Page:Picturesque Dunedin.djvu/173

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EDUCATION.
155

in connection with the school for the reception of pupils from the country: and that there should be two elementary schools in Dunedin, distinct from the High School, each under the management of a school committee. Accompanying the resolution was a letter from Mr. Livingston, in which he stated that although (yielding to circumstances) he had hitherto consented to perform, in a large measure, the work of a primary school teacher, he considered the time had now arrived when he should be placed in his right position as head of a High School. The Provincial Council, however, negatived the Government proposal, and resolved to vote no more moneys for school buildings until the Government should bring in a measure for the alteration of the Education Ordinance.

In the next session of the Provincial Council (Dec. 1860), Mr. Macandrew's Government introduced an Education Bill making full provision for a High School; but owing to the brief duration of the session, it failed to pass. The next session (June 1861) was opened by Major (afterwards Sir John) Richardson, who had succeeded Mr. Macandrew as Superintendent of the Province. Mr. Macandrew's Bill was again introduced by the Provincial Solicitor, the late Mr. James Howorth, and was passed. It contained the following provision:—"There shall be established in Dunedin a High School to be called 'The High School of Otago," under a Rector or Head Master, and such number of qualified masters and assistants as the Board shall from time to time consider necessary, in which shall be taught all the branches of a liberal education—the French and other modern languages, the Latin and Greek Classics, Mathematics, and such other branches of science as the advancement of the Colony and the increase of population may from time to time require; and the said High School shall be entirely under the superintendence and control of the Board, and shall be maintained and supported, and all salaries and expenses connected therewith paid, out of School Fees and moneys appropriated by the Superintendent and Provincial Council for that purpose, and any other available funds." The same provision was retained unaltered in the Education Ordinances of 1862 and 1864, and under them respectively the High School continued to be administered until