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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Auckland Provincial District]

School Commissioners

School Commissioners.

The School Commissioners Of Auckland, like those of other parts of the colony, were called into existence as a Board by the Education Reserves Act of 1877. Their chief duty consists in the control of the primary schools reserves in the Auckland district. The total receipts from these for the year 1899 amounted to £3269 10s 8d, of which £1882 7s was handed over to the cause of primary education, and £375 9s 3d to secondary schools. The Commissioners are.—Messrs R. Udy (chairman), G. Mueller, J. M. Lennox, J. M. Shera, and S. Luke.

The Auckland Board Of Education has control of the schools of the education district of Auckland, which is co-extensive with the province. The present members of the Board are:—Messrs L. J. Bagnall (chairman), T. Cooper, R. Farrell, S. Luke, J. Blades, W. Lambe, J. D. McKenzie, and N. A. McLeod, and Dr. A. McArthur. Mr. Vincent E. Rice is secretary to the Board. The offices of the Board are page 207 situated on the second floor of the Victoria Arcade. At the end of September, 1900, there were 381 schools in operation under the Board, and about fifty of these were worked half-time. The number of teachers employed is 798 (333 males and 465 females), in addition to seventy-five teachers of sewing. Scholars on the rolls number 28,209, with an average attendance of 24,236; which means that there are nearly 4000 daily absentees. During the year 1899 twenty-seven senior and fifty-five junior district scholarships were under tenure, besides three awarded to girls, under special regulations, and derived from the income of the Auckland Girls' High School endowment. The reports of the headmasters upon the holders of these scholarships are highly encouraging, and the names of former scholarship holders are to be found in every honours list issued by the University. In 1899, the Board's income from all sources was £98,617 11s 1d, and the expenditure was £102,185 9s 11d. These figures include both the maintenance and the building funds. The expenditure on school buildings amounted to £12,161 14s 3d, of which more than one-half was applied to the improvement of existing buildings. Want of funds has delayed the prosecution of many necessary works, and it is evident that more liberal provision will have to be made by Parliament for suitable school accommodation throughout the district. The war in South Africa has called forth from the teachers and scholars of the public schools a display of patriotism which cannot fail to have a lasting effect in cultivating and developing an ardent love of the Empire. From more than three hundred schools subscriptions were cheerfully given to the fund for the relief of the sufferers among the British forces engaged in the war.

Mr. L. J. Bagnall, J.P., Chairman of the Auckland Education Board, came to Auckland from Prince Edward Island, Canada, with his father (the late Hon. George Bagnall) and his brothers, in 1864. In 1868 he went to the Thames and started business in the timber trade. Nine years later he and his father and brothers bought the Turua sawmills on the Waihou river, and he and his brothers are still engaged in the sawmilling and timber business at Turua, where farming also is carried on on a considerable scale by the firm. Mr. Bagnall has always taken an active interest in public matters. In 1873 he was elected to represent Thames in the Provincial Council of Auckland. He has also served on the Thames County Council as member and chairman, and on the Thames Harbour Board, and was six years a member of the Auckland Crown Lands Board. He has been actively connected with educational affairs since the passing of the Auckland Provincial Act of 1872. Mr. Bagnall and most of his brothers reside at Turua, which is an active and thriving town.

Mr. R. Crowe, Inspector of Schools in the Auckland district, was born in Tipperary, Ireland, in 1858, and is the second son of Mr. John Crowe. He was educated at the national schools and at Trinity College, Dublin. He afterwards engaged in teaching at Birmingham, and at Liverpool, where he remained three years. Arriving in Auckland in 1883, Mr. Crowe entered the employ of the Board of Education as assistant master at Grafton Road. He was afterwards headmaster at Maketu, and in 1889 was appointed to his present position. Mr. Crowe is an old cricketer and footballer, and has represented the Auckland province against the English and Native football teams, as well as the Australian Eleven which visited Auckland in 1886. As a Freemason, he holds the rank of past master of Lodge Remuera, 1710, E.C.

Mr. James Grierson, Inspector for the Auckland Board of Education, was born at Sale, Cheshire, and is the son of Mr. John Grierson of Wilmslow in the same county. He was educated at a private school, and on leaving it was engaged in mercantile pursuits, first in Ireland and afterwards in Manchester. He came to Auckland in 1877 and settled in the Waikato district, where for several years he was engaged in farming. In 1885, he joined the service of the Auckland Education Board, and filled in turns the positions of tutor in the Training College, assistant master at Newton West, Newton East, etc., and head master at Ngaruawahia and Kawakawa. In 1893 and 1894 Mr. Grierson acted as assistant-inspector. On the death of Inspector Airey in October, 1896, Mr. Grierson was appointed acting-inspector, and in August, 1897, he became one of the permanent staff.

Mr. J. Grierson Hanna, photo

Mr. J. Grierson Hanna, photo

Mr. Vincent E. Rice, Secretary of the Auckland Education Board, was formerly Chief Clerk to the Superintendent of the Province of Auckland, of which office Sir George Grey was the last holder. After the abolition of the provincial governments at the end of 1876, Mr. Rice was appointed first secretary of the Auckland Education Board. He entered office in January, 1877, and has witnessed the rapid growth of the public school system since that date.

The Auckland Technical School. The keen competition amongst industrial nations of late years has caused the value of methodical training in those departments of labour requiring skilled knowledge to be recognised as absolutely essential for the young generations of mechanics and artisans. In Germany and the United States manual instruction has long been included in the national system of education, and it is apparent that ultimately, amongst ourselves, technical education on a national scale must replace the old-fashioned system of apprenticeship under individual master traders. The Auckland Technical School Association was established in June, 1895, with the object of providing technical instruction to the young of both sexes. It is registered under the Manual and Technical Elementary Instruction Act, 1895, and is in affiliation with the Science and Art Department of South Kensington, and the City and Guilds of London Institute; and notwithstanding the many difficulties which the management has had to contend with, especially want of money, a very fair share of success has been gained by its students in examinations under those institutions. The subjects comprise theoretical and practical work in carpentry and joinery, stair-casing and hand-railing, wood carving, plumbing, graining, marbling, sign writing, painters' and decorators' work, machine construction and drawing, freehand and model drawing, plane and solid geometry and perspective, algebra and geometry, shorthand, cookery, and dressmaking. Twelve competent instructors form the teaching staff, and eighteen classes are conducted by them. The school is domiciled in an imposing three-storey building in Rutland Street, opposite the Free Library in Wellesley Street; the Auckland City Council, Board of Governors of Auckland Grammar School, the Board of Education, Employers' Association, and the page 208 Trades and Labour Council are represented on the Council of the Association. As showing how it appreciates the advantages of the school, the Education Department now requires instructors to the newly-constituted native schools in the Auckland province to attend the Technical School with a view to qualifying themselves to teach the manual and technical subjects likely to be of use to the natives.

Mr. J. Henry Mackie, Secretary to the Auckland Technical School was, in conjunction with Sir Maurice O'Rorke, one of its first promoters. He was born in Auckland in 1862, served an apprenticeship with his father as a coachbuilder, and worked at his trade for several years. In 1892 Mr. Mackie took up the movement to establish the Technical School, and in 1895 visited Wellington, where he successfully interviewed the Government on behalf of the school. Mr. Mackie relinquished his trade in 1896, and took up public accountancy, auditing, and secretarial work.