ASHBURTON SCHOOL.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XIII, Issue 2738, 5 August 1892, Page 3

ASHBURTON SCHOOL.

The day s proceedings at the Ashburton School were very interesting. At half past ten the children gathered m the ground, and proceeded to the boys' playground, and m the course of the two hours that were spent there over a hundred trees of one kind or another were planted. Ayr Craighead, Chairman of the Committee introduced the Mayor, who had been sent for at short notice, m a few ww/ls] His Worship m addressing th c children, dwelt on the advantages that were derived from the planting and cultivation of trees, and specially referred to the memorial oak it was his duty to ask Mrs Mayns to plant that day. The oak tree was an emblem of the great empire of which Hew Zealand had the honor to form apart, and he was pleafeod to see that the School Committee had chosen a sapling of that glorious tree to commemorate the first celebration of Arbor Day m Kew Zealand. He trusted, the boys would respect and care for that noble tree, and when they looked at it they should remember the great and noble race from which they had ■prune, for although born and brought up m an island of the great Pacific, away, so to speak m an out of the way oorner of the world, the blood that flowed m their veins was as essentially British as. any that coursed through the veins of boys born m the Home Land, It was their duty as belonging to a race with the grandest history m the world, to be good citizens, loyal and true men and women, J and to do all that lay m their power to i make this colony of theirs what it ought to be. As the future men and women of this colony he wished to impress upon them to be good and true, kind and considerate towards each other, and mindful of their duty, and if they devoted their attention to the care of the trees they were that day planting, and throughout their life remembered that their respect! was due to every tree that had its roots m the ground they would do one good thing at least for the colony that was I their home and their birthplace. He i would how ask Mrs Mayne to plant the memorial oak. The Mayor then handed a spade to Mrs Mayne who laid the earth to the roots of the fine young oak that had been chosen, and this work finished Mrs Mayne declared the memorial tree of the first Arbor Day celebration at the 4ahburton school r well and truly planted. Cheers were then given for the teachers, the Committee and Mrs Mayne, and the young people engaged m planting the other trees, Miss Sawle, one of the mistresses of the school, being very prominent m the work. After the planting was over, the children mustered and marched m procession to the rendezvous at the Union Bank corner to meet the children of the Hampstead school.