AUCKLAND'S NEW COLLEGE.

Auckland Star, Volume XL, Issue 271, 13 November 1909, Page 8

AUCKLAND'S NEW COLLEGE.

SOME INTERESTING PROPOSALS. GOVERNMENT HOUSE NOT TO BE REPLACED. (By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. Auckland has long pleaded for the establishment of a new University College building in the Northern City, and one of the interesting statements contained in the Budget speech was the promise that the present Government House grounds at Auckland will be utilised as a site for a new University building. Sir Joseph Ward has stated his intention of bringing the matter before the House at an early date, with a view to having the work actually put in hand next year. Further particulars gleaned from a reliable source this evening indicate that the Government fully intends to have the work in progress within the next twelve months. The whole of the present Government House grounds at Auckland will be handed over to the University College Council, and a sum will be set apart for the erection of a new University worthy of the Auckland province. As stated in the Budget, one-fifth of the revenue derived from the nine million acres of endowment lands will be set aside for higher education purposes in connection with the Universities at Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. The two latter colleges are already well provided for in the matter of endowments, while Auckland and Wellington have been miserably hampered in this respect. There are very strong reasons for stating, therefore, that the money derived from the national endowments referred to will be devoted mainly to the equipment of the colleges in the two North Island cities, and as Auckland is first to be provided with a new college the principal expenditure of endowment moneys will be directed towards this end Mr. G. W. Russell, M.P.. who is chairman of the Canterbury College Board of Governors, referred, during his speech on the Address-in-Reply debate, to the need for assisting the two Island Universities, and there is no doubt that Auckland and Wellington will gain the chief benefit of the endowment scheme. It is felt that the present Government House at Auckland has served ite purpose. Large sums have been spent annually in recent years for renovations and improvements, and it is considered that it will be more satisfactory and more economical to make other arrangements for the housing of New Zealand's Governor whenever he visits Auckland. It is not intended to at present build a new Government House in the Northern city, but henceforth provision will be annually made on the estimates for the payment of a grant sufficient to ensure the renting of a desirable residence for his Excellency whenever he visits Auckland The splendid grounds placed at the disposal of the University College Council enable the erection of the new college on the most modern and up-to-date lines. It -will not be built in one solid block, but will be constructed on the most approved lines in separate or isolated groups.