DENTAL BURSARIES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17596, 8 October 1920, Page 6

DENTAL BURSARIES.

DEPARTMENTS SCHEME. W A £ % ' ,-v >:• '• • TWENTY ALREADY GRANTED. t. . ; . r v'- -' ■ ' ■• *r •• ; s, I % • — 1: LITTLE KNOWN CONCESSIONS. [fit tELEGSAPH.—SPECIAI BEPOBTEB.J WELLINGTON. Thursday. - Replying to regarding bursaries to dental students ,at the Otago University, put by Mr. Reed (Bay of Islands) to-day, the Minister for Public Health said ; that 20 bursaries had been awarded under a system started by his department. The bursaries were of the value of £50 each, and the period of training was. four years.. Twelve of these bursaries had - been allotted to' persons in the South Island, and eight in the North Island. There were 17 current now, three having been 'withdrawn because the candidates •were unsuitable. . There was ■no examination. Indeed, it, was difficult to gee wha& set examination there could be. The* candidates must have .reasonable scholastic attainments. The matriculation examination was the standard, and preference wag given -to students with a year's additional study. He thought the bursaries should be more fully advertised. He Was quite sure the public, outside of Dumedin did not know enough about them. There was only one bursar from Wellington, and none from Auckland, He had no objection whatever to the university making recommendations', but he thought the final selection should be in the hands of the department that was granting the bursaries. He was also inclined to think that .the distribution should be on territorial linds. The scheme was important, because there was a shortage of dentists. One dentist was supposed to cater for 2000 people, but. we had only one to 2500 people.