AN HISTORIC SCHOOL.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1933, 16 December 1913, Page 14

AN HISTORIC SCHOOL.

WANGANUI COLLEGE.

WHERE MEN ARE MADE,

It is always a pleasure to writo of o good school, and tho Wanganui Collegiate School is that. Mark tho inscription on tho foundation-stone of the new Collegiate School, now some two years old. Jt runs: AD DEI GLORIAM tJT ROB UK I'IItMITATEM IN- . CItEMENTUM ACCIPERET SCHOLA DE ECCLESIA ET REPUBLICA DIU BENE MERITA. - HOC NOVAE DOMUS FUNDAMENT DM JECIT iWILLELMUS BARO PLUNKET NOVAE ZEALANDIAE PROCONSUL ID. APRIL. ANNO DOMINI MCMIX. For the benefit of those who are not IWanganui. boys, it may bo interpreted es follows: — To tho Glory of God, And to give strength, stability; and enlargement to a school that has long done good service to Church and State, this foundation of tlio now building was laid by William Baron Plunkot, Governor of New Zealand, April 13, 1909. Simplicity, earnestness of purpose, and the desire to do well by one s neighbour 'as well as oneself are incorporated in tho'so lines, and it is to the everlasting credit of a long lino of headmasters that the school has been enabled to live up to the standard it has set itself, and to remain as a shilling example among the many secondary schools of the Dominion. Old Wanganui Collegiate School boys' take a proper pride in their alma mater, and at the annual prizegiving on Friday last there was quite a largo gathering of them present to do honour to the school in which they wero-bo thoroughly taught/to play the game. The strongest sense of pride is felt by residents of Wanganui in the school, and one need not solicit or interrogate for information about it. Everyone takes a loyal interest in it, and its name is as blessed as the word Mesopotamia^. Its Early History. There was a school at Wanganui before there were white settlers. It was attached to the Church Mission Station, conducted .by Mr. Matthews, Catecliist, and' its pupils were tho Maori children 1 . When tho settlers camo in 1841, it was thrown open to their sons and daughters. AYhen the mission station and Native school wero removed, some years later, to Putiki, a European school was continued in tlio town.by Mr. W. RonaJdson, who taught the Maori children at Putiki in the morning, and the Europeans at Wanganui in tho afternoon. After Mr. Ronaldson left the two schools were separated, and Messrs. Craig, Triss, and F. Watts had charge of the European establishment in turn. The salary of tho master was defrayed paatly by school fees, and partly'from tho. Anglican Church income. AVhen Bishop Selwyn camo to Wanganui in 1851, foreseeing a larger future for the school, he decided to apply to tho Government for an endowment of from 200 to 500 acres of Crown land, which could be leased, and tho ront applied to educational purposes. "Tho particular sito afterwards granted was not thought of," says an historian, of the school, "ns it. wag all a deep raupo swamp, ■with a sand ridgo running through it, and had been unsaleable for years as suburban land at £5 per acre." . The endowment .'asked for was readily given bv tho Governor, Sir George. Grey, and as tho fusion of the ,races whs an end in view, the school is described in the Crown grant,..as one '.'for the children of British subjects, of all races, and of ■other poor and destitute persons injiabitiir'. the islands of tho Pacific Occan." StriiEplos at the Start. The land was then drained for letting, a school sito selected, and a schoolhouso and master':; house erected, at a cost of £500 or £600, defrayed by Bishop Selwyn. Tile Rev. C. 11. S. Nicholls was appointed to tho cure of souls in Wanganui, and of minds in the small school, his salary being drawn from the parishioners to whom lie ministered, and tho school wherein he taught. 'In January, 1854, tho new school was opened under Mr. Nicholls's charge, and received the pupils of tho old Church school, which was now closed, and a sprinkling of restless Maori scholars from tho neighbouring pas. Tho Maori children, whoso fees were paid from the

endowment, very soon ran back to the pas for tlio sake of a wider freedom, but tlio European scholars, who paid, increased in numbers for three or four years, when tlio Government sent commissioners to report on the position. Jiv con (in urn tlieir report to the Native children, who alono came under the endowment, the commissioners made it .nppcar that the school .was doing vpry 'little mood, and the.land given by Sir (! rt-'V, which bad now greatly in'.,l in value, thanks to tlio draining mill improvements of the Church autji;i:il.i<\s. was calmly resumed by the S'Vie' The school was thou closed to ' . i—ins, but still failed to attract Mao!is, and tho old Church school v is '-oope'ied, and tarried on for a time jli'thn interests of the settlers' childh i, ' i't"'T.;irds a State school was . V.p.V VhVli made it no longer neccs-ri:-v, fn!!>i»iii2 which a school of a | ■ el": s v :i:i "(inducted by the Rov. n. Xicii'jlU, lib tho oresent collogi-

ate sohool was revived under Mr. Godwin. He carried on tho school for several years, and was succeeded, in 1877, by Dr. Saunders. Tlio latter, after fivo years, was succeeded by Dr. Ilarvey, who was succeedcd, at tho cud of fivo more years, by Mr. Walter Empson, who retired in April, 7.909, and was succeeded by tlio Rev. J. 11. Dove, M.A. (Cambridge), who is now about to retire in favour of Mr. Hugh Latter, M.A., of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Tho New Headmaster. Mr. Hugh Latter is a sou of tho late Rev. Arthur S. Latter, one timo rector of Downham Market, Norfolk, and later of Oatwell, Cambridgeshire, and Rural Dean. Ho was a pupil at Marlbcrough from 1881 to 188G, and was for a term acting-senior prefect. Then, going to Oxford, ho won a classical scholarship at Corpus Christi; took firstclass honours in classical moderations, and second-class honours in littcrao humaniores (1890). In 1891, ho went to Liverpool College (Upper School) to tako up tho position of second classical master, and after six months at that institution he became attached to Cheltenham College, where ho remained until accepting his new appointment, and where ho obtained good general experience, both on tho military and civil sido, as senior English master. For somo years ho taught Latin and English subjects, but sinco Latin ceased to be a compulsory subject for tho Army examination, his work has been chiefly the teaching of English subjects—history, geography, composition, and literature. In his capacity as senior English master, Mr. Latter has since 1908 superintended and organised tho teaching of English subjects to about 300 boys, between tlio ages of 14 and 19. After holding one of tlie 6mall boarding-

houses at Cheltenham, ho was in 1907 appointed house-master of a house of 50 boys. When at Oxford, Mr. Latter rowed in the Corpus Christi eight, he was in the Rugby team, and ho also played cricket i'or his college. In all t'heso pastimes he takes a keen delight, and this year his house (Southwooa House) went head of the river. In his university days, too, hockey and tennis appealed keenly to him, but golf has been ,his favourite pastime in more recent years. Fishing is one of his hobbies, and he is an ardent angler for trout. Of all forms of athletics ho is an enthusiastic supporter, and an outdoor life ho "finds attractive. Ho is greatly interested in .modern educational reforms, and one night a week is devoted to the local debating club. Mr. Latter, who is 45 years -'of ago, is one of a family of 11. ' One of his brothers is now senior science master at the Charterhouse School, and another is a rising barrister, working chiefly at -income tax cases. He is a married man with three children. It is Mr. Latter's desire to make himself a good Now Zealander as soon as possible. He hopes to reach Now Zealand by Easter, and to tako up his new duties in May. '' The Stan. Tlie present staff of the school is as follows:—Headmaster, Rev. J. LI. Dove, M.A., Cambridge; chaplain, Rev. C. Price, M.A., Oxford; assistant masters, H. B. Watson, M.A.; N.Z., J. E. Bannister, M.A.,- N.Z., F. L. Peek, G. F. M'Grath, M.A., Cambridge, .J. A. Neame, 8.A., London, J. Allen, 8.A., Cambridge, H. M. Butterworth, Oxford, H. E. Sturge, M.A., Oxford, A.

G. Hodges, 8.A., Oxford, F. H. Latham, 13.A., Oxford; Science, L. S. Jennings, 13.A., M.Se., N.Z.; bookkeeping, A. Trevor Long; drawing, Leonard J. AVatkiu, A.M.S.K., Lond. - mcdical officer, A. Wilson, M.D., 51 Wicksteed Street, Wangnnm. Keen on Athletics. The Wangaimi C'ollegiato School has a splondid athletic record,' dating from a great many vears back, and in the domain of athiotics students are taught to "play the game" with the same earnestness and unselfishness as they are urged to practieo in class. The school ' plays annual football -matches with the I Te Ante, Wellington College, and > Christ's College, and Wangaimi, Wcl- • lington, and Christ's usually meet on > tho cricket field once a year. Attention, ' too, is given to tennis and rowing, and !■ now tho school has an eight-oared row- * ing boat in which 6ome very creditable ■ performances have already boon, put up

.bv the lads. The Wanganui River is ideal for eight-oared craft, and it is a pretty sight to see the boys spcedjng over its placid surface, tlio crow moving as oiio man. file Old Boys' Association is a very nourishing institution and includes names well known all over tho Dominion. Its loyalty and devotion to tlio school was proved a couplo of years ago, when it presented the now school with a beautiful chapel that cost over £5000