TRAINING COLLEGE TO LOSE PRINCIPAL

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 601, 1 March 1929, Page 10

TRAINING COLLEGE TO LOSE PRINCIPAL

MR. COUSINS RETIRING LONG SERVICE RECORD More than 40 years in the service of the Education Department, 13 years of which have been spent in his present position as principal of the Auckland Teachers’ Training College, will be terminated when Mr. H. G. Cousins, M.A., retires at the end of August. Mr. Cousins began his primary school education in 1577. Signing on at the Beresford Street School in ISS7 for six years’ service as a pupil teacher he attended lectures at the old Training College after which followed two years at the Pungaere and Inumia (now Waiare) schools in Whangaroa. Eater, for nine months ho was a relieving first assistant at the Richmond Road School. In 1897 Mr. Cousins was appointed head teacher of the Wailiou School, near Te Aroha. After four years’ service there he was transferred to the Beresford Street School as first assistant. He remained in the position until February, 1906. When the Normal School in Wellesley Street was founded in the same year he became headmaster.

Ten years later Mr. Cousins was appointed acting-principal of the Teachers’ Training College, which had been reopened in 1907 with 27 students. Trouble with the Education Board in 1319 resulted in the board dispossessing him of his position and readvertising the post. One of the department’s inspectors was appointed. However, the Education Department refused to recognise the action of the board and Mr. Cousins again took charge of the college. His position was consolidated in 1920, when he was appointed principal from several applicants. Apart from an extensive trip to Europe and America in 1913, Mr. Cousins’s service with the Department has been practically unbroken. The college has progressed remarkably under his guidance.

Mr. Cousins is a member of the Council of Education. He is also a past president of the New Zealand Educational Institute and the Auckland branch. He was a member of the Teachers’ Superannuation Board for nine years. He was lecturer in education at the Auckland University College prior to the establishment of a chair of education. During the latter part of his career, Mr. Cousins has exercised a wide influence in education throughout New Zealand. His methods when in charge of the Normal School have been extensively copied. His opinion has held considerable weight with the Education Department, which has consulted Tiim on many Training College reforms.