A TASK WELL DONE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 99, 17 December 1931, Page 4

A TASK WELL DONE

The tributes which have been paid to Mr. A. R. Ryder, the r'etiring headmaster of the Rotorua ,High School, have been the spontaneous expression of a sincere recognition of the very valuable work for the future performed by him since he opened the school as its first head in 1927. We are all too prone now-a-days to lament the alleged passing from among us of the spirit of the pioneers. Mr. Ryder and men such as he in many .walks of life throughout the country; are a sufficient answer to the charge. In his case the term is particularly apt because, like the pioneers of earlier days, he had literally to struggle through the manuka scrub to reaeh for ihe first time the spot on which he was to plant a growing, longdived tree at the educational cross-roads in Rotorua yvdiich, uutfi then, had been left uncultivated, if not entirely neglected... Row faithful and skilful a cultivator he has been the future will prove, but already, only five years after he first set out the seedling, it is possible to see and judge how earefully the rootsliave been set, how strong and true the trunk has been grown and how wisely. and .well the branches have been trained. In time to come the work done by Mr. Ryder. will cast its influence in ever-widening circles as the .school sends its scholars opt into the world, while immediately around it in the district it serves, it must necessarily exert a still more powerful influence. That this influence will be wholly for good it is already possible to say without hesitation. With the passing years other "heads" will come and go, but to Mr. Rydefi has belonged the privilege and the immense responsibility of laying the foundations of the school and of those traditions which are the soul of a school and which more than an.ything else, determine its. character,, We believe that the work he has done will live and grow in the service of the community, an I honour to the school and a lasting monument to its first head- | master. . . . , . „ .... .... - .. .« •