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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Nelson, Marlborough & Westland Provincial Districts]

Secondary Schools

Secondary Schools.

The Hokitika High School Board has its offices in the Government buildings. It was constituted many years ago, but is practically non-effective, as the local District High School is administered by the Education Board. The building known as Government House in Hokitika is vested in the High School Board. Members for the year 1905: Messrs H. L. Michel (chairman) J. F. Byrne, J. J. Clarke, J. Tait, and the Hon. J. Holmes, M.L.C. Mr. C. K. Kirk is secretary.

The Hokitika District High School is an imposing brick building situated in Hampden Street. The school was founded in the year 1877, and the present building was erected in 1887. The school days of Hokitika date back as far as 1865. The old schoolhouse, which had done duty from 1877, was destroyed by fire in 1887. The present school contains seven class-rooms and two teachers rooms. The corridors are lofty, and the whole school is well ventilated, and supplied with hot water pipes. There is a fine library containing about 400 volumes. There are 280 scholars on the roll, and the average attendance is 270, which is considerably above the average for the colony. A classroom is set apart for secondary education, and this department has forty-five in attendance. Scholarships are annually offered by the Education Board for competition amongst the pupils of the public schools throughout Westland. Scholars are also admitted after passing Standard VI, upon payment of £2 per quarter. School staff for the year 1905: Mr. H. G. Wake, B.A. (Rector)), Mr. B. H. Low, B.A. (First Assistant Master, in charge of the secondary classes), Mr. H. Williams (First Assistant Master), Miss E. Ward (Infant Mistress), and five other teachers.

Mr. Hugh Godfrey Wake , B.A., was appointed Rector of the Hokitika District High School and Headmaster of the Primary School in the year 1899. He was born at Kaiapoi, Canterbury, in 1871. Prior to his present page 500 appointment, Mr. Wake was for two years at the Waimate District High School, as first extra assistant master.

Mr. Henry Williams , First Assistant Master of the Hokitika Dististrict High School, is a son of the late Mr. Henry Williams, of Hauhau, Hokitika, where he was born in the year 1866. He was educated at Kanieri, and there served his term as a pupil teacher. In 1886, Mr. Williams was appointed assistant master at Gillespie school, became headmaster of the Stafford public school in 1895, and remained there until he received his present appointment.

Mr. Benjamin Harris Low , B.A., is First Extra Assistant Master of the Hokitika District High School, and has charge of the secondary classes. Mr. Low is further referred to at page 876 of the Auckland volume of this work.

Miss A. E. B. Batten, formerly First Assistant Mistress of the Hokitika District High School, was born in Victoria, Australia, and commenced teaching in Port Melbourne. She was afterwards on the staff of the Redan school, Ballarat, and is now (1906) at Ross, where she is doing relieving work.

The Convent of St. Columbkill at Hokitika, was founded on the 15th of October, 1878, on a site of an acre in extent, at the corner of Stafford Street and Sewell Street, Hokitika. The portion of the building fronting Sewell Street, was the first to be erected, but in 1881 the portion facing Stafford Street was made, and includes a number of cells, a chapel, a refectory and sacristy. In the year 1890, another wing was added to the building, to supply boarders' quarters, and the community room; and in 1905 a one-storey music room and an infant school were also erected. The other portion of the convent is two-storied. The Sisters conduct three schools; namely, the parish school, with an attendance of about sixty children; the infant school, with forty children; and the select school, with about twenty children. Four sisters daily teach at Kanieri, where from forty to fifty children attend, and at Rimu, where the attendance is from twenty-five to thirty. Branches of the convent are conducted at Ross, and Kumara; the branch at Ross is known as St. Patrick's, and that at Kumara as St. Bridget's. Thirty children are taught at Ross, and 130 at Kumara, and, in addition to the primary instruction, secondary education, including music and languages, is also supplied, and pupils are prepared for matriculation in connection with the University of New Zealand. Thirteen Sisters are engaged in teaching, including the four who have charge of the out-schools. The convent at Hokitika was the first convent of the Order of Mercy in the Middle Island, and from it the convent at Greymouth was established in the year 1881, that at Lyttelton in 1890, and those at Ross and Kumara in 1889. Most of the Sisters in residence have come from Ireland.