THE NEW RECTOR OF THE HIGH SCHOOL.

Evening Star, Issue 3789, 16 April 1875, Page 2

THE NEW RECTOR OF THE HIGH SCHOOL.

On Feb. 6, the eve of Mr Nome’s departure from Scotland, he was entertained at dinner in Edinburgh, The company numbered sixty; and the masters of the Edinburgh Collegiate School mustered in great force to bid farewell to their late colleague.

Lord Ardmillan, who presided, in proposing Mr Nome’s health, said“ I think it enough to say, that from colleges and from schools, from the High School and the Academy, and the Edinburgh Collegiate School, where hd was particularly well known; and Merohistorly and from Glasgow, Stirling, Greenock afvd Dundee, there comes but one feeling—cordia? and sincere—that Mr Nome is a worthy exponent and representative to a British Colony, r f the character, the learning, the taste, and the educational capacity of Scotland. The sending out such a man te a Colony into which a stream of Scottish youth is annually pouring is dung the Colony a great service. What better thing can we send them than a young, able, active, earnest man, with intellectual power, scholarship and capacity, tried and acknowledged, refined tastes, a warm heart, and Christian principles? To foster and stimulate education, and supply fit men to conduct it, is among the highest duties of a mother-country to a Colony. The presence of a good and earnest teacher, catching the nascent mind of a rising Colony, stimulating intellect, cultivating taste, multiplying resources, steadying the thoughts, and regelating the impulses of youth, must be of great value. I am sure that my old friend Sir James Eergwison, who has just returned with honor from the Government of New Zealand, would, if he had still been in the Colony, have recognised that value, and welcomed Mr Nome. The force and value of good teaching, good feeling, and good example coming from the old home, is no where greater than in a young Colony. A freshness like that of youth, a susceptibility as in youth—is theirs; and ready acceptance w given to genial and elevating influences, before which not the gloom only but the peril and the discord of darkness, the storms as well as the shadows, pass away.” MtNorbib, in the course of his reply, said—“l accept this honor you have conferred upon i me not only as a reward for any past attempts on my part to discharge my duties to the ut-

myaUHty. bat as an eneouragement for the future; and I accept it also not only as a personal honor, bat as an indication of the importance of the field I am about to enter on. I am well aware there will be many difficulties to encounter in that position itself; but there u this ground of encouragement, that I am going to a Colony whieb from the first has taken a high standard in educational matters. . , . think ti»t any experience I have gamed from my good fortune in being associatod with men whose names are household words m education over the whole world, may be of use to those in that land which sets snob a value on education as I have just indicated, g in wa yJ- shall be useful in promoting the welfare of the sons of that Colony, and assistmg m their higher culture, I shim consider that my life s work wiU not be altogether lost. I shall now sit down, thanking you again and again for the honor you have this night conferred upon me, and assuring you that the remembrance of this evening will never r-rif awav from me, but will prove a stimulus to me, urging me on my future career. And I An.li endeavor aa far as in me lies to justify the good opinion which you have expressed in the eyes of those with whom my future lot shall bo cast.”

Dr Bbtob, is proposing the College of Justice, took occasion to refer to the long connection he had had with' Mr Norrie as one of W i? i^ or , e - testimony to his ripe varied scholarship, as well as to his zed, and earnestness, and success as a teacher. He congratulated the Province of Otago, and the City of Dunedin in particular, on the circumstance of their having acquired as Rector of their High School a man like Mr Norrie, in the vigor of life, of prominent standing in the educational world at home, of an amiable disposition, and of gentlemanly culture and manners. He deeply regretted the loss of Mr Norrie'a services to the Edinburgh Collegiate School, but felt assured that Dunedin would be a great gainer, and that tile character of Scotchmen lor strong common sense, energy, perseverance, Mid educational power, would not suffer in Mr Nome b hands. He wished him every success, forward to his tenure of office in the High School of Dunedin with perfect; confidence.

m proposing the toast of MM JNorne and family, spoke in warn terms and from long acquaintance, of the good qualities of Mrs Norrie, both as to bead and heart, ohe was a clever and accomplished, and an amiable lady. He dwelt specially on the oars andkmoness shown by her to those young gentlemen who boarded in Mr Norrie’s noose, whose interests were hers, and who seemed more like her own children than the sons of strangers. He knew that she was an excellent helpmate to Mr Nome, that while her services would bo invaluable in directing the domestic arrange* ments of his new establishment, she and her husband would be a great acquisition to the intellectual society of Dunedin.—(From ‘ Daily Review report.)