GEORGE PHILIP AND SON, 32 FLEET STREET; LIVERPOOL CAXTON BUILDINGS, SOUTH JOHN STREET. AND SOLD BY ALL BOOKSELLERS THROUGHOUT NEW ZEALAND PREFACE. As this is a School History, and will be used chiefly by those who approach the subject for the first time, and with little or no knowledge of the facts related or their relative importance, the Author, while giving a general survey of the field of study, has adopted various expedients for pressing the leading events upon the attention of the reader. An attempt has been made to furnish a historical picture with a foreground, middle distance, and background, and to dispose the light so as to throw out distinctly the more prominent figures and features. There will, doubtless, be different views as to the merits of the arrangement of light and shade, and the grouping adopted; nevertheless, the Author hopes that the mere drawing will be found correct, and that the narrative will not be considered as giving or suggesting unjust or distorted images of the separate personages and events so arranged. The Author's plan is intended to meet the views which prevail among those competent to decide as to what a school history, such as this, should be, and his own long experience as a teacher has taught him what amount of |