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New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) THURSDAY, AUGUST 31.

The tolerable intolerance with which the Wanganui Endowed School has been managed leads to notice of matters connected with English endowed schools in which a similar indifference to the public good and to the real objects with which public schools are concerned has been manifested. The latest Home papers, and notably the Spectator, devote considerable, attention to a peculiar display of intolerance on the part of the head master of the Perse Grammar School, Cambridge. The Spectator, though a very liberal newspaper; professes to be a warm supporter of the Establishd Church, yet admits that if the clergymen of that Church will in too many instances be indifferent to the danger of turning a Christian clergy into a social caste, no considerations of policy or religion will he able long to avert the fall of tlie Establishment. The circumstances of the case we have mentioned, which drew forth these remarks,'present in their detail a sublimity of superciliousness on the part of a clergyman of the Church of England that could scarcely be conceived. These circumstances are detailed by the Spectator ,as follow : —A Mr. Allen had been' head master of Perse Grammar School, Oxford, for two terms During that time, and for many years previously, Mr; Maxwell, a Cambridge M.A., and a Johnian, but a Wesleyan, had been head master of the Junior School, and previously to the separation of the schools had been a master in the undivided school, discharging his duties to the great satisfaction of his previous principal, Mr. Heppenstall. Mr. Heppbnstall’s testimonial to Mr. Maxwell is as cordial as possible. He was under him for several years, and “ during the whole of that time,” says Mr. Hbppenstall, “I found him a zealous, conscientious, pleasant, and effective helper. He declined to make use of the cane, when all the other masters were allowed to use it, and yet he maintained a high standard of discipline, and taught his boys to work cheerfully and vigorously. He was always popular with the boys, and took part in all their amusements and games. His methods of teaching were interesting and intelligent, securing the attention and arousing the activity of his pupils ; nor did he fail, as many masters do, to overcome the idleness or help the stupidity of the weaker boys. On the whole, I have never had a master in whom I could place more confidence, or from whose work I got more assistance.” He goes on to relate how, when the school was divided, he at once saw that the proper work for Mr. Maxwell would be to organise the Junior School, and with what ability, in his opinion, Mr. Maxwell discharged his difficult task. Mr. Heppenstall’s testimonial ends with saying, “ I shall be glad to hear always of Mr. Maxwell’s success, as I feel sure that it will be deserved, by his unflagging zeal, his self-denial in school, his thorough devotion to a schoolmaster’s work, and his thorough Christian integrity, exhibited in every detail of duty.” Such was Mr. Heppenstall’s view; and Mr. Allen, who is evidently a candid man, as well as a supercilious clergyman, though on some points he clearly had not been satisfied with Mr, Maxwell’s methods of teaching, confirms this judgment in his own testimonial :—“He is a man,” he writes, “of high-minded and honorable character, and unflagging industry and perseverance.” He has frequently prepared undergraduates for the University examinations,” and *“ one of the University examiners lately remarked to me, in private conversation, on the thoroughness and careful preparation exhibited by all the pupils of Mr. Maxwell.” Mr. Allen adds that “Mr. Maxwell is a rigid and effective disciplinarian,” and that “he has voluntarily undertaken the task of organising and conducting the annual school entertainment, consisting of vocal and dramatic performances ; while in the cricket-field he has always taken a leading part, and done much by his energy and perseverance to keeptogether the school clubs.”

: Well Mr. Allen summarily dismissed Mr. Maxwell, and that , dismissal was upheld by the governors of the school. The ostensible reason of the dismissal and its confirmation was that Mr. Maxwell had not taught English well, or'had not caused it to be well taught. But subsequently Mr, Allen made the candid admission that Mr. Maxwell would not have been dismissed but for his deficiencies in religion and social caste, admitting in a letter to Mr. Maxwell those reasons thus—“ It will be enough to state one or two. In the first place, you were not of my choosing . The fact of your religious creed being different from my own, and from that which I wish to see universal among my masters, would have at once decided mo to decline your application ; and there are also, other reasons which I will not state, unless you particularly _ desire me to do so. Secondly, there is a 'certain difference of social position between yourself and the majority of the other members of my staff, which neither you nor they would probably desire to alter, but which is a complete barrier to the unanimity of sentiment and intercourse which I wish to see prevailing among us. I will not dwell upon this point further than to mention that all my more important colleagues share my views as to the inconvenience of working with a fellow-master with whom they do not care to associate out of school.” Upon this Mr. Maxwell wrote asking why his creed could be objectionable, and pointing out that several of his boarder school pupils were sons of members of the Church of England. At once Mr. Allen responded Churchmen’s sons among your boarders is a matter of perfect indifference to mo. A Churchman myself, I object to a Nonconformist colleague, and no considerations could affect my views upon' the point,” Now it appears that the Perse

trust is, not a denominational but a national one. .The spirit in which, however, it is treated By its administrators justifies the following remarks by the Spectator ; —“Sincerely as we believe in the moral, and religious, and political. uses of the Establishment, we could not withstand the moral effect of any very large body of evidence proving, as neatly as Mr. Allen has managed to prove, that the Established Church, sometimes at least, _ fosters the spirit of a narrow and un-Christian caste, behind the veil of a comprehensive theory and a sober and moderate demeanor.”

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTIM18760831.2.8

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4818, 31 August 1876, Page 2

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,071

New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) THURSDAY, AUGUST 31. New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4818, 31 August 1876, Page 2

New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) THURSDAY, AUGUST 31. New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4818, 31 August 1876, Page 2

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