Page:Picturesque Dunedin.djvu/171

Rh

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