them. But I know all the'wVile that it is not as fair to the school.- nor is it as fair to the" boy as if he had entered at thirteen years; and the difficulty is that I cannot get the parents to see it. I wish you would think iit over, and spread abroad) "the feet that tbiis school is roacje to receive boys of 13 years-; we want them young, ■ v- ' I promnsed to toll yoti more about the school in which w-e are iall so deeply interested, under the heads of .gymnasium and grounds-. ' * On looking inside our gymnasium. you might, be astonished to find a perfectly emp^ ,rok>m. But there.is really a good deal present.

On the walls are lists and photoGraphs, and they mean ia great deal. There are photograiphs 'and lists of boya who^ have served their school by representing it in athletics, therp are also photographs of Samloiw, the strong man, the aro-ostle of physical culture. NW tall this ia rlone not out, of an? spirit of Relf-glorification, but to /"build "in our midst a temple rof health.

Tt is all intended to tell to the boys of each generation a« t.hev ooimfi- .nTr>n<r th« inspiring story of "the fighl cf Ions; ago"—

Of the mattjh that Tnas iron irith the sinking auR;

Of the goal from the place kick true; Of all who have wrought and served and fought For the sake of the Black and Blue. And so the gymnasium has a peculiar interest for our medical staff. It is

true that we begin first to look to our doctor's skill and our matron's care when

«v,e are all (and deeply grateful are we to them in our times of trouble and

pain); but that is only one side, of the

question. Their object and their care are to keep us all healthy and vigorous and strong, and so the doctor and the matron are the architects e$ our temple

<of health ; and it is for me to tell you briefly of their success hitherto. Since this time last year the school has withstood somewhat fierce attacks of mumps and influenza and again of a few isolated cases of scarlet fever; >and I am always expecting the doctors to tell us why. They content themselvcp with advising methods of precaution for those that are whole, and with curing those that are sickj they do not answer too many questions —and perhaps they are right. For my /part, if anyone questions the health of the school or the healthiness of the surroundings, I have an answer ready. It is "Come and see." I do not purpose to Bay much to you upon my last heading °^ "grounds," this not (being the time of year (when an account is given of our athletics. The matter is naturally divided into two parts, the ground itself land what is done oii the top of it, and the record of tho year combines the two into one by the three words—wind, weeds and records. Of wind there is no need to speak; we hope it has its uses. Of weeds there is more to say. We are much troubled by them in our grounds; they bring despair to trie heart of the groundsman, and they oause expense which we can ill afford. I much fear that we shall, foe compelled to completely'returf the cricket pitch; and we have on hand the heavy task of levelling across the /lane. And I mention this now /because I (want the parents to sympathise- in our difficulties, just as they rejoice with us in our, successes. And successes there have been upon the grounds. I have heard it sadd that this school is losing some of its old athletic vigour, and I have no wish to argue the point, still less has anyone here one particle of desire to make a parade of successes/ but in all fairness to the present generation of iboys and the parents who have reared them, I must point to a few facts, selected more or less at Tandom :

Sixteen mile walk done under three hours, fair, toe and heel work, iby 17 boys. ~ A lusty crew seeking whom .they may devour. -

Te Aute match won. Football tournament won. Wellington cricket match wn by 198 funs."™""

The Bishop of Waiapu delivered an i inspiring address on th<j subject of personality. He prefaced his remarks by hoping that he would be pardoned if ho spoke moite to the boys than to the others present. It was a very great ' night for the boys, many of whom were j leaving school, and he wanted to say a few /words to all the boys before they went home. He expressed "his gratitude for being able to be present on ~ the occasion, arid being privileged to present the prizes. He had been more or less connected with another College, ' but now that he resided in the North ' Island he felt it an honour to be pre- ' sent at the school which had done so muclTfor many who now resided in his diocese. Incidentally, he publicly testified to the way in which Collegiate School boys conducted themselves and ' upheld the honour of the school. Owing to the number of students who c-anwj from Haw~ke's Bay-and Poverty Bay* - he felt that the College should ibelong to his diocese as well as to the Well- j ington diocese. The Bishop then be- ' gan his eloquent exhortation to this boys to develop, their personality by j developing their bodies, minds * and . spirits. Unless the whole three , were j developed, there was danger of becoming deformed. It was said of Gladstone by Morfey that he was admired more for what, he had done than for what, ho was. The boys who were leaders ] might notibe the boys with the1 greatest intellects, but they were the boys with ' the strongest personality. School was !" the place foFthe boys to develop that personality: lie sympathised with those : in .education- for they had one of the I grandest but one of the most difficult works in the world in "drawing out" ■ a boy and developing his character. This , vrfjs true education. There was no | paint' 'v«naer or varnish about it. A ' school-like "tlie,.^Wanganui ..Collegiate . School had ifte' trii^ .id^a bf education. Character and personality'were not developed in isolation, but "in society, and j here came in the greatest benefit of a ' school like the College. . The rough r angles were knocked off, and there was j drawn out the true bo- and the true ! man. The speaker had no gneat opin- | ion of the >boy who went through school ' •without enthusiasm and without endea- : vouring to help it along. A boy should deny himself for the of the school, j. This could be* exemplified in the foot- I ball field. When the boy left school \ he s>bould carry this standard of life j with him. He should not be content i to sink to the general average. Ho should be enthusiastic and never become that miserable being, a cynic, like a ' pariah dog. He should consider what he owes to his school and to his coun- i try, and carry into the wider spheres , of life the lessons learned at school-. The i Bishop concluded his stirring address • with an eloquent peroration in which ; he predicted that the Wanganui Col-! legiate School boys of the future would ' be as great an honour to their school and country as the boys of the past were. • I The Bishop of Waiapu then distributed, the prizes. I PRIZE LIST. ! Latin.—First in school: Glasgow ' prize, Meldrum. Second in school— ■ old Iboys' prize, Glasgow. Via, Ber- ; nau, Vlb, Treadwell ma.; Va-, McGregor; Vb, Wake; Vc, Meyriek; Set 1, 'Maclean mi.; set 2, Joibiin; set 3, Grace. French. —Via, Meldrum; Vlib, Treadwell ma.; Va, Timperley; Vb, Bell; Vc, Harvey; IVa, Thomson; mlVa, i Short ma.; mlVb, Bayly and Nelion mi.; IVc, Ormond; 111, Beattie, mi. j Mathematics.—'First in school—Har- j vey Mem., Maclean ma.; Second in school —Pennefather prize, McNiven ma.; Vlb, Taverner; Va, Elder mi.; : Vb, Wake; Vc, Stewart; set 1, Hislop; set 2a, Pease mi.; set 2bj Goldingham ; set 3, Odlin; set 4, Allison mi. j

History.—Va, Handing mi.; Vb, Gill-Oar&y ; Vc, - Colbeck ma. • IVa, I SLmipson ma. and Smith ma.; mlVa," Johnston ; mlVb, Colbeck mi. ; IVc, Abbott; HI, Birch. ' I Science.—Vl Heat, McNiven ma.; Via, Chem., Meldruon; Vlb, Taverner; Va, McGregor; Vb, Wake; Vc, Stewart; Louver School Science., Withers. j Divinity.—First in school—JVfershiall Mem., Rocfavell; Second in school, Tdverner; Va, Harding mi.; V!b, Carlson; i Vc. Goodwin ma.; IVa, Smith nra.; ' mlVa, Short ma.; mlVb, Grace; IVc, | Sandilands; 11, Birch. j English.—^Essays. Upper, iMeldrum ; ■Middle, Payne; Lower.""Grace and McLeod; Via, McNiven ma.; ViTb, Tav- ' erner: V«, Payne.- Vb. Hanner; Vc, ! Siddells; IVa, Miaclean mi.: mlVa, ! Short ma. ajid Hislo-p: mlVb, Grace;' TVo. McLeod: HT. Birch. i Drawing.—Vc, Sho;rrifF^nd CarnriheH ; [Va, Corerdale mi.; .mTVa, Davidson;

mlVb, Moore; IVc, Short mi.; 111, Takarangi! Voluntary, Morse. Geography. —Vc, Goodwin ma.; IVa, Simpson ma.; mlVa, Hislop; mlVb, Lane; IVc, McLeod; 111, Birch. Bookkeeping.—Set 1, Short ma.; set 2, Odlin. Gardening.—Douglas prize: 1, Lane and Nelson mi.; 2 Canning and Allison mi.; 3, Simpson ma.