The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. SATURDAY. APRIL 27, 1912. A VALUABLE PRODUCT.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 101, 27 April 1912, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

SATURDAY. APRIL 27, 1912. A VALUABLE PRODUCT.

For the cause thai ZUcfas assistance, For the wrong that needs rtxtieta<ti>3, For the future in. tie distance, And tins good that too oett do.

Occasionally one comes across people •who appear to doabt -whether University training is of very grext importance to the whole community and t bo ask wi'.h an air of expectant triumph. "What has the University of New Zealand done for this country?" It may be admitted tia.t the question is not very easy to answer in categorical farm, because top benetiU

of education are so widely diffused toat they can hardly hp definitely localized, and they largely consist of influences and tendencies whrch. though of JinmfCoe power and inestimable vaiue. cannot tcell be subjected to quantitative analysis. But now and then one comes across a specific instance of the benefits of our university training, incarnated in personal form, which appears to represent its menus adequately; and an illustration of this fort has just been suggested to us by a reference in an American newspaper to the Massachusetts Insti- ! tute of Technology and the New Zealand graduate who is now its president and administrative head. It is a little over twenty years since R. C. Maclanrin, after being trained in our schools, graduated from Auckland University College. In 1900 h-i* extraordinary ability and his remarkable aptitude for teaching and directing- the work Of students was recognized by his appointment to the Chair of Mathematics at Victoria College, Wellington. He held this position for seven years and then received a chair at one of the chief seals of American academic education, Columbia University. In )rKW he was chosen to take control of the great Institute of Technology at Boston. The status and prestige of this great educational institution may he. estimated from this one i fact —that an American who prefers to remain anonymous hn-s just donated two and a-half million dollars to the Insti--1 tute Board 'o endow an extension, a.nd he ha* given a& his principal reason for offering this magnificent gift. "th« great . vrxrk. that the Institute, ha? already done and the fact that prominent men in Engkind and Germany had assured him tha; rthe Institute was one of the great educational forces of the world-" Surely it -reflects a great deal of credit upon this little country and its University tha: one of oar graduates should have been choeen to fill so eminent and influentiaul

a position as this. Those who know Professor !Maclaurin will not need to be assured that be is making the most, and the best of Lu.-> tmicrne opportunities. But an irrtprestHb,' piece of evidence on this point has lately ■been provided 'by the students of the j 2nsiitu±p in the college newspaper whi.-ii I ?6sey issue daily throughout the session. "Referring to the influence exercised by the president upon the work of the In- ; •statute the students' organ observes; ""When we takr into account the. fart ,■ -tial. our president is a. >Tevf Zealandcr ■working in a strange country and. to a] -certain extent, under adverse conditions, i oar admiration must arise for his power j , jo: handling men arid accommodating him- I , self to circumstances which cannot fall far short of worship.' , University rtu '. dents do not talk in this strain without ! meaning what they say, and they have I . unparalleled opportunities for gauging j ' the character and the educational ability | of tiftir teaiihers. The many irieads and ' : of the president in New ZeaI land may accept this as uaiarpeachabie testimony to his rare worth: and v.hen . they are asked what is tbe value of our j University training, they may well reply j with another question—how ran you I overestimate tie value nf thf work done by a system which -can produce a man ' like >'.. C. Maclauxin, a We not only to hold bis-own in comparison with the b"-J j produfVof other ruiiversirip* in h'>--ho-"P r i i •■ *phnTc of work, but nblr> a!-n fi . .-, m . ! inand the a tt eats on and s°cn:i' irr sul-i fragpf.-of educational authorities at till great eeais of learning id other lands, | and tins, to exercise a commanding in--llutd2C& on* - xi©"'prcgTess of science And in- ' t

A good deal of the prejudice -which has prevented the Auckland University College from obtaining adequate buildings on a central cite has arisen from the failure of .the democracy to recognise the value of this institution to the masses of the people. If there existed a desire on the part of the governing body to make the College a class institution, they would yield readily enough to pressure which is being exercised to force the College a way from the city, to a site that will be inaccessible to students who are maintaining themselves while pursuing their College course. At present more than three-fourths of the -undergraduates are young men and women who have to make their own -way in the world. The system of scholarships which has furnished an easy way -from the primary and secondary echoole to the University, has placed within reach of the gifted son of any working man the attainment of such distinction as tha/t -which has crowned the career of Mr Maclaurin. It ie the desire of the best friends of the College to liberalise our University still more, and th« &ime will probably come when its doors will bo open as freely to the student, as the elementary schools are today. Wo cannot, therefore, too .-trongly warn men and .women who desire that there shall be equality of opportunity for all our boys and girls against being misled by the cry which is insidiously raised under the specious pretext of protecting popular rights with respect to the Metropolitan site for our College. They may rely upon this, that those who are fighting for a central position are solely animated by the. desire to make the College accessible to the -workers ot our city, and that the removal of the College to any site that i s inconvenient

for students who have to earn their living, and -who can only attend lectures at, night, is a. retrogressive step, which will seriously handicap the clever fons and daughters of Auckland working men in comparison with those of Wellington, ChristchuTch. and Dunedin, v-'nere the University College buildings arc in the centre of the city population.