Christmas Examinations.

Thames Star, Volume IX, Issue 3071, 18 December 1878, Page 2

Christmas Examinations.

&auaera&ga Boys' School. •

The annual distribution of prizes to the pupils attending the above sehcol was held at the'school-room Bailie street yesterday afternoon. The fine spacious school-room was handsomely decorated with ferns and flowers, Mr Agnew .and the lady teachers, assisted by a number of the elder boys, deserving credit for the tasteful adornment of the interior of the room. There were a large number of ladies and gentlemen present, and His Worship the Mayor (Dr Kilgour) occupied the chair. The' following teachers Were present:—Mr Newell Phillips, head master, Mr Gerring, 2nd master, Mr Agnew, Misses Luinsden Jones, Day, assistants, and Misses 0. Day, Harris and Puckey, pupil teachers, of • the Kauaerahga Boys' School; Mr, Halliwell, head master, Mr 8 meat on and .Miss jGott of Tararu School; Miss Haselden and the Staff of Kauaeranga GirU' School, and Mr Grey of Waiotahi Creek School. The candidates from other public schools for the Joint Committees' Prizes had seals allotted them in front of the platform. Alter >a few. introductory remarks from the Chairman, Mr Phillips, the* head master, announced thatC.-W. Cropp,the , head' boy of the school was to have spoken the' prologue, but as he had, to be present at the divil service examination be was unable to do so., Arthur Martin would speak it instead., That young gentleman came forward and spoke a well written prorogue. A number of the senior,.boys then preformed' in 'a highly" creditable manhWthr celebrated Hebearsal- Scene, from Shakespere's " Midsummer Night's Dream." The dramatis persona) wera as follows:—Bottom (a weaver), J. Chriuiie; Flute (a bellows mender),C.May'; Snout (a tinker), F. Ahigren; Starveling (a 1 tailor), £. Yon -JBernewitz;.. Quince (a carpenter),. B. ■H. Gibbons; Snug- (a joiner), W. J. May; Puck, A. Souf>r. This excellent effort of the boys was loudly applauded, by the audience. The head master then read the followingreport:— ■ ; ; , ;: *\ - '■'''',' *-—■■• Eauaeranga Bojb' School, '■ '■ ,- „ J 16th IjecembW, 1878. ! Sißp^^-'clortAof^fOoSooßieir, I Have the honor to report that a considerable incrtfts* in nunibers has taken; pUce. j last year when the school broke up for the Christmas holidays, there were ou the roll 331, givibg'ailiiV^rage-aaily 1 attendance 52ai.| Tbist'ye&r we have oa the roll' 429, and an arerage. attendance of 310, showing an increase on the total of 93, and on the aV«rage of 89. During the' year the number on Che register has, one quarter, been as high as 465. " • ■ .... ,\\ „ • ;,.

The number on the teaching staff has been' raised from 6 to 9, relieving me of the sole charge of the senior class, and enabling me to devote more of my tine to a general supervision of the work of the school; and a regular inspection of the work of the junior teachers ; a change which has be^n productive of exoellesti [rftults r in better organisation and discipline. - } The senior* boy of lwteyW, 'Albert E. OfiigUi passed the Junior Civil Service Examination in June last, with credit; and, al though his nameJsjtill on the register, he has, with great good taste, and without any suggestion on my part, absented from the school examination just held; thus leaving the field open to hi* juniors. Chat. Wm. Cropp bas taken tlwnigbfMt school honours this year.. . " (, ,- , -■ - , :~lTmwe ■•eared the co-operation of Mr Potterton in judging the paper*, ani I avail myself of this opportunity to thank that gentleman for His. kindness in undertaking an onerous task. The .'awards are according to the list I will now rend —I have,' &o,' . Gso'bgb Nswill Pfliuin, 1 Headlfaster. . Dr. Kilgour, Chairman E. 8.0. He informed the parents that according lo the new regulations; pupils would, only be advanced a standard once a, year, and there would be a new classification of the school. He expressed his acknowledgement lo his teaching staff for the manner they had worked with him. He congratulated the parents on the appointment of if r Gerring to the school some six months ago. (Applause.) He thought the school could show a better lot of drawing books than any other school in .the Province, aad for that they were indebted to Miss Emilie Day ,' (applause), who entirely superintended the drawing. The prizes were then distributed, Mrs JLilgour handing them to the fortunate winners as follows :—Class 6 : 1. Charles W. Cropp (dux of the school); 2. James Christie; 3, Henry Keary; 4. William J. May; 5. Francis Lowe, Norman Veale (tie). —Commended ; J. 8. Burns, Henry Stevenson, Arthur Turner, Archibald Burns, H. Cropp, Stanley White.—Class 5: 1. Arthur Souter; 2. C. J. Hinton; 3. Fred. Ahigren; 4. W. T. Driver; 5. William Farquhar and Margaret Akers (equal).—Commended t James Farquhar, T. Cooper, W. Hammond, S. Waite, J. Pearce, and Caroline Lidgard are commended for the neatness of their papers.— Class 4: 1. Mary £. Coran ; 2. Caroline Devey; 3. Albert B. Cooke; 4- Laura Devey; 5. Ed. Honiss. Commended: Albert Spencer, H. Ashby, H. Kanwell, W. Hilton, Harriet Nicholas. Class 3: 1. JB. Bates; 2. A. SnowJing; 3. C. A. Harris; 4. M. Fleming; 5. Clara Nolan. Commended: Ellen Williams. William Jackson, Benjamin Deeble, W. J. Ste?enson, W. F. Powell.-Class 2: 1. Fred Billing; 2. Henry Jackson; 3. Chas. Steward; 4. Chas. Farrell; 5. Alfred Sherlock.— Commended : John Clarke, Henry Driver, W. Towers, Jas. Pulleine, John Punstan.—Class 1: 1. F. Baies; 2. Sarah Evans; 3. Susan Hay; 4. Ada G'rring; 6. John Giltan.—Commended: Mary Jane Thornally, Henry Eilgouiv This concluded the distribution of the ordinary prizes. Special prizes were then distributed as follows:—Prize, by Dr JDlgour, for composition! J. S. Burns; prize, by Mr McCullough, for arithmetic, C. W. Cropp ; prize,'by Mr E. T. Wildman, for drawing, A. Martin ; head, master's, for ditto, Henry Eeary, 3rd James Christie ; composition, Henry Stephemon ; arithmetic, H. Grigg; good conduct, J. Christie, and nine others ; Latin, French, and algebra, Albert E. Grigg; Latin. James Christie and E

Yon Bernewitz; French, JEL Keary and R. H. Gibbous; book-keeping, C. W. Cropp and G. Loratt. Toe head master then announced that the four Committees' Prizes would then be handed to the winners. The Chairman then read the report of the examiners, and banded the four valuable prizes to the winners as follows:— Ist, Miss Anna Horgan, Tararu School; 2nd, C. W. Cropp, Kauaeranga Bojs'

School; 3rd, J. Christie, ditto; 4th, J. S. Burns, ditto.

The fortunate recipients then stepped forward and received the well won prizes amidst the enthusiastic plaudits of their schoolfellows.

Three of the senior boys—A. Grigg, A. Martin and B. H. Gibbons stepped on to the platform, one o? them haring a large and valuable writing desk, fvi aster Gibbons then read the follpwing address:— Kauseranga Boys' School, ■-, .. Decembsr 17th, 1878. Dear Sir, —Ere wa separate for our annual vacation, we desire to tender you our heart.7 thanks for the unceasing attention with which -you have directed our studies j for your for* bearance with our failures, and for the pleasure you have infused into all our studies, by the cheerful manner in which you have always encouraged us to persevere. As a slight token of our gratitude add esteem, we ask your acceptance of the accompanying present, whiob, we hope, you may live lung, to me and look upen as memento of the happy hours we bare I spent,together.—We are, ou .behalf of the Scholars, yours respectfully,

A.IBBBT Edwabd Gbiqg, Chablks W. Cbopp, Abthub Martin, Jakes ChbjStib, Kobbbt H. Gibbons. To G. Newell Phillips, Etq., Head Master, Kauaeruoga Boys' School. Mr Phillips accepted the handsome pro-, •ent, and the cheers that attended, the presentation of the gift bore ample teitimony to the worthy head master's popslanty with his pupils. In a few appro P»ateremarks he thanked the scholars for their handsome present. He assured them it w»S. q«ite unexpected, and he would pme it highly. , -> The Chairman then addressed the ch!ldr«ni\ encouraging them to further efforts. With reference to the; special prizes, he referred to the order they had been won by the Tarious schools since this system of giving special prizes^ had' ibeen commenced. ■:' :: ■''■■^■i}--:^:> v]a

The head master then handed to the I Following' boys good attendance certifi. cates from the Board of Education-— Arthur Martin (not a single absence). Haydn Grigg, Stanley White, Otto Yon Bernewitz, Eno Yon Bernewitz, JSornian Veale, James Christie, ,W. Turner. , . The Hibj. a.' J. Neill, one,of the* examiners [for the special prizes,' testified to the excellence of the "answers of questions, and said that the examiners badalmost felt sorry that there were not more prizes to distribute, the papers were_all so deserving. Mr Carpenter, another of the examiners, endorsed' Mr Neill's remarks, and promised to present a.special prize next year.

Cheers were , then giren for the Mayoress, Mayor, Committee, donors of the special prizss, general publio, Mr Phillips, Mr Gerring and the rest of the teachers, etc. ■■ „ The publio haring left the room; thY pupils were regaled with buns, etc, and then departed home for the holidays. <