THE CHURCH IN NEW ZEALAND

New Zealand Tablet, 22 August 1918, Page 33

THE CHURCH IN NEW ZEALAND

HISTORICAL NOTES. With regard to educational matters in Auckland in the early sixties, in a general summary of the then existing conditions compiled for publication in the jubilee number of the Auckland Herald in 1913, it is stated that a writer of 1862 gave the following account of the schools;—“ln connection with the Church of England there are the Epsom Grammar School,. St. Paul’s Schools for boys, girls, and infants, St. Matthew’s for boys and girls, St. Barnabas’s for girls. St. John’s College has just been reopened, and there are schools at Remuera, Onehunga, and other places, while four schools will shortly be opened in the Papakura, Drury, Hunua, and Wairoa districts. The Wesleyans have Wesley College, the academy in Victoria Quadrant, and another in Freeman’s Bav. The Presbyterians have schools for girls and boys in Symonds Street and Hobson Street; they have also schools at Tamaki, Otahuhu, Mahurangi (to the north), and Drury (to the south). The Catholics have schools for boys and girls in Hobson Street, Freeman’s Bay, and Parnell. A large proportion of these schools are in connection with ‘ the Board of Education, and in addition there are purely public schools and about 13 private schools in Auckland, and two on the North Shore, mostly Conducted by very competent teachers.’’ ‘Assistance was afforded to all schools on certain conditions. The allowance, which was paid by the Government and administered by the Board of Education, was at the rate of .£2 per annum for each child in average attendance, except in remote or thinly-popu-alted districts, where the board might grant an additional £2 for each child. The patrons or managers of all schools were bound to contribute, by children’s payment, or otherwise, not less than an equal amount to that granted by the board. Teachers were graded according to their qualifications into holders of first degree certificates and second degree certificates. Male teachers holding first degree certificates received a maximum of ,£75 per annum and mistresses £SO, and male teachers with second degree certificates received up to £SO and mistresses up to £35 per annum. The Provincial Government guaranteed to teachers, after five years’ employment in connection with the Board of Education, a free grant of 80 acres of land. Most of the schools in Auckland in 1863 were denominational. They were very excellent schools, for there was plenty of enthusiasm for education. Families were large in those days, five or six being a common number, while it was not uncommon for immigrants to bring. even more young colonists to these shores. Settlers were determined that to the handicaps children might suffer in a new country there should not be added the handicap of a deficient education, and care was taken that the teachers employed should be qualified men. Discipline was strict, there being no disposition to spoil the child by sparing, the cane, and deportment was carefully taught. Lack of accommodation was considered to be the chief demerit of the denominational schools, some bodies not being sufficiently well off to erect suitable buildings. An instance is recorded of four boys being carried out of one school in a single day, overcome by heat and lack of air. A small fee was charged at these schools, usually one shilling a week. Although education was denominational there was little sectarian jealousy, and at most schools there was an admixture of children of several denominations. It is significant of the tolerant spirit of the age that girls from nearly all the best families in Auckland, went to the Catholic school at St. Patrick’s, irrespective of their parents beliefs. The reason for this was simply the high reputation the nuns had obtained for scholastic achievement, and no violence was offered the consciences of Protestant children. It is significant (stated the Rev. . James Chisholm, in his book Fifty Tears Syne, published in connection with the jubilee of the Presbyterian Church in Otago, 1898), to find that the few Catholics of Dunedin were

not lost sight of by their Church, nor allowed to stray untended from the fold. In the summer of 1850, a’ French priest from Wellington visited them and baptised their children. ' ’ . 1