Preliminary Proceedings.

The Otago Boys' High School was opened on August 3rd, 1863. About a week afterwards (August 11th) an ably-written leading article on the subject appeared in the Otago Daily Times. After dealing with the subject of the Boys' School in a very appreciative manner, the writer proceeds as follows:—" The High School, however, wants a companion institution. There is one direction in which we have attempted little and done less to promote the best interests of education and of families. We mean in the provision made for the education of girls, especially after they have arrived at an age when it is untasteful to their friends and obviously unwise that they should remain in the mixed common school." Then follow some well-put arguments in support of the proposal to establish a Girls' High School, and the article concludes as follows:—"It is to be hoped that a High. School for girls will be promptly organised in Dunedin." A day or two afterwards, a letter appeared in the Daily Times over the signature "Paterfamilias," thanking the editor for his sensible and well-timed article, and suggesting that pressure should be brought to bear upon the Government to take steps for the establishment of the proposed school with the least possible delay. This was the first occasion on which the proposal to establish a Girls' High School in Dunedin was publicly discussed, and it is only due to the Otago Daily Times that this fact should not be lost sight of. But before and after the publication of the article referred to, the subject received careful consideration from the education authorities, and it was fully resolved that a Girls' High School should be established as soon as the difficulties that interposed should be removed, the chief of these being inability to procure a suitable site and building for the purpose. In the Provincial Council on November 4th, 1864, Major Richardson moved the following resolution, of which notice had previously been given by Mr Reynolds—(1) "That it is expedient to give encouragement to the education of girls beyond that afforded by the ordinary district schools; and (2) that the Government be page 168requested to submit to the House during the next session some-scheme by which this result could be attained."

The subject continued to receive consideration from time to time, but nothing definite was done until June, 1869, when, on the motion of Mr J. L. Gillies, it was resolved by the Provincial Council—" That the Government be requested to appoint an honorary commission to determine the best site and scheme for a High School, and to consider whether it is expedient that provision should be made in the same building for the teaching of girls as well as boys." The commission consisted of the following members:—The Rev. Dr. Stuart (chairman), Mr Justice Ward, the Hon. P. D. Bell, and the following members of the Provincial Council:—Messrs Reynolds, Turnbull, McIndoe, McLean, Reid, Haggitt, Duncan, Gillies, and Mouat.

In addition to other documents, the commission had before it a letter and papers received from a committee of ladies in Otago, who greatly interested themselves in the proposed establishment of a Girls' High School. The late Mrs. E. B. Cargill was President of the committee, and Miss Dalrymple was its most indefatigable Secretary. The commission expressed its deep obligation to the ladies' committee and to Miss Dalrymple, and embodied in its report a number of the recommendations made by them. The commission recommended that the rector's residence and boarding establishment should be removed to another locality, and that the rooms to be vacated, together with such additional accommodation as might be found necessary, should be occupied as a Girls' High School, a residence for the Lady Principal, and a boarding-house for girls from a distance; and that the other portions of the building should be enlarged and adapted to the purposes of a Boys' High School.