liberal education; and the said school shall be open to both male and female scholars, and arrangements shall be made for the advanced male and female classes being taught separately."
It is evident that the late Mr. John McGlashan, who drafted the measure, had in view the establishment of an institution in Dunedin similar in character to that of the Burgh Schools of Scotland, in which there are departments for both primary and secondary education, and in which pupils of both sexes are taught together. As already stated, Mr. Livingston, who had been selected for the rectorship of the contemplated High School, was placed on his arrival in charge of the school that had met in the First Church building from the foundation of the settlement, but as might be expected the work had been altogether of an elementary character. At the outset of Mr. Livingston's six years' tenure of office, the school officially designated "The High School," was of necessity a primary one to a very considerable extent, scarcely any pupils being sufficiently advanced to enter on the study of the higher branches. But as time wore on, Mr. Livingston, who was an accomplished classical and mathematical scholar, and a most assiduous teacher, succeeded in imparting instruction in some of the more advanced subjects to several of his pupils who had attained the requisite proficiency. Some of his ex-pupils now occupy influential and responsible positions in the Colony, and they speak in terms of admiration of their old schoolmaster's character, and of gratitude for the benefits derived from his instructions.
As years passed on the opinion gained ground that in justice to Mr. Livingston, he should be placed in his right position as head of a High School proper, and that provision should be made for the establishment of one or more elementary schools in Dunedin. In the ninth session of the Provincial Council (1860), Mr Macandrew, who had been elected Superintendent on the decease of Captain Cargill, strongly urged the consideration of this question, and transmitted to the Council a copy of a resolution adopted by the Education Board largely through his own instrumentality. The resolution was to the effect that the time had now come for organising a High School in Dunedin for the benefit of the entire Province: that it should be under the direct management of the Board: that there should be boarding-houses
