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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Wellington Provincial District]

Educational

Educational.

The Campbell Street School, Palmerston North, was the original school of the district, and was established many years ago, Mr. Keeling, the present Town Clerk, being the first master. At one time it ranked as the largest school in the educational district of Wanganui, but a new school was built on more modern lines in College Street, and this drew away a great number of the pupils for a time, but the tide has turned, and the school has now 478 names on the roll, of whom 240 are boys and 238 girls, and is again the largest in the borough. The large wooden building has seating accommodation for 550 children. The headmaster, Mr. Francis Edward Watson, is assisted by four teachers and five pupil teachers. Surrounding the school is a splendid recreation ground, the girls and boys being separated during play hours, as is usual in mixed schools.

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Mr. Francis E. Watson, Headmaster of the Campbell Street School, is a son of a Senior Chaplain of the Bombay Presidency, India. He was born at St. Helena while his parents were going to England on furlough. Mr. Watson received his education partly in India and later in Tasmania. After a course of study in New Zealand he obtained his D1 certificate and has been teaching since 1876. He was assistant master of the old Wanganui Boys' School, and third master of the Wanganui High School now abolished. Mr. Watson has been in charge of the present school for fifteen years. He is interested in all athletics, especially cricket and tennis, and finds the exercise a great relief from school work. Mr. Watson is musical and is a member of the various choral societies. He is also greatly interested in stock-raising, Jersey cattle being his favourites. Of these he has a first-class herd, with which he has been successful in winning first prizes at the local shows. Among his Jerseys Mr. Watson has a fine imported bull.

Photo by Attwood and Co. Mr. F. E. Watson.

Photo by Attwood and Co.
Mr. F. E. Watson
.

Mr. George Wylie Mitchell, First Assistant Master of the Campbell Street School, Palmerston North, who was born in 1871 in Scotland, came to Port Chalmers, per ship “Auckland,” in 1880. He is a son of Mr. Alexander Mitchell, of Dunedin, settler, and attended the Otago University, becoming a pupil teacher at Caversham School in 1887. Mr. Mitchell gained his D certificate in 1892, and subsequently passed the first section of the B.A. degree, entitling him to the C certificate. In 1893 he was appointed to the position he now fills.

College Street Public School, Palmerston North, which was founded in 1892, is conducted in a fine wooden building, having five class-rooms, surrounding and opening into an enclosed quadrangle with asphalted floor, which is very convenient for assembling the entire school. There are two private rooms, for the use of the headmaster and his staff. The playground is particularly large, and being laid down in lawn grass, it furnishes one of the best cricket grounds in Palmerston North. There are 350 children on the roll, the average attendance being 310, very nearly evenly divided between boys and girls. The headmaster has three certificated and one junior assistant, besides three pupil-teachers.

Mr. George Grant, Headmaster of the College Street School, Palmerston North, was born in Banffshire, Scotland, in 1857. Educated at Perth and Glasgow, he came to Wellington by the ship “Zealandia” in 1876, and for three years studied under private tutors, subsequently matriculating at the Otago University, which he attended for four years, passing the medical preliminary examination. He also completed the curriculum of the Divinity Hall of the Otago Presbyterian Church. In 1885 Mr. Grant adopted teaching as his profession, being appointed to Fordell by the Wanganui Education Board, and afterwards to Turakina and Sandon successively. At the opening of the College Street School, he was appointed to the position he now fills. Mr. Grant is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and renders good service as a lay preacher in many of the local churches, As a total abstainer, he advocates the cause of temperance and the legislative suppression of the liquor traffic by the will of the people, and for three years he has filled the office of secretary of the Wellington, Hawkes Bay, and Taranaki Divisional Executive Prohibition Council. In 1884 Mr. Grant was married to a daughter of the late Mr. A. Duthie, one of the pioneer settlers of Tokomairiro (Milton), Otago.

Mr. Joseph Tamblyn, First Assistant Master at the College Street School, Palmerston North, was born in 1869 in Otago. In 1886 he became a pupil teacher at Roxburgh, and two years afterwards he gained his first certificate. After two years at the Normal Training School, Dunedin, and two years at the Otago University, where he passed the first section of the B.A. examination, Mr. Tamblyn joined the Wanganui Education Board, and was placed in charge of the Hurleyville School, gaining his C certificate. In 1896, he was appointed to the position he now holds.

Terrace End Public School, situate in Terrace Street, Palmerston North, was established in 1885, when the first portion of the large wooden building was erected. It has since been considerably enlarged, and now contains one large class-room and three smaller ones, in addition to the headmaster's office. Separate play-grounds for boys and girls surround the building, the area of the land being two acres. The number of pupils on the roll is 320, the average attendance being 280. Four certificated assistants and three pupil-teachers, together with the headmaster, compose the staff of the school.

Mr. Thomas Frederick Fairbrother, Headmaster of the Terrace End Public School, is a New Zealander by birth and education. He is the fifth son of the late Mr. Richard Fairbrother, J.P., of Carterton, where the subject of this notice was born in 1863. Educated in his native place, and, as a teacher, at the Wellington Normal Training School, after serving as a pupil-teacher in Carterton for nearly four years, Mr. Fairbrother gained his certificate in 1884. At the Terrace School in Wellington he served as second assistant, 1884–6, when he was appointed to the charge of Kilbirnie School, returning the following year as first assistant to his old school. In 1890 Mr. Fairbrother left for Melbourne, page 1158 where he became assistant master at St. Kilda Grammar School for twelve months. Having left Victoria, he was appointed in 1892 to the Terrace End School as first assistant, and six months later he was promoted to the position of headmaster. In 1894 Mr. Fairbrother was married to a daughter of Mr. G. Cliff, of New Plymouth, and has two daughters.

The Carow Girls' Collegiate School, Palmerston North, was established by Mrs. Von Blaramberg in 1891. It is prettily situated in grounds off Grey Street, which contain a tennis court and other means of amusement for the scholars. The school is mainly intended for girls, but boys up to ten years of age are admitted. The course comprises a very liberal education, amongst the many subjects taught being French, German, Music, &c.

Craven School for Girls (Miss Fraser, principal), Queen Street, Palmerston North. Established in 1892, this school has from forty to fifty pupils, including about a dozen boarders. The lady principal is assisted by three permanent and four occasional teachers.

Palmerston North High School (Kenneth Wilson, M.A., principal), is a private school, situated in Rangitikei Street. The Palmerston North High School was established by Mr. Kenneth Wilson, M.A., in 1891, and he has carried it on with considerable success up to the present time. Mr. Wilson was born at Leeds, England, and was educated at Leeds Grammar School, under Bishop Barry, afterwards Bishop of Sydney and Primate of Australasia, and now Canon of Windsor. He finished his educational course at St. John's College, Cambridge, where he gained the degree of B.A. and subsequently that of M.A. with mathematical honours. Mr. Wilson was then appointed second master to the King Edward VI. School, Southampton, but in 1874 he resolved to come out to the colonies, and took passage, via Melbourne, for New Zealand. He came to Wellington under an engagement as Principal of the Wellington College, and occupied this position for seven years. He then opened a private school in Wellington, which he ultimately relinquished for the purpose of establishing the school in Palmerston North as above. This is really a secondary school, though Mr. Wilson has admitted some junior pupils. He has had the educational training of upwards of 1000 boys in the Colony, and with such an experience as this, Mr. Wilson is competent to express an opinion on the colonial children as compared with their compeers in the Old Country. He does so, and his opinion is that in general intelligence, colonial boys are slightly superior to the youth at Home, but are not quite so well trained in matters of behaviour.