Donald McLean, met Wiremu Kingi to discuss the settlement of the Waiwakaiho and other blocks of land. It was the failure ofthese negotiations which led to the second outbreak of fighting in Taranaki in 1863. Central Girls was opened in 1881, to become three years later, Central Infants. Much discussion arose over the site of the Central Boys' School. Ultimately St Michael's Square, or 'Poverty Flat', bounded by Lemon, Gover, Liardet and Pendarves Streets, which now includes the educa- tion board's offices, was chosen. Before the school was built in 1884--and for many years afterwards-Poverty Flat was a military, sporting and social arena for the town. It was a parade ground for the troops stationed at Fort Niger and Marsland Hill; indeed, John Ellis, chairman of the town school committee and a captain in the Taranaki Rifle Volunteers, was one who objected to a school being built on it because it would interfere with his parades. It was the venue for many important cricket and rugby fixtures; travelling circuses used it; in 1891 it was the scene of the Grand Jubilee Exhibition to celebrate 50 years of settlement; and in 1901 the venue for a much larger New Plymouth Exhibition with the whole area being occupied by various stands and courts, including a large model Maori pa. Although planned as a boys' school, Central opened on May 26 as a mixed school, and all other primary schools except Central Infants, Fitzroy and Frankley were closed. Central was enlarged and developed over the years (the original picturesque tower was destroyed by fire in 1930) and in the 1920s it was the largest school in the town with a roll of more than 900. With new schools being built to meet the needs of the growing suburbs, numbers decreased, and in 1979 the roll was 235. The infants' classes were transferred to Central in 1968 and this building was used as an education centre. Since the Taranaki Education Board was formally constituted in 1868 more than 30 primary schools have been opened in the town.P Many of these have been closed because of amalgamation or shifts in population. In addition to the two intermediate schools and other educational institutions run by religious groups, in 1980 the following schools were in operation: West End, Fitzroy, Frankley Road, Central, Vogeltown (opened in 1919), Moturoa (1923) Westown (1925), Welbourn (1932), Spotswood (1957), Woodleigh (1957), Merrilands (1960) and Marfell (1961).
The history of secondary education in New Plymouth is a long story of comparative stagnation followed by phenomenal nationwide advances during the past 60 years. In the early days of settlement many professional men found there was very little need for their vocations, and turned their talents to other avenues to supplement their income. Some women, like the wife of Dr Horn, opened 'small ladies' schools' where instruction was given in subjects such as French and music; while at least one lawyer, W. S. Morris, took in private pupils for book-keeping and hand-writing for the engrossing of wills and other legal documents. The first high school in New Plymouth was opened by Charles Alfred Copeland Beardsworth at the corner of Cameron and Lemon Streets. He had previously conducted two schools, the first in Vivian Street and then in 1856 in Robe Street on the site of the present Taranaki County Council headquarters. Three years later he advertised his new address in Cameron Street as 'High School for boys with evening classes as well. The school opened on January 7, 1860, and many of his former pupils from the Robe Street school were enrolled. The settlement was in a state of siege the school was outside the boundary lines of outer trenches- and occasionally his building had to be used by the soldiers as a block house. He conducted lessons during these periods in the Catholic Church on the corner of Cameron and Courtenay Streets near the present New Plymouth Bowling Club's green. In alistof54 pupils taught by Beardsworth there were seven future surveyors, five solicitors, eight successful business and professional men: S. Percy Smith, Thomas Humphries, the Hursthouse brothers, Oliver Samuel, the Standish brothers and the three Chilman brothers, were all among his students. At this time Beardsworth must have been living under great strain, devoting all his energies to his school while trying to cope with the disruption resulting from the aftermath of the fighting. It was too much: 'A very painful experience took place this morning when Mr C. A. C. Beardsworth, Master of the High School, shot himself. The verdict tells all the sad story. The deceased committed suicide during the temporary fit of insanity caused by intemperance. '24 In later years his former pupils spoke of Beardsworth as a gifted and dedicated teacher. His school closed, and for the next 14 years there is little record of efforts to establish secondary schooling in the settlement in spite of efforts of leaders of the community to promote it: 'It is important for the good of the Colony that the rising generation should been well and solidly educated, and yet there are so many ignorant parents who, tho' they could afford good pay, think one school as good as another, and so choose the cheapest, that we shall have always a number of wretched schools where the children learn nothing well, until Government establishes a good one, to be either free or for as low a payment as the poorest private school. Concern such as this had its effect. At a meeting of the Taranaki Education Board on April 5, 1876, the inspector, William Crompton, urged' higher education for promising pupils'. This was the trigger which
fired the shot that started a four-year struggle culminating in a grant of $3200 to build a high school for boys on the present Boys' High School site in Eliot Street. Established by the New Plymouth High School Act, 1878, the New Plymouth 'Boys" High School (girls were admitted some years later) officially opened on January 30, 1882. The cost was $3200 and 'a more handsome structure of its class, both in external and internal design could hardly be conceived'. The first principal was Ernest Pridham, appointed at a salary of $300 (plus $ I for each pupil). Thirty-five students presented themselves for the entrance examination and 30 passed. By April six more pupils had joined and R. N. Thoms was appointed as second master. A third teacher was employed in 1883 when the roll reached 60. In 1885 a move began to form a separate governing body and the education board set up a special committee for this purpose. In 1889 control passed to the New Plymouth High School Board of Governors. Growth was slow. By the turn of the century the roll had dropped to fewer than 50. This was attributed to the attraction of boarding schools in other centres. By 1905 the situation improved; the hundredth pupil was enrolled and new classrooms were built. During this period rugby and cricket, for which the Boys' High has always had a high reputation, became well-established. Pridham retired in 1911 after 30 years' sterling service and his place was taken by W. H. Moyes. During his 25 years as principal dramatic changes occurred: masters were requested to wear gowns and pupils a standard uniform. 'One noticeable feature about the uniform is the immunity from colds it gives. On one morning some of the fifth and sixth form boys formed a party to insist on some of the younger boys rolling up their sleeves and undoing the top button of their shirts. One of the delinquents became so excited that several of the junior boys carried him over to the ploughed ground, where he bit the dust. '28 The opening ofa preparatory school (1913-1954), the establishment of boarding facilities and a separate school for the girls were other features of the Moyes regime. During 1916 and again 10 years later, fires destroyed much of the school property and on both occasions the school was the 'guest' of the Taranaki Jockey Club, using the racecourse grandstands as temporary accommodation. During the two wars more than 250 former pupils lost their lives; their names are inscribed on the entrance gates (World War One) and in the school auditorium (World War Two). Moyes retired because of ill-health in 1941 (his memorial is the school's cricket pavilion) and was replaced by G. J. McNaught the following year. With the opening of secondary schools at Okato and Waitara, the role declined between 1945 and 1950, but when McNaught retired in 1957 the school had strengthened its already high reputation in all spheres of education. That year the roll stood at 987 with a third form intake of 257-a reflection of the post-war population growth. The opening of Spotswood College in 1959 had little effect on the roll; there were 1030 pupils and the following year this figure had increased to 1069, including 322 boarders, making the New Plymouth Boys' High School the largest State boarding school in the Dominion. J. S. Webster became principal on McNaught's retirement, a position he held until his death in acarcrash in 1968. W. E. ('Wit') Alexander was his successor-the first old boy to hold the position of principal-and another old boy, T. S. N. Watt, was appointed deputy principal. Alexander retired in 1971 after 53 years' association, as pupil and master, with the school. Taranaki girls received secondary education at the boys' high school, under a 'lady principal'* as long ago as 1885, when 20 girls were admitted. At the annual prize giving that year 'they had the satisfaction of being praised for running so closely upon the boys in the acquirement of knowledge' .29 But there was much agitation for' separatism.' In 1899 the principal (Pridham) reported at the prize giving that mixed classes had not worked well, as the boys needed different treatment. 'They want more punishing, which could not very well be effective when the classes were mixed.' In 1891 G. Habens, Inspector-General of Education, had said: 'I am inclined to think that a school in which the oldest pupils receive part of their education from a lady will never be popular with the boys. I am not sure that boys are satisfied with an arrangement which puts them in competition with the girls in respect to prizes.' Controversy continued, with girls being segregated, co-educated and segregated again, until in December, 1912, the board was authorised to lease a house in Devon Street from the estate of Miss Kapel, and the following year with Miss C. D. Grant as principals the New Plymouth Girls' High School moved into its own seat of learning. Soon the Kapel house proved too small and girls were educated variously in the racecourse building, the upper storey of the electric power sub-station in Liardet Street, and St Andrew's Hall. In 1915, when there were 93 girls on the roll, the principal, Miss F. W. G. Hodges, called upon the people of New Plymouth to 'shake off your apathy and do something for your girls. I like hard work and am prepared for it, but I strongly protest against wasting energies of brain and body in trying to bridge over deficiencies of equipment that have no right to exist, and the spending on unnecessary difficulties, force that should be used in fruitful work.