My Dear Sir,—Having heard that it is your intention to apply for the Rectorship of the Invercargill Grammar School, I have much pleasure in testifying to your thorough fitness for such a position. I have known you for many years, and have visited your school at Anderson's Bay, and more frequently the Grammar School at Port Chalmers, whilst under your charge. On the last occasion, now some months ago, I examined your senior Latin class, and I must state that the boys showed their thorough grounding in Latin, and their ability to translate Virgil, and that in a remarkable way for boys at a colonial school. I also examined your class in English Grammar, and that class was also well up to its work. The discipline of the school was excellent.

In therefore bearing testimony to your fitness for the Rectorship, I am not grounding my remarks on mere hearsay, nor on the many conversations and discussions we have had on scholastic matters. I have seen the results of your teaching. While I shall regret your removal from the Port, I shall at the same time be only too glad to hear of your advancement and continued success and prosperity.