The Contribution of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand to Education

Abstract

The intention of this thesis is to show that the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand has made a considerable contribution to education and has thereby loyally followed the lead given by the Presbyterian Reformers in the sixteenth century. "Fifty Years Syne," by the Rev. J. Chisholm, and "History of the New Zealand Presbyterian Church," by the Rev. John Dickson, M.A., giving the history of the two branches of the Presbyterian Church up to about 1900, touch only incidentally on her educational work. Since 1900, to the best of the present writer's knowledge, there has been no publication dealing fully with this activity, the importance of which warrants separate treatment. The writer of this thesis, therefore, has endeavoured to present a brief, up-to-date account thereof. This thesis is concerned solely with the work of the Presbyterian Church and the writer disclaims any wish to disparage in any way that of other denominations. He wishes to point out here that Anglicans, Roman Catholics and Methodists were making an appreciable contribution to education in New Zealand before the Presbyterians entered this field; and, further, that the Roman Catholic Church has ever since maintained a complete system of Primary and Secondary Schools for her children.