S.John's College, Tamaki, Auckland.

New Zealand Illustrated Magazine, Volume VI, Issue 2, 1 May 1902, Page 86

S.John's College, Tamaki, Auckland.

By the Rev. J. King Davis, M.A., sometime Maksh Scholar

§ I SHOP SELWYN arrived in New Zealand in May, lt'42, and before the end of June he bad established his headquarters at Waimate, Bay of Islands. Here, accordingly, he first established the College that "was to form the centre of his operations. He lived himself in the

now historic parsonage, wherein was born John Richardson Selwyn, afterwards Bishop of Melanesia; while the students and the pupils of the connected schools occupied buildings in the

vicinity

The College, however, found

only a temporary home in the north eru settlement. In August, 1844, a group of notable men might have been seen on the bleak, ferny hillside at what we call now Tamaki

West ; they were the first (and only) Bishop of New Zealand, Mr. W. Martin (afterwards Sir William), the first Chief Justice of the colony, and Mr. W. Swainson, the first Attorney-General. There they chose the permanent site of the College, and several hundreds of acres were purchased with a

portion of the legacy left to the institution by its first Divinity Lecturer, the Rev. T. "Whytehead, M.A., Fellow of S. John's College, Cambridge, who had died at Waimate. It was in November, 1844 that the College establishment was removed to Auckland and placed at Purewa, on the banks of the

stream, just below the present cemetery. Here, at first in tents and later in habitations covered with reeds, the College party lived until, in 1846,. the buildings at Tarn ak i were sufficiently advanced to be habitable. Difficulties, many and considerable, beset the work of erection. Anyone can read this in the heterogeneous character

and the irregu-

larity of the

buildings. That two-storied stone house, monastic in its stern, simplicity, and the kitchen, also of stone,, tell us that the original plan was to build' the College of the more dutiable material ;: but in those days the artisans held the key of the situation, as they do in these; and after the desertion of the stone masons,

there was no choice bat to complete in wood. This was also difficult owing to the high wages that carpenters were able to demand. Thus the work could only

progress gradually from year to year, as opportunity offered. At times it was necessary for parties to go forth in the College vessels to neighbouring islands to obtain timber, the Bishop as usual taking the lion's share of the work.

The chapel, built from designs furnished by one of the students, Mr. Thatcher, afterwards the first Vicar of S. Matthew's, was opened in 1847. Although the exterior is plain, the interior is unique and most devotional. In this tiny sanctuary — it will seat only seventy persons — you find the " dim religious light " associated with the venerable cathedrals of the Old Country : all the windows are of stained glass. On these or on mural tablets many names of the past are inscribed. There are commemorated, notably, the distinguished Founder, George Augustus Selwyn, and his lay coadjutor in so many undertakings — Sir

William Martin ; among other benefactors of the College, Thomas Whytehead, Archdeacon Brown, Edward Meyrick, Henry William Appleyard, also Alfred Marsh Brown and Maria Blackett, in whose memory valuable scholarships were founded ; Bishop Patteson, and those who like him laid down their lives in Melanesia — William Nihill, Joseph Atkin, and Stephen Taroniara.

A search of the registers shows a mingling of the names of English, Maoris, and Melanesians, baptized in the lai'ge stone font, or laid in the quiet chapel yard, or sent forth amid rejoicing on the path of wedded love. On April 3rd, 1850, in that little chapel, Edward John Eyre, LieutenantGovernor of the Province of New Munster, was married to Adelaide Fanny, daughter of Captain Ormond, R.N. The ceremony was perfoi'med by Bishop Selwyn, and the witnesses signing the register were Major-General Pitt and the Governor-in-Chief of New Zealand, Sir George Grey, who also gave away the bride. To make

the occasion yet more striking, a Maori wedding took place at the same time ; the combined ceremony was therefore a long one, as each portion of the service had to be

taken in both languages. At its conclusion the wedding feast of the two couples was given in the large College hall, which had been opened on a great day in 1849. Therein sat down a goodly company of one hundred and fifty to two hundi*ed persons, guests of high degree in the same room with those of lowlier station, the rejoicings of the two races commingled, with the courtly Bishop of New Zealand and Mrs. Selywn as host and hostess.

By degrees, then, there grew up a kind of ecclesiastical village, "Bishop's Auckland "

it was called. It was a Theological College for the training of candidates for Holy Orders ; bat it was a great deal more. In its many-sidedness it resembled rather one of the monasteries of mediaeval days. For industry it was a very beehive. From the very first, the general condition upon which all students and scholars were received into the College was that they should employ a definite portion of their time in some useful occupation in aid of the purposes of the institution. The theological student could be no dreamy mystic. When not himself

at lecture, he was teaching in the English. Boys' School, or in the Maori Boys' School, or superintending some branch of useful industry. When books and pens were laid aside, the hoe and the spade and the billhook were taken up that ground might be cleared aud prepared for cultivation. Nor was this all. Bishop Selwyn was far in advance of the times ; he had in reality established a technical school, wherein were taught and carried on the arts of printing, weaving, and shoemaking. S. John's was also au agricultural College; for there was a

College farm, intended to supply the institution, as far as possible, with wheat, meat, butter, etc. 4.11 had to work; and the Bishop and Tutors, dignitaries and dons though they were, led the van. Wherever possible, the principle of profit-sharing was carried out. In the Lay Associates' branch, the members were bound by agreement to serve for so many years in their respective departments ; but they were allotted, according to their status, definite shares in the profits gained by their operations, and were in every way encouraged to prepare to.

start in life for themselves. Though we may not be able to consider the working out of the industrial system as altogether a

success, we cannot but be filled with admiration of the Founder's ideal. In 1846, with a community numbering one hundred and thirty in all, he was longing for seven schools of one hundred each. The round of study, manual work, and worship, was such as to ennoble all honest labour and bring a wholesome influence to bear at every point on the raw and rough life of the young colony. So also was it with the more spiritual functions of the College. It was a Cathedral centra. Thence went forth the College priests and deacons to minister in the surrounding districts of Panmure, Howick, Otahuhu, Onehunga, Epsom, Remuera, Auckland West (now S. Matthew's parish), and Okahu; nor must we omit the stone Church of S. Thomas, on the road to Kohimaramara, although this was built without any connexion with the College. Of this last, now a picturesque ruin, the foundation-stone was laid on December

21st, 1843, by Mr. Shortland, then Acting-Lieutenant-Governor. The site was given l>y the Colonial Treasurer (Mr. Shepherd), while Major Bunbury, Messrs. Spain,. Cli arches, Newman, and other settlers of the district contributed in labour and money to the erection of the building. It wascompleted by May, 1847; but as early as 1864 it was in such a dangerous state that the services held therein from December,. 1844, had to be discontinued. Its loopholed walls speak of a time when a refuge mightr b(! needed in case of a Maori inroad.

S. John's was also a Missionary centre.. Thence in August, 1849, Bishop Selwyn went forth to New Caledonia, the New Hebrides, and the Loyalty Islands in the College schooner " Undine," twenty-one tons. Thither, on a moonlight night two months later, he brought triumphantly the first five Melanesian scholars. Here first

John Coleridge Patteson lived when he arrived from England, and here later on, in the intervals of the missionary voyages, he

•lovingly tended the dark-skinned lads of the tropics who found our climate so trying. It was not until 1859 that the headquarters of the mission were transferred to S. Andrew's College, Kohimaramara.

The care of those suffering from bodily •disease was included in the operations of •the College. In a building that had been erected for the purpose in 1846, the brethren and the sisters of the Hospital of S. John were called upon to minister, for the love of Grod, " to all the wants of the sick of all classes, without respect of persons or reservation of service." This department was for years under the charge of the Rev. Dr. Purchas, a veteran student of S. John's, who still lives and works among us. He also, as Precentor, did splendid service in the musical department.

The College was also intended as a temporary hostelry for young settlers without friends on their first arrival in the ■colony, while on all occasions its hospitality was generous. One distinguished guest there was who looked carefully into the working of the institution, and made himself •exceedingly popular both with English and Maoris — Lord Robert Cecil, now the Marquis of Salisbury and Prime Minister of England.

For the first few years the success of S. John's College depended too much upon the personal supervision of the Bishop, who was obliged to be frequently absent on long visitations throughout his vast diocese. Later on, however, he was much l-elieved to be able to leave it in the charge of the Rev. J. F. Lloyd, M.A., afterwards Vicar of S. Paul's, and the Rev. C. J. Abraham, B.D.

In 1853 the main operations of the Oollege were suspended ; bnt for a while Mr. Abraham carried on an English Boys' School. After his appointment to the newly-formed see of Wellington, the Rev. S. Blackburne, M.A., became Master of the College. During his tenure of office there were oi'dained from among those who attended the College three men whose names will ever be held in great honour — Archdeacon Palmer, of the Melanesian Mission, who has so recently died in

Auckland, the Key. Joseph Atkin, and the late Canon Bates of Devonport.

After another suspension for two or three years, work was resumed under the Mastership of the Rev. J. Kiuder, D.D., in 1871 at the Church of England Grammar School, Parnell, and in 1872 in the College buildings at Tamaki. Under Dr. Kinder, who was called upon, unaided, to deal not only with theological studies, but also with a wide range of university subjects, there were prepared for the ministry men who now hold high office in the Church ; while

the grounds, which were a wilderness in 1872, became a model of neatness and beautiful in the extreme.

When Dr. Kinder resigned the Mastership in 1880, the College entered upon the migratory period of its existence. After a few months in Parnell, the students returned to the Tamaki in 1881, under the care of the Rev. R. Burrows, with the Revs. R. Kidd, LL.D., and W. B. Mulgan, 8.A., as visiting Tutors. In 1882 and 1883, the Rev. B. H. Gulliver, M.A., held the office of

Warden. Early in 1884, the sanction of the Legislature having been obtaiued, the students were removed to Gladstone Road, Parnell, that they might have a better opportunity of attending lectures at the recently established University College. The Rev. G. H. S. Wai pole, M.A., Vicar of S. Mary's, was Acting- Warden, the Rev. E. H. Gulliver visiting Tutor, and the Rev. W. E. Percival resident Chaplain. In 1886 Mr. Walpole resigned, and the Rev. W. Beatty, M.A., was appointed Warden. Early in 1895, Mr. Beatty became Vicar of S. Mark's, Remuera, and the College was again without a head. A few months later the students were sent back to the buildings at the Tamaki, where, after the l'emoval to Parnell, a Church School for boys had been established by private enterprise. This had been first thoroughly organised by the Rev. T F. King, and after that gentleman's death was carried on (for a time with the coadjutorship of Mr. Graham Bruce, 8.A.) by the Rev. P. S. Smallfield, who now became Tutor of the College. Since then those students who attend lectures at the University College have been obliged to spend some time in travelling to and fro. This disadvantage is, however, more apparent than real ; for during the past

three or four years students of S. John's have been much to the fore in the University College class-lists, and very successful in the further tests of the examinations for degrees and for honours. While there has been considerable diversity of opinion on the question of another removal to the vicinity of University College, the present position is that the authorities governing the College, acting under the instructions of the General Synod, have terminated Mr. Smallfield's lease of the buildings at the Tamaki, and have appointed as Warden the Rev. H. Alison M.A., who will go into residence at the Tamaki in September next. Until then the students are housed in Remuera, under the charge of the Rev. C. A. Tisdall, M.A. The career of S. John's College has been a chequered one. Difficulties — financial and otherwise — have hampered its operations. Nevertheless, good work has been done ; its past furnishes lofty ideals and inspiring memories. It is to be hoped that as, in its inception, its work was interwoven with the beginnings of the colony, so in the future it may exercise a wide and wholesome

influence, and may take its true position as the one provincial Theological College of the Anglican Church in New Zealand.