as well. It was my great ambition that a cadet company
should be formed at King's College as the first company of a
Lagos Cadet Battalion School were circularised by the
Education Department, but the scheme fell through.
"It is a great joy though it is not a matter of surprise to
know that King's College has prospered during the last 13
years with the development of the House System and
inter-house sports.
"When I arrived in Lagos I had the firm intention of making
no changes whatever in the curriculum for at least 12
months. However some changes seemed to make themselves,
chief among which was the dropping of French from the
curriculum except for the Matriculation class. In 1911 the
juniors were studying from a text book entitled "French
without Tears".
"Unfortunately the author's pious hopes were not in our case
justified, and so many tears were shed in trying to master
the unaccustomed pronunciation of this language that in view
of the urgent need of passing the Preliminary Local
Examination we concentrated on the other subjects and
dropped French, much to the consternation of Mr. de Gaye;
while we continued the study of Latin which seemed to
present no difficulties whatever.
"It gives me great pleasure to note the successes of 4 of my
old pupils, Oluwole, Vaughan, Holm and Williams. I am very
sorry that I did not see them whilst they were studying in
England. Had they visited my little home just outside London
they might have noticed a West African Flavour in the name
of the house, "Kekere", short for "ile Kekere na", and had I
continued to reside in Lagos I would have en- deavoured to
write this article in as good Yoruba as Ikoli has written
his in English if only to show that the average Briton is
not such a bad linguist as he is generally considered.
"Do any of the boys collect postage stamps? My wife and I
have indulged in that pastime from our earliest youth, and
endeavour to help any of the boys in the Schools I inspect
in the same hobby. I shall be very glad to receive any used
West African stamps, and also to send out those of other
countries to budding philatelists at King's College.
"Reading the December number of 'The Mermaid' has given me
so much pleasure that I should like, if I may, to become a
member of the Old Boys Club and to subscribe to the
Magazine.
"One more question Ikoli in his Glimpses of the Past" makes
no mention of the old school's messenger Baba George. I
trust he is still hale and hearty, but should he have gone
the way of all flesh, I feel that he deserves a memorial in
the College of which he was such a trusty and devoted
servant. "In conclusion, though the College has jointly
increased in numbers and prospered, I can safely say that no
one had a more loyal and devoted staff or a cheerier band of
pupils than those with whom it was my happy lotto work in
the all too brief latter half of 1911."
Twenty five students from King's College were presented at
the Cambridge University Local Examination (Preliminary
Junior and Senior) held in December, 1912 out of whom 15
suceeded in satisfying the examiners. Of those who obtained
a Senior Certific
