Page:Picturesque Dunedin.djvu/171

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EDUCATION.
153


Schools in Otago Provincial District, 1888.

Districts. Teachers Pupil Teachers Attendance.
Average
Daily
for Year.
At Close
of the
Year.
Dunedin City  44  48  3926  4315
Dunedin Suburbs  45  42  3672  4204
Outside the above 264  58 11,345 13,904
Otago Total 353 148 18,943 22,423
Southland Total 131  44  6083  7959
Provincial District Total 484 192 25,026 30,382


THE OTAGO HIGH SCHOOL FOR BOYS.

FIRST STEPS TAKEN BY THE PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

It has already been stated that a proposal was made by the late Mr. James Macandrew, in the first session of the Provincial Council, having for its object the establishment of a High School in Dunedin, in which "the higher branches of a liberal education" should be taught. During the second session of the Council (1854) the establishment of a High School formed part of the scheme of public school education adopted by resolution of the Council, and the Home Agents were directed to engage in Britain a gentleman qualified to perform the duties of rector. In the fourth session of the Provincial Council "The Education Ordinance, 1856," was passed; the ninth section of the Act is as follows: "There shall be established in Dunedin, under a Rector or Head Master of superior attainments, and well-qualified assistants, as they are required, a public school, to be called the 'High School of Dunedin,' which shall be conducted on the principles in the art of teaching most approved and adopted in the best schools of Great Britain, it being designed that it shall serve as a model to other public schools to be established within the Province; and at the aforesaid school not only the usual branches of a good elementary English education shall be taught, but also those higher branches of knowledge, the acquirement of which constitutes a