Auckland Grammar School Celebrates Diamond Jubilee

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 738, 10 August 1929, Page 21

Auckland Grammar School Celebrates Diamond Jubilee

(Written for THE SUN by .

C.T.C. Watson

ALL Englishman in the middle | thirties, grave j and of military I bearing looked 1 out in earnest I thought from his study window over the stragg-

ling beginnings of a colonial town. The year was 1S48; the place. Government House in Auckland. Sir George Grey saw In prospect a great city. He looked further and visualised a greater Empire, building bat not yet built. He saw its citizens peace loving, learned, righteous, imbued with those qualities which came out of the great schools of England. He would give New Zealand its public

tchools, and all that was treasured in the tradition of the race should be the possession of the Empire’s remotest citizen. So it came about that the practical idealism of Governor Grey inspired the foundation of the first public achool in the province—the Auckland Grammar School. Although few colonisers have been able to peer into the future with so keen a penetration as Sir George Grey It is probable that not even he could

have forseen the truly remarkable growth of a college, which in 60 brief years has become not only a powerful educational force in New Zealand but has made felt its influence throughout the length and breadth of the British Commonwealth of Nations, and wider.

To establish a secondary school took time and although Sir George set about preliminaries in 1850, and secured endowments of Crown land during the next three years, the scheme did not take concrete form for nearly two decades. Vexatious delays by the Legislature blocked realisation of the Governor's dream. It was therefore * day of gratification for Sir George when on May 17, 1569, the Grammar School was opened in the Immigration Barracks, Howe Street, with 78 scholars under the headmastership of the Rev. Robert Kidd. Nearly all the boys were brought over with the old master when he relinquished the Wesley College, Tipper Queen Street, his own private school.

The roll increasing rapidly, larger Quarters had to be found two years later and the school was transferred 1° the Albert Barracks, on the site of w bich the Police Station now stands. In the meantime a new headmaster, blr. Farquhar Macrae, had been appointed. His was a vigorous personal 1 and during his regime, in 1878, Occurred one of the most extraordinary incidents in the history of New Zealand education. The Improvement

Commissioners wanted possession of the building. Mr. Macrae wished to retain what he held. Bailiffs were sent to evict headmaster, teachers and scholars and Mr. Macrae locked them out. The enemy attacked, it is said, with stones but the indomitable old head, calling in the aid of the police,

temporarily won the day. The records have it that the 200 pupils had to be sent home for protracted holidays, but it is unreasonable to believe that boys of the Grammar School did not play a very determined part in the ejection of unwanted bailiffs. When the school reassembled the boys had to be quartered in three

buildings. Realising that an institution divided within itself must surely fall Sir George Grey, by this time Premier, came to the rescue and had the Symonds Street building erected in ISBO. It then contained six classrooms and when the school moved to Its present home at Mount Eden in 1915 the old wooden structure had trebled in size. In the course of what is generally

regarded as the most striking address ever delivered before a school in this country Sir George stated in these words his purpose in founding the college:—“That here may stand and prosper from century to century a nursing mother of knowledge, whose sons trained in her halls, shall aid in

building up a highly instructed and noble nation in New Zealand, and whose learning, worth and devotion to duty shall also regenerate the islands of the Pacific, and wake to new life and the energy of renewed youth the semi-barbarous nations which lie in the northern part of that great ocean.” From 1882 to 1892 the headmaster

was Mr. C. F. Bourne, and under his able direction the school prospered with the progress of Auckland. From 18S8 the Girls’ Grammar School occupied part of the Symonds Street block and the arrangement stood for ten years. In 1893, there was appointed to the headmastership one who for 30 years was to father the school with a devotion that can only be appraised by

those of us who were privileged to be numbered among his pupils. The late Mr. J. W. Tibbs can be said to have been a man of kindly austerity. There was a dignity in his presence, vigour in his command, gentleness in his inquiry. He lived very close to the Great Teacher. He had that

rare faculty of knowing all about his boys, and excepting the newest, could name them individually in speaking his characteristic few words of encouragement. He had an intense pride in his school and I remember that on one occasion shortly before the opening of Mount Albert Grammar School in 1923 someone, for the purpose of differentiation, referred to Mr. Tibbs’s school as the ‘‘Mount Eden Grammar.” Swift came the rejoinder: “The Auckland Grammar School, if you please.” At the end of 1922, worn out with the supervision of a school whose roll had attained nearly 1,000 names, Mr. Tibbs relinquished his charge. Broken in health he lived In retirement for only one year. Who was to be the new headmaster? Old boys in every part of the Dominion anxiously awaited the decision of the Board of Governors. It was then with pleasure that they learned that one of their number had been appointed. Mr. James Drummond was the first past scholar of Auckland Grammar to receive the signal honour of being made headmaster. He had won the respect of the boys during his term of five years as Second Master and for two as a secondary school inspector and he was recognised as a scholar of mark, and a man. So unwieldy had every form become from the lowest third to the highest sixth that at the beginning of 1923 it was found necessary to open a branch school at Mount Albert. Mr. F. W. Gamble, a master at the parent school, was placed in command and took with him several of his colleagues as a nucleus staff. Under Mr. Drummond the school went from strength to strength, taking no backward step either in scholarship or in sport. At the end of March, 1927, Mr. Drummond’s health failed and for the rest of the year he was granted leave of absence. The strain of the school’s direction had been too great

and at the beginning of the first term, 1925, it,was made known to universal regret that Mr. Drummond had died So closed a brilliant career. For the space of Mr. Drummond's sick leave the school had been entrusted to the Second Master, Mr. H. J. D. Mahon, himself an old boy and a

master there for many years. His permanent appointment as headmaster was a right and fitting one. Already he has won the confidence and respect both of present and and past scholars and of the Board of Governors. All is well with the old school.

No institution can live by tradition and idealism alone. There is needed also a business foundation. That the school once properly established has never looked back Is largely attributable to the sound management by successive Boards of Governors. To Its present chairman, Professor A. P. W. Thomas, who for over 30 years has been associated with the board, the school, and indeed education in general, owes a debt of gratitude. In addition to the two boys’ schools there are the Howe Street and Epsom Grammar Schools for girls and the latest of all, the Takapuna Grammar School for boys and girls living at the North Shore. The group has reached formidable proportions but wise administration has ensured an enviable academic record.

Over ten thousand boys have passed through the Auckland Grammar School. You will find them in every part of the world. No field of endeavour lacks representation. Many who Once wore the badge of the lion rampant are doing brilliant work; more are occupied in less spectacular things. In the Church, in the national services, in medicine, in law, in education, in commerce, in engineering, on the land old boys have brought credit to the school. Travel abroad and you will meet them everywhere. Among the distinguished past pupils who come most readily to mind are Sir James Parr, High Commissioner tn London and Sir James Gunson, who has given his best years to the advancement of Auckland. The late Professor R. C. Maclaurin, formerly

Professor of Mathematics at Victoria College, Wellington, and later head of the Boston Institute of Technology, once attended the Grammar School. Again, there is Mr. Justice Reed, a judge of the Supreme Court. The late Dr. H. D. Bamford, LL.D., was one of the most brilliant legal men the school has produced. In the late Judge Jackson Palmer the school gave another strong mind to law. He entered Grammar in 1879 and was subsequently articled to the Hon. John Sheehan, Minister of Justice and Native Affairs. At an early age he was admitted as a barrister of the courts of Samoa and Fiji. Having served for two Parliaments as member for Waitemata and Ohinemuri he was appointed Chief Judge of the Native Land Court, a position for which he was eminently fitted. Mr. C. C. Choyce has risen high in surgery, being now a lecturer in a London college. No past student is more widely known in the city than Mr. V. R. Meredith, both in his profession as Crown Prosecutor and in the sphere of Rugby football for his outstanding contribution to the advancement of the game. On and off the field what

finer exemplar of the school tradition, “Play the game!” One recently in the news is Mr. T. J. H. Speedy, who has been appointed Surveyor-General of British North Borneo. In him is typified the man to whom Sir George Grey referred in his memorable address as going abroad among the semibarbarcus nations for their civilisation.

The school has sent eight Rhodes scholars to Oxford. These names appear on the honours board:—S. N. Ziman (1908), K. Sisam (1910), A. G. Marshall (1911), A. Wallace (1912), W. M. Jones (1914), W. T. G. Airey (1920), J. A. Dunning (1924), and C. A. Sharp (1928). Inscribed, also, axe the names of ten Gillies scholars and those of nearly 250 boys who, since 1874, have gained University entrance scholarships. The Golden Jubilee celebrated in

1919 was tinged with sadness. The Great War had not long concluded and many old boys would not be coming home. The fiftieth page had tragedy in it, yet it was an eloquent and a glorious page. At the Armistice nearly 1,500 ex-Grammar boys were known to be on active service and 28G had given their lives. Many boys were decorated for gallantry and it was a very proud school which was told, early in the war, that Lieutenant Cyril Bassett had been awarded the Victoria Cross. In their memory the Old Boys’ Association raised a slender column of simple dignity in the school grounds. The stone supports the figure of a boy, symbolic of youth striving ever upward. The Old Boys’ Association which has done so much to keep ex-scholars in touch with each other and with the activities of the school was founded in 1893 under the patronage of Sir George Grey. The vice-patron was Mr. Tibbs and the president. Dr. Ernest Roberton. One of the first gestures of interest in the school was the presentation of the “Old Boys’ Challenge Cup,’’ which is even yet competed for annually at the athletic sports. After 1899 the association appears to have lain dormant until 1912 when it was again put on an

active basis. Since its revival the association has made steady headway The outbreak of the War, although seriously interfering with the association’s membership growth, gave to it

a largely increased sphere of activities. Encouraged by the success of the Old Boys’ Football Club the association ha 3 extended activities into the fields of other sports by the for. mation of several clubs, each “hallmarked” with the device of the lion rampant. The patron is Mr. Mahon; the president, Mr. A. St.C. Brown, and the honorary secretary and treasurer. Mr. T. S. Miller.

Doubtless the wittiest analysis of the genus “Old Boy” ever attempted in the history of a reunion was made by Mr. Tibbs at the jubilee of ten years ago. I quote from the “School Chronicle,” 1919:—“The headmaster said, amid laughter, that he noticed a very great difference in the way in which the old boys came into hall. He hoped that the thirst for knowledge which they had so often displayed in Symonds Street, by hammering at the door and pushing over the janitor in the corridor in their eagerness to get into school, had not been satisfied. He remarked how the boys of former days had been transformed from ‘disorderly boys into decent, well-behaved citizens,’ and observed that the manner of their entry that day was the best lesson in civics the school had ever had.

“He went on to say that for the purpose of recognition the old boys could be divided into three classes. In the first olass were the prizewinners and athletes. Their names would not be forgotten. The second class comprised what might be called the ‘main body'—the unobtrusive boys. The third’consisted of the reporting, or documentary boys, who used to run about bringing testimony of juvenile ailments. The middle class must not feel hurt if their names were forgotten; the first class were well remembered, and if the third found themselves forgotten, they must put it down to the fact that their shortcomings had long since been forgiven, or that they had outgrown the maladies of school days.” This afternoon old boys are assembling at the school with the present scholars. They will find it good to be in the corridors again, to breathe the school atmosphere, to Ree the old por. traits on the walls. The fifteens and elevens will recall to them rousing days on the open field; the desks, opportunities grasped or let slip by. Then there, for all to see and heed, stands out the challenging motto: “Per Angusta ad Augusta"—“Through Difficulties to Success.”