THE HIGH SCHOOL.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2629, 21 July 1871, Page 2

THE HIGH SCHOOL.

The result of the competition for the Chamber of Commerce medals was announced in the University Hall to-day, in the presence of the members of that body, and a large number of ladies and gentlemen. The Chairman (Mr E. B. Cargill) explained that there were three medals open for competition—a gold one for boys over 15, and two silver ones for boys under 13 and 13 respectively. He had before him the exfUninatiqu paper on which the award was made, and it certaiply seemed to be a very stiff trial. He understood it had been performed in a manner which had elicited the approbation of Professor Shand, who bad complimented the competitors on the way in which they had performed their work, by which they had shown a proficiency which was creditable alike to themselves and to their instructors. He called upon

1 The Rector (Mr wjlio reiwl a detailed report of the wraist|patidn. gpe stated that the examination-which 'had taken' place had been entirely in Arithmetic ? and the quarterly examination via* mitlieniatics had been taken at the same The school had been divided into six form?—the ages of the boys varying from 16 to 12 years ; and great many had competed, the names of- only fourteen were rep rted. The results of the examination were as follow: Gold medal Park ; Solomon, Mackay, and Wilmot, h.m. First silver medal for boys under 15 — Solomon ; Cohen and Fulton, h.m. Second silver medal —Harper ; Eyre, h.m. The examination had been conducted by Professor although the papers had been examined by Mr Brent, the award was made on the Professor’s report. Solomon, who appeared second on the list, in the first competition, being under 15, was entitled to compete for the silver medal ; but, as mogt.boys would naturally have done, had gone in for the gold medal. After expressing his indebtedness to -Professor Shand for his kindness in conducting the Mr Hawthorne read the Professor’s report as follows : CHAMBER OF COMMERCE MEDALS, JULY, 187b I have examined the written arithmetic papers of the candidates for the gold and silver medals presented by the Chamber of Commerce, and find that they have obtained the following marks out of the total number of 350: Candidates for gold medal, open to whole school.

“The paper set was a long one, ranging over nearly all the rules of arithmetic, arid ■ including some questions of more than ordinary difficulty. A s is evident from the number of marks obtained, it was extremely well done—especially by the candidates for the gold medal. I confess that I was very agreeably surprised, not only by the remarkab’e accuracy of the work, but still more by the neatness of the methods employed. In neither respect was there anything left to be , desired, 'i’he'wprk of the candidates under thirteen was, considering their age, quite equal to that of the older boys ; and there was no more gratifying feature of the examination than the ingenuity which some of them displayed in attempting to grapple with rules which were clearly beyond the limits of their present studies. The whole results gave me the impression that the arithmetical training ajt the H’gh School is very thorough, and conducted on a system which' reflects great credit on the mathematical master. “ J. SIIAJfD. “ University of Otago, “ 15th July, 1871 The mathematical examination was decided according to age/ The highest in each class was entitled to a certificate:; and on receiving two of those certificates he was entitled to a silver medal from the Education Board. No certificate was granted to boys over 16; because none had obtained as many marks as those under 16, but Maokay, Morrison, and Hunter, were bon. mentioned. The results in the other classes were—Under 16 : Park and Wilmot, eq. ; M’Neil, Western, Scoular, h.m. Under 15; Solomon cert.; Fulton, Cohen, Little, ii. h.m. Under 14: Webb cert. ; Kerr ii, Smith iii, Atkin, Weston i, ■h.m. Under 13,': Harper, Eyre cert ; Stilling, Sinclair, ii, hj ni. Under 12 : M’Neil ii, cert; Crawshaw hj m. Through pressure of business, Professor Shand had not been able to go through the "Whole-Of'the mathematical papers ;• but in a private letter to-him (Mr Hawthorne), he said My time is so much taken up at present with an infinitude of petty matters, that I really could riot do justice to the papers or to your school. Another time, after 1 am more settled, I shall be happy, if you wish it, to examine the mathematical department of the High School, and I am sure from what I have seen that it is well able to bear a closer inspection than I could gjve .it now.” Dr Hqcken, who examined the natural science papers, wrote as follows ; —“I regret that I shall not be able to lie present at the University Hall this afternoon. 1 have examined the science papers you 'sent to mo, with much pleasure; they exhibit a ytry high degree of excellence, indeed. The first three in the senior chemistry, if not the fourth with them, almost deserve bracketing. Park’s calculations are very neat. The chief deficiencies in the papers as appear to me are—first, the want of uniformity in naming some of the compounds in accordance with the present state of chemical nomenclature ; second, some want of neatness in the diagrams, and th ir dispositions; and, third, the omission to mention several characteristics and proper ties of gases referred to in the examination paper. Apart from this, the questions are of an excellent and practical nature, and are such as would fairly test the pupils’ knowledge and advance in the subject. The junior chemistry papers are good, though, as was to be not nearly equal to the senior. I would suggest, though with deference, that on a future occasion a special examination paper should be prepared for the junior class, which on this occasion seems te me to be weighted a little too heavily.” In concluding his remarks, Mr Hawtuornk thanked the Vice-Chancellor for granting the use of the hall. Mr Pope announced that, in the senior chemistry class, Solomon was first; Smith and Wilmot, h- m. ; in the junior class, Borfie and Webb ; Black, Kelt, and Morrison, h,m, ; and Mr Webb, in announcing the result of the competition for his silver pen, stated that he and the other examiners desired to state that they noticed a marked improvement in writing throughout the school; there was a decided increase in neatness. The examiners had considerable difficulty in. waking their award ; they had,

however, decided to give the prize to Morriaon j was deserving of a second prize, and jffbworth of honorable mention. 'L'he OjdIRMAN presented the medals, and a few words of encouragement totlle prize-takers. Mr Hawthorne stated that he looked to these examinations with more confidence, for the simple reason that for the future, instead of the masters being their own inspectors, as they had been since he had taken charge'of "the school, they wonldmow have inspection from without ; and this was very desirable, in order that they might show the public what was the character of the education given at the High School. He thanked Messrs Brent *and Gow for their services in making the examination so successful. Ho had omitted to mention that M’Kay, ‘.vho stood so high at the Christmas examintii >11, had failed to take a high place at the last, solely, he believed through having been one of the cadets who iCompeted at the Volunteer prize firing .at Auckland. .In couse* jueuce of that he. had lost six. or seven weeks’ instruction in the higher-piaUiematics. He consi lered the, withdrawal of ,a lad from his studies at-that age a serioojs evil; and he trusted that in future the authorities would -so arrange:, that-ther prizer iiring-for-cadet s could be within ,their, own Province and town. Mr E. B. Cargill, in a few remarks, pointed out that the prizes had been awarded in a most impartial manner, and expressed the hope that each succeeding year through the competition of the scholars, prizes would prove more difficult to win. The boys gave three cheers forthe Chamber of Commerce. -\i

Written Exam. Viva Voce. Totals. Park 276 64 340 Solomon 284 47 331 Mackay 280 30 310 Wilmot 280 29 309 Candidates for first silver. medal, open to a 1 ! boys under 15. Solomon 284 47 331 Cohen 212 76- : 288 Fulton 101 38 229 Webb 181. 26 207 Kerr ... 171 ; 33 204 Hislop ... 165 30 195 Little 181 absent 181 ‘ Candidates for second silver medal, open to all boys under 13. Harper 149 44 193 Eyre 130 61 191 Stilling 109 43 15t Sinclair 121 16 l; 137