WANGANUI COLLEGIATE SCHOOL.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXVI, Issue 18658, 14 December 1922, Page 5

WANGANUI COLLEGIATE SCHOOL.

PRESENTATION OF PRIZES. ADDRESS BY GOVERNORGENERAL. The presentation of prizes at the Wanganui Collegiate School took place last evening, the ceremony being performed by the Governor-General, Lord Jellicoe. There was a large attendance of parents and friends of the school. CHAIRMAN’S ADDRESS. Mr A. G. Bignoll, chairman of the Board of Trustees, presided, and in his opening address said : First, I wish to voice our appreciation of Lord Jellicoe’s kindness in coming here to distribute the prizes. It is a privilege to have among us, even briefly, one who has played a great and gallant part in the drama of the world war, and who wears his honours with so modest a grace. It is good also to have an opportunity to listen to an officer' of distinction in a profession that brings out the best that a man is capable of, and so absolutely demands discipline, accuracy, professional keenness, love of knowledge, decision courage and selfsacrifice. Most of all, however, we welcome him as Governor of our Dominion, thfe visible link between us and the rest of the Empire. Anything that vivifies our British patriotism is a 'benefit. If only for selfish reasons we ought to cherish our British citizenship, for it is through being part of the British Empire that we are free to pursue in peace and security the even tenor of our national development. But beyond that consideration, an inestimable value attaches to our common inheritance of British traditions and ideals. Again, I consider it an opportune moment, when the school is, as it were, making a fresh .-tart under a new head, to make some comment on the position from the view point of a member of the governing body. Our responsibility has weighed heavily on us for our share in the management of an institution which under a succession of able headmasters. has attained national importance. . Within recent years our attention has been largely directed towards furnishing the School with buildings and equipment suitable for the work it had to do, and we claim, with confidence, that no school in the Dominion, and few schools Anywhere, have better and more solid buildings, a healthier and more attractive situation, and finer facilities for every form of manly sport and recreation. To achieve this result many difficult questions have had to be dealt with, not the least being the matter of finance, for our endowment, considerable as it is, by no means even approximately yields the monetary benefits derived from the public purse of State- aided secondary schools. However, having provided, as it were, the appropriate environment and the material requirements, the trustees naturally anticipate commensurate educational results, and these can only be attained by the co-operative efforts of masters and boys. Mr Pierce, upon whom the destinies of School largely depend, was selected on our behalf by a commission in England, consisting of Mr W. W. Vaughan, headmaster of Rugby; Professor Barnes, of Cambridge ; Professor Seward, Master of Downing College, Cambridge; and the Rev. C. Coderidge Harper, Newington; with Air C. J. Wray, as convener. I can only add that Mr Pierce has the full confidence of the trustees, and that he can rely on every possible assistance from them in carrying out his responsible duties.

THE PRINCIPAL’S ADDRESS. The principal, the Rev. Mr Pierce, ’said:— ' I wish, at the outset of my remarks, to echo the welcome extended by Mr Bignell to His Excellency the GovernorGeneral, and to express the great pleasure and gratification it gives the boys, the staff, myself, and 1 am sure I may add, the visitors to have His Excellency here- to-night. 1 would like at this point, the first opportunity 1 have had of meeting parents of the boys and other friends of the School collectively, to express my deep sense of the honour that has been conferred on me /by my appointment as headmaster. So far as I am concerned, it was an un-sought-for honour. For several weeks after the offer was made I hesitated to accept it. 1 felt it was a big plunge in the dark, and I was not at all sure that I was the right man for the post. That, of course, has still to be proved; but 1 will say now that I am glad I took the plunge. For the sake of the Sciiool 1 sincerely hope the future will justify the trustees’ choice. A serious reduction in the number of boys necessitated a reduction of staff, and Mr Thornton and Mr Jess left us at the end of that term. Mr Sutcliffe had joined the staff at the beginning of the year, and is, I am glad to say, still in charge of a section of the science department. But the most regrettable loss to the School during the past twelve months is that of Mr Peck, who was in charge of Harvey House, and who has done so much for the School music, and served the School so faithfully in manifold ways since his appointment here 17 years ago. . I am informed that in the last Matriculation examination sixteen candidates obtained passes, ten obtained partial passes, two completed their partial passes of the previous year, while three passed their engineering preliminary; two passed with credit in the Junior University Scholarship Examination, and one qualified for Matriculation on the same papers. My observation of the work of the School this term leads me to the conclusion that it is not of nearly high enough a standard for an institution of this type, and it shall be my earnest endeavour to raise that standard. I propose to attempt it —among other Ways —by making entrance somewhat more difficult than it has been of late; by refusing to admit boys w’ho have reached the age of fifteen years; by superannuating boys who do not make reasonable progress; and by the foundation, I hope before very long, of some entrance scholarships. I am more interested in quality than in quantity, and if my policy doesn’t appeal to your ideas on education, well it is always in your power to superannuate me. But I do hold strongly the opinion that a school established, built, and equipped as this is, must, if it i g to do honour to its founders and answer to their good intentions, take a due amount of pride in the things of the mind as well as those of the body, and must not be allowed to degenerate ‘‘into a school <.t merely physical culture. “A sound mind in a sound body” is all very well so far as it goes; but it

mustn’t be forgotten that as your sound | body requires frequent exercise to keep l it in good working order, so does your sound mind; and it must be our aim I to give due attention to the exercise of both, and not to overdo one kind of exercise at the expense of the other. Turning to the chronicle of our Old Boys’ achievements this year, 1 find two items of outstanding merit and of legitimate pride to the School. We have to congratulate Sir William Marr is on his appointment as Lieutenant-Governor of Agra and Oudi, and A. E. Porritt, on his election to a Rhodes Scholarship. 1 want a few things of you parents and Old Boys. 1 want, what 1 have some reason for thinking you are prepared to give me. your sympathy, your moral support, your co-operation. If you are not prepared to grant mo this, 1 am no use here; I must go home again. My business is that of a schoolmaster. 1 must bo expected to know my job better than you know it, therefore you must trust pie. 1 would not presume to dictate to you how you should do your particular jobs, whatever they may be; and I cannot allow you to dictate to me how 1 should deal with your boys. It is just as well we should be clear on that point at the outset. Next, I want your money. That’s quite a different matter, isn’t it? But there’s no poverty in New Zealand. 1 want your money for two immediate purposes 1 may want it for other purposes later on. At present I want it to found scholarships lor boys entering the School. That is my first purpose. The intellectual standard of this school isn’t nearly high enough. It is not worthy of the foundation nr the money spent on it. One way to raise that standard is by establishing scholarships, as we do at Home. Don’t misunderstand me. I don’t give brains the first place in school economy. Character is more important; far more important But this school is not going to do its duty to the Dominion or the Empire unless it can claim a reasonable amount of intellectual pride. Therefore, 1 want to improve the intellectual standard of the place. We’ve got fine material here to work on ; your boys are warm-hearted and responsive. We must give them every chance to take their stand on an equality with men of the most cultured minds in the country, and indeed in the Empire. Aly second request is for a pulpit for the chapel. Oh. if you only knew what it feels like to have to preach without a pulpit you would appreciate the poignancy of my appeal. It is like a captain navigating his ship from the dining saloon. There is no feeling of oversight, of command. Apart from this, whoever heard of a school chapel without its pulpit? The Old Boys were most munificent in their gift of the chapel, and its equipment, anu now 1 ask someone or more of you to come forward and make good the deficiency. I am afraid there is stiii one more appeal 1 have to make. This appeal is to the present as well as to the past. This room ought to be permanently furnished with chairs. At Home 1 have known more than one public school— Hailey bury is a case in point—at which chairs have been provided for the big school on the following plan: When a boy leaves he presents a chair of uniform pattern, bearing his name and the years he was at school, carved on the back, thus perpetuating his connection with the school. 1 commend this scheme To Old Boys of Wanganui, as one method of doing the School a very real service, and an inexpensive one. And now a final word about the School in general. Coming direct from one of the smaller English public schools, and having had the privilege ol serving in some of the bigger ones, I am bound to make comparisons. I find the boys here are in general, bigger for their age than those at Home, but the standard of work is some two years lower. To counter-balance this deficiency your boys are more resourceful and self-reliant. Self-reliance is a valuable trait with the delect of its merits it is apt to lead to self-satisfaction, which is a snare; for self-satisfaction is the bane of progress. This hopdtable country of yours has hardly reached adult years yet; it must have tremendous possibilities for the future. To realise these possibilities we want men of vision and culture; and this school ought to produce such. It has advantages possessed, 1 suppose, by no other sciiool in the Dominion. A potentially rich foundation good buildings and equipment, sound traditions—it ought to produce national leaders • —both in Church and State; and that can only be hoped for if we give due attention to the culture of mind and spirit as well as body. “Alens cujusque, Is. est quisque,” is a saying as old as it is true. I may be allowed to translate it somewhat freely as follows; The soul of the boy is the boy himself. Now the fcjpul of the boy is an elusive and an incalculable entity. It is composite of all parts of his nature, and our system of education -that is the public school system —seeks to show the boy its value and possibilities, then to put him in the way of developing it on the right lines so that he can respect himself. I confess it is not always easy for us schoolmasters to get at that soul. Sometimes we get at it through his head ; sometimes through a less honorable part of his anatomy; and sometimes we fail to get at it at -i.il. But most often we get at it through his heart; hence, while we do everything we can to ensure for him a strong, healthy body, and a hard head, we must above all, aim at making him soft-hearted. Boys, we are so motimes told, come to school to get hardened ; but the one thing we must not allow to get hardened is their hearts. LORD JELLICOE’S SPEECH. Lord Jellicoe had a great reception when he rose to speak. He said that he would rather face the school bowling, good as it was. than speak to such a large audience. He had great pleasure in being present. He regarded the public schols of the Empire as one of the greatest assets. In his opinion the public schools of the Empire as one of wards winning the war for the Allies, as they developed in the boys the quality of leadership that was so necessary. During the war the boys from the public schools who joined the Navy, proved equal to the boys from Osborne and D'artford. 'The spirit of the public schools wag shown at the Battle of Jutland, when a British destroyer was sinking after attacking the enemy armoured cruisers. Her captain was severely wounded, and although his ship was sinking, he dragged himself to a wounded man to bind the latter’s wounds. As long as the public schools produced that spirit the Empire would continue in the ascendancy and its present glory. He believed that the AVanganui institution had a greater peicentage of boarders than similar institutions, and that in itself was an asset as it brought the iiyso in the closest touch with the staff. One of the greatest necessities of life was discipline. He agreed with a previous remark that it was desirable that the New Zealand boy should equal the

English boy in study, as New Zealand had given the Gid Country a lead in many directions and could give a greater lead. On the boys of to-day would rest the responsibility of the Future to see that the best traditions were maintained. He congratulated the School on having the Rhodes Scholar for the year, and felt confident that the honour of the School and New Zealand would be safe in hie hands. In conclusion Hi S Excellency tendered to the boys the compliments of the season, and expressed the wish that he would be afforded another opportunity 'bf visiting the school. The prize-winners were: LOWER SCHOOL. Set A.—Mathematics, Andrews; Drawing, Speedy; English, Shaw: Divinity,. Shrimpton; History, Snaw; Geography. Shaw; French, Shrimpton, and Aidworth ma.; Latin. Nelson mi.; Non-Latin combined subjects, Andrews. Set B.—Mathematics, Dick ; Drawing, Nelson ma.; English, Coombe: Divinity, Bibby; History, .lull mi.; Geography, Coombe; Flench. Nelson mi.; Latin! Holcombe mi. MIDDLE SCHOOL. Set A.—Mathematics, Craig; Draw, ing, Lockhart; English, Tiffen and Hall; Divinity, Hall; History, McKinnon; Geography, Richardson mi; French, Glenny; Latin, uor.es; Science, Wyley; Non-Latin, combined subjects. Craig. Set B.—Mathematics. Stedman ma.: Drawing, Tingey ; English, .Besley ana Stedman ma.; Divinity, Burrell; History. Stedman ma. • Geography, Burrell ; French, Wells; Latin, French; Science, Jones.

Set C.—Mathematics, French; Drawing, Hocking; English. French; Divinity, Hocking; History. Hocking; Geography. Hocking; French, French; Science, Hocking. UPPER SCHOOL. Sot A. —Mathematics (Special); English. Taverner; Divinity, Taverner; History, Giesen; French, Hay-Campbell; Latin (Special!; Science, Taverner; N.Z. History, Johnston. . Set B. —Mathematics Slipper; English. Fitzherbert; 2nd prize Slipper; Divinity, Fitzherbert • Geography, Latham; French. Chadwick; Isatin, Chadwick, 2nd prize Slipper; Science, Kirkcaldie mi. Set C.—Mathefnatics, TCnight; English. Crawford; Divinity, Crawford; Geography, Jull ma.; French. Williams Latin. Crawford; Science, Dawson. SPECIAL PRIZES.

Marshall Memorial Exhibition--Cooper. Mathematics Harvey Memorial Prize. Wilde. Pennefather Prize, Taverner. Latin—Glasgow Prize. Taverner. Old Boys’ Prize. Hay-Campbell. History—Kenneth Sinclair Thompson Memorial Prizes: Upper School, Hewitt; Middle School. Ormond. Agriculture—Mason Memorial Prizes. Taverner, Izard, Ritchie Tna. Malcolm Beattie Memorial! Medal, Hewitt. French—J. W. H. Marshall Memorial Prize, Hay-Campbell 1, Armstrong 2. H urworth War Memorial Prizes— Middle School, Hocking ; Lower School, Lilburn. Essay—Rachel Godwin Memorial Prizes : Upper School, Taverner and Nevins 2; Middle School, not awarded.