The Acukland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Earning Rems,Morning Rems,and The Echo. SATURDAY, MAY. 30, 1908. THE CHANCELLOR'S ADDRESS

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 129, 30 May 1908, Page 4

The Acukland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Earning Rems,Morning Rems,and The Echo.

SATURDAY, MAY. 30, 1908. THE CHANCELLOR'S ADDRESS

for. the cciue that , UeU muUU»ae t , for the wrong that need* retittanc*. For. the future in the distance. \ j.nd the go-1 that we con do.

The address delivered by Sir Robert Stout at the Capping ceremonial yesterday contained so much material for com. ment and discussion that we must be content to deal with only a few. of its salient points. Naturally, as Chancellor of the New Zealand University, Sir Robert, on educational questions, may be regarded as a not altogether unprejudiced witness. But even if he may seem to some of our readers inclined to overestimate the value of purely academical training as a preparation for the work of practical life, there can be no doubt that he has put hia case forcibly , an 4 clearly. The example of America and of Germany may help us to understand the extent to which among the most progressive commercial and industrial nations of the age the necessity for wide culture as a basis for practical success, has now become generally recognised; and though we neither suspect nor hope to see every inhabitant of this colony enjoying the benefits of a university education,, we think that Sir Robert Stout and those who share his views are promoting the best interests of the country and its people by emphasizing the value of academic training even for many of those "who work with their hands and deal chiefly with the practical rather than the theoretical aspect of things.

One section of Sir Itobert Stout's address concerned itself with the claims of Sociology as a subject for academic study. We venture to wish that' the Chancellor had employed a more satisfactory term to indicate the meaning that he obviously intended to convey., „ ForSociology, which has been, described, by one eminent thinker-as a heup of unverified guesses and inadequate ; generalisations, can hardly yet be said to have passed, the purely empirical' etage of its existence as a science. What Sir Robert Stout evidently, desires is that in our University colleges attention should be paid .to. the vast variety of subjects based on those economic, financial, political, and social principles in which the progressive development of our young nation is involved. Sociology, as one comprehdlsive subject, is still, we believe, at too rudimentary a stage of its growth to be capable of treatment academically. But the need- for investigation -and research, along the lines that'the'Chancellor suggests is indeed urgent, and the peculiar and special conditions under which' our political, industrial, and social systems are developing afford unlimited scope for work in these directions that cannot fail to prove of inestimable value.

But even those of our readers who proudly describe themselves as "practical" men, as distinct from theorists and academic students, can find no fault with the Chancellor's appeal to the University to devote some share of its attention to the scientific' basis of our great staple industries. Happily, here, the State has already joined hands with the University, and the establishment of the research scholarship which the country owes to the resourcefulness of Mr. Fowlds, is the first «tcp towards the successful . exploitation of our vast natural resources on approved scientific lines. Sir Itbbert Stout's estimate of millions lost to the country through the employment of bad and unscientific methods of production in the agricultural, pastoral and. mineral industries, is in no way an exaggerated one, and it is to be hoped that the establishment of an

academic degree in agriculture will be promptly recognised by those who are chiefly 'concerned in promoting the hnthense interests founded on inalienable and inexhaustible. powers .of the soil."

Not the least important of the results secured by the institution of degrees and diplomas*in sucli '"'practical' , subjects will be the closer union Of our University with the public life which form's the necessary corblliry and completion to an academic career. On a University course as a preparation for the subsequent struggle" of life. Sir Robert Stout had much to say; and if only the graduates who pass out from our University colleges year by year give heed to his admonitions'and accept seriously the heavy burden of responsibility that their manifold advantages confer upon them, we need have no fear for the permanence and fruitfulness of onr University system, or its influence upon the growth of our nationaL character. We cannot close.these brief, comments upon an address of unusual interest and value without recognising the tribute which the 'Chancellor incTdeatally paid to journalism as a factor in social and national progress. The' lues's is certainly a great power m every civilised land, for either good or evil; but we believe that Xew Zealand has

good reason to congratulate Jtaelf. on the fact that its leading organs of- r public opinion,, irrespective of political views, are uniformly, on the side of intellectual progress, and as steadfast in their support of the..liberal systemooff f education which finds its due culmination in our University. -.■.'.- . ■ '-.. . • . ;