appointed Schoolmaster of the settlement. He conducted a school with much acceptance in a portion of the original First Church building until September, 1850, when failing health compelled him to retire from active duty. He left for Sydney shortly afterwards for change of air, but he survived only a few months. When Mr. Blackie left Dunedin, his friend Mr. James Elder Brown, now of Milton, was prevailed upon to take temporary charge of the school, with a view to its being kept open. Mr. Brown can thus claim to be the oldest ex-teacher of an Otago public school now living.
MR. BLACKIE'S SUCCESSORS.
By arrangement made with the Church authorities, the school was taught successively by the following-named gentlemen: Mr. William Mackenzie, who was afterwards accidentally drowned while working the punt at Taieri Ferry; Mr. Robert McDowell, who subsequently left the colony; and Mr. William Somerville, now Clerk to the Bench, Dunedin, who continued in charge until the arrival, in October, 1856, of the late Mr. Alex. Livingston, who had been appointed at Home to the Rectorship of the Dunedin School.
OTHER SCHOOLS IN DUNEDIN AND SUBURBS.
A small private school for girls was kept by Miss Peterson for a short time at the lower end of Walker-street. The late Mr. Gebbie, of Saddle Hill, conducted a school in a fern-tree whare with a clay floor, erected on Church land in the North-East Valley, near the Town Belt, until 1854, when he married Miss Peterson, and by agreement with the Kirk Session and settlers of East Taieri, opened a school in the church that had been erected there for the Rev. Mr. Will. Mr. Grebbie remained in charge of the East Taieri School until November, 1856, when he was succeeded by Mr. John Hislop. Mr. Robert Short succeeded Mr. Grebbie as teacher of the North-East Valley School; and when that gentleman entered the Provincial Government service as an officer in the Land Department, Mr. Andrew Russell took charge of the School until the arrival and appointment of Mr. A. G. Allan in 1858. Shortly after the Provincial Government had been established, Mr. J. G. S. Grant arrived from Victoria, and for some time conducted a school which he named "The Dunedin Academy." About the same time, a school was taught in the
