"OLD BOYS."

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 847, 20 June 1910, Page 3

"OLD BOYS."

A PLEASANT REUNION, "Old Boys" of Wellington College gathered to tho number of nearly TO lor a pleasant social evening at the Hotel Windsor on Saturday- night. Tho occasion was the seventeenth nnnual dinner of tho Wellington College Old Boys' Association, and it was rendered especially interesting by tho fact that it marked the association's tTCnty-first birthday. In the absence- of the president (Mr. A. n. Meek), who is on tho way to Sydney, Mr. AY. 11. Denton took the chair, and was supported by Mr. A. de 11. Brandon, chairman of the College Board of Governors, and Mr. J. P. Firth, headmaster of the college. t The chairman, in proposing "Tho Old School," said their desires for tho future of the college might bD summed up in the «inglc aspiration—"May tho Head livo for ever, or, at any rate, may .his place know him for many years to come." The speaker referred to "tho maintenance of tho high educational standard of the school, and its continued eminence in games and sports. He also alluded to tho positions held by old boys in politics, law, medicine, and civic 'life. The new Mayor of the city (Mr. "Wilford) was a Wellington College boy, following a precedent which was set'bv their oldest old boy, Mr. A. do B Bth'r.ilor.. Mr. J. P. Firth, responding for 'the school, said such a gathering was very heartening to those in responsible positions connected with the school. Every ovidence they gave—and some of them had given very strong evidences—of their affectiou for their old school, was most heartily appreciated. Mr. C. D. Morpeth gave tho toast of "Our Coming of Age." He quoted from tho records to show that at a meeting held at the Chamber of Commerce on August '14, _ISBS, with the late Mr. W. Fitzgerald in the chair, a motion to form Wellington College Old Boys' Association was moved by Mr. Peter Webb, and seconded by Mr. Alfred Brandon. Tho "Old Boys' Record" was in itself an achievement quite sufficient to justify the existence of tho association. It had, however, done many useful things. On two occasions it had given «£SO0 —J;1000 in all—for the formation and upkeep of tho school cricket and football grounds. Tho Barnicoat -Memorial Prize was another of its works, and it gave a mathematical prize annually to the school, besides live guineas every year to tho football and cricket clubs. These things were an earnest of what it hoped to do in tho future, and they hoped that their children's children would have cause to be grateful to it. Mr. S. Jacobs, in responding, suggested the formation of various sports clubs among the younger old boys, and appealed to tho older ones not to give up their attendance at tho various social gatherings. Mr. D. L. Collins, who has just won his "blue" at cricket at Cambridge, was toasted at the instanco of Mr. W. E. Bethune. Several other toasts; including "Absent Masters and Old Boys and Fond Memories," were honoured. . Songs -and recitations were contributed by: Messrs. F. B. Young, A. W. Newton, A. H. Hollis, D. Kenny, J. M. Clark, B. J. Jacobs, and H. Bastings, with Mr. D. Kenny as accompanist