RETIRING PRINCIPAL OF TURAKINA MAORI GIRLS’ COLLEGE LOOKS BACK

Wanganui Chronicle, 10 December 1949, Page 6

RETIRING PRINCIPAL OF TURAKINA MAORI GIRLS’ COLLEGE LOOKS BACK

Principal of the Turakina Maori Girls' College for the past 30 years, Miss E. M. Kinross is retiring at tne end of the year, and at the annual college break-up and prize-giving ceremony yesterday afternoon she indulged in a little reminiscing, recalling many incidents in the early life of the school and tracing its growth. Founded in 1905, the college was first established at Turakina, Miss Kinross taking over the school in 1920, Twenty-two years ago the college was moved to Marton and the modern building in Henderson s Line has become one - of the district's landmarks.

Miss Kinross yesterday paid tribute to the founders of the school and to Mr and Mrs Hamilton and members their famfly who taught in the ibdhool in the early days and saw that the foundations were well and trulylaid. INCREASE IN ROLLS When she took over the school in 1920, Miss Kinross said, the roll number was 25, and she could remember what rejoicing there was when the number reached 30. In those days it was necessary to search round for pupils, but gradually, through the Presbyterian Church’s missionaries on the Maori fields and through Maori school inspectors it became better known and today the roll was 55, the school’s accommodation being taxed to the limit. In spite of the fact that in recent years the Government had built many secondary schools in Maori districts, the parents still seemed to prefer the boarding school for their children, said Miss Kinross, and every year now the college had a long waitling list of pupils noping to gain admission. In 1920 the school was a primary school, there being only one girl on the roll who had passed standard 6. Occasionally they had some pupils in the infant department. These were not little children out girls of 15 and 16 years who had had no opportunity of education in their own districts. “It seems almost incredible today to think that less than 30 years ago there were villages in our country with no facilities tor education except what the various denominations of the Christian Church sought to provide as they went into isolated areas and opened up new fields of work,” said Miss Kinross. In those days a very common request of parents when they brought their girls for admiss on was: “I want her to learn the pakeha way.” Today the request was more often: “I want her to learn Maori language and culture,” said Miss Kinross. It was only about ten years ago that the school became wholly a postprimary school. In 1920 there were four pupils on Government scholarships under the Education Department; this year there were 31 Government scholarship holders. Discussing the move from Turakina to Marton some 22 years ago, Miss Kinross said the present building stood largely as a result of the enthusiasm of the Y.W.8.C., who set out on a campaign of fl a member, aiming at £5OOO to provide the nucleus of a new building fund. Their enthusiasm was caught by the convener of Maori Missions at that time, the late Rev. J. A. Asher, to whose vision and faith the Church really owed its present fine building. INTEREST AWAKENED The move to Marton, said Miss Kinross, seemed to awaken a greatly renewed interest in the school, and shortly afterwards a local committee was formed to assist the Maori Missions Committee in the necessary work of laying out the grounds and improving the surroundings. During the first two years more than £5OO , was collected by the committee and spent on improvements. It was impossible to mention the work done by this committee without remembering the late Mr W. H. Brown, its first secretary, whose work over a period of 18 years was invaluable. Mr Brown bequeathed £BOO to the school, and Miss Kinross hoped that the money would be used to assist in building an assembly hall and that some suitable memorial to Mr Brown would be incorporated in that building. The move to Marton also gave the school the greater convenience of dental and medical treatment close at hand, and it afforded the girls opportunities to participate in sports with other secondary schools, such as MarD.H. School and Nga Tawa.

CONTRIBUTION TO COMMUNITY The people of Marton, said Miss Kinross, had shown a very great interest in the welfare of the school and supported it most generously and whole-heartedly. The girls had also made their contribution to the community, assisting often with their singing. During the war years they knitted and sewed several hundred garments for Red Cross and other organisations. Miss Kinross paid tribute to the work of the various ministers within whose parishes the school had been situated, and mentioned the Rev. James Wilson and the Rev. R. H. Catherwood. when the school was at Turakina. When the move was made to Marton there was the Rev. D. Mo Ivor, who was chairman of the local committee for eight years. Rev. T. H Burton chairman for five years, and Rev. James Robertson, the present minister and chairman. To all these ministers and their wives the schoo) owed a debt of gratitude, said Miss Kinross. CHRISTIAN EDUCATION “We have sought over the years to remember that the chief aim of the school is to provide Christian education and to emphasise the spiritual side of the girls’ training,” said Miss Kinross. # “I am sure that it is the side of the work that is most appreciated by parents and by the girls themselves. As one ex-pupil is reported to have said: ‘Other schools may show us how we should live and the way we should go, but the Church school points us to Him who makes that way possible.’ We feel that many Maori girls today are w. X the Christian way because they learnt that way at school. When I think of the leadership that many of our prefects have displayed over the years, i feel that the fine quality of that leadership augurs well for the future of the race,” said Miss Kinross in conclusion.