OBHS goes military

The rector of the Boys’ High School, at the request of the local military authorities, proposed holding a "barracks" at the school during the first week of next term, from May 29 to June 2 inclusive. Similar "barracks" had been hold at other secondary schools of late, and represented or replaced the camps held in former years. The boys still remained in their own homes, but were, during the day, handed over to the officers of the Defence Department for military and physical instruction. This would, he believed, be for their benefit, and though it meant a cessation of school work for the time he had felt justified in giving his consent.  Boys whose parents wished them to attend for school work instead would have the opportunity, but he did not anticipate that any large number would take advantage of this. The proposal was approved.

How King’s got there

The difficult problem of a suitable site for the new boys’ high school which the High Schools’ Board already has in view came before the board again at its meeting yesterday. The Director of Education wrote asking the board to to ascertain whether any sites other than those already under consideration would be suitable and procurable. The board was particularly requested to ascertain whether a suitable property could be obtained on the Flat, on the Anderson’s Bay side.

Dr Fulton expressed the view that the Flat is the last place in which they should put the high school. Personally, he strongly deprecated putting any new high school on a level with the city. It should go up on the hill for the sake of the boys’ health.

Relics of early Dunedin

A number of the posts of the old Jetty street wharf — a wharf which existed some 70 years ago — were discovered when the excavations were being made for the building which is to be erected for the Otago Fruitgrowers’ Association on the site of the demolished Pier Hotel. These manuka posts are wonderfully well preserved. The portions, indeed, which were embedded in the pug, which formed the foreshore at that time, can, without exaggeration, be said to be as sound as the day when they were driven. The posts have been secured by the Early Settlers’ Association, which proposes to make showcases out of the wood. The workmen also discovered a man’s riding boot, the leather of which was perfectly sound, and a brass wick-clipper.

Stuck in Consultancy House

"Behind prison bars" is a state of affairs more frequently associated with criminal offences than with the prosaic conduct of a business meeting. Yet this was the predicament in which six well-known citizens who had met in the New Zealand Express Company’s building found themselves a few evenings ago. As if to add insult to injury, when they reached the inside of the barred gate of the premises they came under the observation of two men in blue, who, despite the sympathy that is known to reside in the breast of the average policeman, could not refrain from showing their amusement at the plight in which the unwilling prisoners found themselves. A good Samaritan from the local post office, who possessed a key of the building, came to their rescue, and set them at liberty. — ODT, 18.5.1923

Compiled by Peter Dowden