Manakau School's Progress Is Tribute To Work Of Early Pioneers

Chronicle (Levin), 1 May 1948, Page 4

Manakau School's Progress Is Tribute To Work Of Early Pioneers

■ ^ t •SIXTY YEARS h&Ve h^ssed Since the children of Manakau's | early sdttlers tnidged a WeMTy path through rain and mud.to j attend the first real schodl tMe district po^segged. . Oif Sattirday, May 7™ ntany of those first ptipils will peragain ihake that journey, but this tirrte uhder Inore comfortable circumstances and undoubtedly to' a structiire far , superior to afiythingjfiiey ever khewi for -that date marks the I first of the Diaihoild Jubileg cdlebrafions of the school.

Although str.uggling under hardships unknown today, to carve a fiitUrd and livelihood oiit of the scrub and biisli that was early .. Manakau, those, pioneer settlers realised the value of e'ducatioh and With gfeat senae df pufpose determinatioh set out to buiid a foiindatioh for education - which has been. carried on and fostered ever since.

The fifst redorded attetnpt at the estabiishiheiit of a schodl at Manakau was Oh June 21, 1888, when a dlass was s'et up in Mr. Whiley's residende, the house now dccupied, by Mr. Ivdn Df ake ori the Ndrth Mailakati Rdad. The first teacher waS a Mr. Donnelly, about Whdm not a great deai is kiiawn, save that he had a Idng W'hite beard. His last entry in the, sdhddl log refers td a visit o'f a Mr. Lee, school insp'ector, Who passed Julia Whiley * ih Standard fduf. . arid Elizabeth Whiley and John Ridhard, in Standard twb. The pupils who atteiyded the school were: Rdbert Whiley/ Fred Whiley, /Riehard B&van, Willianl Bevan, John Riekard, Fr.ed Rickai'd, William Riekard, Edward Bevan, John Moses; William King, Peter Blackfern,1 Tom Currinam, Sam Whiti, Isaac Palliver, Julia Whiley/ Eliza. Whiley, Edith Bartlett, Georgina Bartlett, Anne Bevan, Mary Corviile, Mabel Cdrviile, Margaret Bevan, Eiien Bevan, Matakina Peranara, Mary Rike, Louisa Pratt and Robert Ransfield. On October'

22, 1888, the first pefmanent teacher commence'd duty, he beingthe late Mr. Findlay Bethune. His first entry in the log toid of his rd-opening the school in a new btiilding which had then . jttst been completed. The attendance was 28. Those pupils who trudged through rdip and mud . that day Wef e William Bartlett, Daisy Houghton, Efnest Saint, Louis, Hedley and in addition, 23 others frem amdhg those whose names appear in the fifst list. The first assistant teacher was a Miss HoWan who arriVed on April 1, 1889 — an unfortunate day fof a school teacher to face, strange pupils. There is no reeord of the fifst school' committee but the fact that there was one in existence" on March 18, 1889, is evident from a paragraph referring to a decision made by it in the school diary of that date. On April 24 df . that year the following committee was elected: Messrs. C. S. Houghton (chair-

man), J. Sherratt, H. Bevah, T. Bevan Snr.,„ E. Wilson, G. Bartlett aiid ,R. Whiley (Secretary) . By September .4, 1889, the • roll totalled 70 and a new room was added to meet the increase and was completed by • December 10. During the renovations, the schodl Vork was carried on in the Maorl meetihg hoitse. «By 1893 the roll was 96 and on September 4 "Master" William Bennett was appoint-. ed as a pupii teacher. August 28/ 1896, saw * the departure of Mrs Bethune for. Johnsonville on promotidn, and he was replaced by Mr. William Foster, under whose guidance the school continued the steady progress so ably begun by Mr. Bethune. In 1098 he ivas succeeded by a Mr. Everton. He itl tur'n was succeeded in 1903 by . d' . Mr. McBain who remained as headteacher till 1914. From then oii the variops heads wers: Messrs. W. . Murray (1915-1916) , P. A. D. Mickle (1916-1923), W. Anderson (19231930), Green (1931-1937), G. R. French (1937-1944) and F. H. Mayinan (1944-1948) . With the celebratidn of the Diamond jubilee, Mr. Mayman ends his term. To omdially record the jubilee/ the school has published . a souvenir booklet into the pfddUctidri of which has gone much * work. The amount df detaii it Cdntains is a tribUte to those Who dompiled it, as considerable research must have been riecessary, and it is upon the fflaterial Unearthed by its editors that/ this article has been based. Though of a biographical nature, it is rich in huindrous incidents, occurring from time to ; time throughout the school's development. HoW the Hoiile Guard had tof be chlled iif during the election c£ a school committee so that a quorum couid be for'med and . the first caning operation en--acted in the school, dfe inenticned in passing. The fact that the Levin faces. A performance of the "Bes'seS d' the •Barn Band" and rough weather had attributed to d drop of over 50 in the school attendance ori diie day, is also recofded, tdgether with the lamentable experiehce of William Hiwi who exploded a dstonater in the classroom, to the detfiment of some of his fingers. No doubt when past and pres.ent pupiils and teachefs gather at the jubilee celebfations on Saturclay, May 8, many more such stories will be toki and further chapters added to the epic .of . Manakau School.