Chapter 19
Educational Facilitie

Educational facilities in Auckland' early days were not by any means first–class. There were district primary schools free to all. The only secondary school of real importance was the Auckland College and Grammar School. There was no University College, but at first the Grammar School pretended to almost University standing, and the first lady to gain a University Degree in any part of the British Empire was educated there. The school was started in 1869 by the purchase of Dr. Kidd' Academy in Howe Street. There were no free places till about 1880, when about four scholarship boys, and a like number of free placers, were sent up from the primary schools. The examinations for the granting of these privileges attracted much attention.

The school ran a first–class cadet corps, and it reached the top of its form when it volunteered for active service against Te Whiti at Parihaka. Fortunately the Military had more sense than the cadets. This corps was entitled to practise shooting at the Mount Eden Rifle Range, for which purpose it received a capitation grant. Troublesome neighbours objected, and the shooting was stopped. Before the corps was disbanded, a sum of about £200 had accumulated. About £50 was spent on gear for a gymnasium, boxing gloves, and fencing foils, and I — then in the Sixth Form — took a leading part in getting the remainder invested in a workshop and carpenters' tools. One of the masters kindly conducted an after–hours class in carpentry. Mention of the Sixth Form reminds me of an incident which occurred about three years ago, when I was given the job of delivering the breaking–up address before the Christmas holidays. I told the boys that the school and I were twins, and that when I was eight and the Grammar School was eight, I joined up and was put straight into the Sixth Form. There was a sort of gasp in the hall, as if the boys wanted to say “You're another: you are”. So I said “Perhaps I ought to explain that in those days the forms were numbered the other way round — the first was the highest and the sixth the lowest, and I suspect that the reason I was put in it was that there was no seventh”. At this year' annual dinner of the Old Boys' Association I was acclaimed the oldest old boy surviving!

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Honourable mention should be made of those essential servants of great schools — the janitors. At the Auckland Grammar School Sergeant Birley for many years filled this office with great credit. He was followed by Mr. Tooley. To show their intimate knowledge of Latin some of the boys used to conjugate him as part of the verb fero, and call him “Latum”.

The only other secondary school of any importance was the Church of England Grammar School, which was started in Karangahape Road, but moved to Parnell. The headmaster of this school was Mr. Pycroft — of course called by the boys “piecrust”. The fees for pupils were very moderate.

St. John' College at St. Heliers Bay was a useful institution established by the Church of England for preparing candidates for taking Holy Orders. It was at first intended to locate it at Waimate North, and a beginning was made towards the end of 1842, but as early as 1844 the advantage of having the college close to Auckland was recognised, and a site of several hundred acres at West Tamaki (as that area was then called) was purchased with funds derived from the legacy of the Rev. Mr. Whytehead. Gradually buildings were added at a total cost of £5,000, and the cost of removal from Waimate was £600.

Then there were two small private secondary schools, one conducted by Mr. Peter Mason in Upper Pitt Street, and the other by Mr. Josiah Martin in the Choral Hall, Symonds Street.

There was no University College (until May 1883, when it was opened with a staff of four professors) and the only means of improving one' education after leaving school were Mutual Improvement Societies conducted by the churches. About 1890 these collaborated to form the Union Parliament. Each Society could elect a number of representatives in proportion to its financial membership. The Speaker was not elected from the members, but we were fortunate in securing the services of Mr. Button, an old member of Parliament, and afterwards a Judge of the Supreme Court. Its meetings were held once a month in the premises of the Y.M.C.A. at the corner of Wellesley and Albert Streets, and the proceedings were conducted in strict parliamentary form.

Two names stand out prominently in the history of Education in Auckland — that of Sir Maurice O'Rorke, for so long Chairman of the University College Council and Grammar School Board of Governors, and that of Mr. J. W. Tibbs, the eminent headmaster of the Grammar School.

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Mention should also be made of the Mechanics' Institute, established in 1842 for the artisan and labouring classes, but also used largely for public meetings and high–class lectures by men of such standing as the Rev. David Bruce, Mr. Cheeseman, Mr. Hansard and others. The Institute' building stood at the corner of Chancery Street and Courthouse Lane. It had a good lending library of 7,400 volumes. In 1859 it had 326 members at £1 per annum each.