FOR THE PROFESSIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 154, 1 July 1924, Page 7

FOR THE PROFESSIONS.

STUDENTS AT AUCKLAND.

UNIVERSITY ACTIVITIES. SCHEME FOR EXPANSION. There are complaints from time to time that we are giving too much inducement in our schools for tho acquirement of education that would not be of much use unless the boy afterwards takes up a precession, and there seems to be some support for these complaints in the recent proposal of' the Minister of Education to combine the secondary and technical schools. "It is one of the best ideas I have seen for a long time," said Mr. M. Rockc O'Shea, registrar of the Auckland University College this morning. "Lots of youngsters on the seconilary side have a natural bent for engineering or seme other mechanical line, and if the two

schools were combined they could then follow that bent with ease." At present the separation of the two systems handicaps such scholars, and possibly directs their energies in the wrong direction." As far as the Auckland University College is concerned the professions do not seem to be overstocked. It is surprising, however, how the number of law students keeps up—loo out cf 1000—

and the Arts course is also well patronised, but taking the University College as a whole there is no evidence that too many young Aueklanders are studying professional subjects when they should be thinking more about a good honest trade. A tremendous lot of good work is being done at the College, and the Council is fully seized of the importance of widening its activities and keeping pace with Auckland's marvellous expansion. The Engineers. In spite of the unreasonable attitude of the Government towards the School of Engineering of the Auckland College, that institution is progressing at a remarkable rate owing to the impetus of I sheer necessity. Whether the Govern - I ment grants Auckland recognition, or i supports the Canterbury College in its I attempt to effect a monopoly, will not ! matter much in the long run—the Auckland School must win out. Out of a total of approximately 1000 students on j the books of the Auckland College, 102 I are taking engineering, which must be considered remarkably good for a city of the size of Auckland. Twenty-nine stu lenta are going for the college associateship, eighteen taking the civil, two the electrical, and two the mechanical side. Mr. O'Shea emphasised the fact that a number of the students at the school were taking civil engineering. Some of our politicians had been saying - that Auckland 6hould specialise in the I electrical side, because electricity was the coming thing, but, as Mr. S. E. Lamb, the head of the engineering school, had j pointed out, a very large proportion of the work at the plants that supplied electric energy was that of the civil engineer. Many people thought that the electrical engineer was the one and only person on those plants, but that was a mistake, and it would be a mistake for Auckland to devote all its energies to electricity. Mr. O'Shea explained that the balance of the 102 students were going in for English and New Zealand examinations, such as the ■ City and I Guilds Electrical, the Surveyors' Licence, ; the A.M.LC.E., and others. ! Then the Auckland College has seventeen students in architecture, and at present there is a proposal on the cards to hand over to the College the control of the architects' examinations, on the same plan as the Accountants' Society handed j over the control of its examinations to ; the University. The Auckland College has decided upon the appointment of a professor of architecture. Forestry A department of the Auckland University College from which much is expected is that of Forestry. Every now and again we have proof that the end !of our natural timber resources is in : sight, but until the end actually arrives people will probably not realise what it | means to be short of timber. We will I then realise how shockingly we have wasted our forests in the past—and are still wasting them. If all goes well, and Auckland gets the support it deserves, we ] will, before many years, have raised up a body of forestry experts that will he ' able to help us out of our difficulties. The Auckland College Council has taken the matter up with enthusiasm. Mr. O'Shea pointed out that no Government could go back on the forestry policy that has been laid down and is being carried out by the present Forestry Department. "What I hope to see," he said, "is something similar to what was the case with the.Otago School of Mines. The New Zealanders trained there used to be

placed before they graduated. They were in demand all over the world, and there was no reason why such a-satis-factory state of things should not be repeated at the Auckland School of Forestry."

! Another department in which the College Council is doing all it can to make up for the past neglect of Auckland by the Government is that of agriculture. In the meantime the Council has to wait for the result of _ the deliberations of the special committee Mr. Massey has promised to set up to consider tlie best means of establishing the proposed Auckland school. It will be remembered that the handsome legacy of £40.000 with which the late Sir John Logan Campbell endowed the proposed school is now available, so that the school will start out most auspiciously. Incomprehensible. In the matter of dentistry the position is quite incomprehensible to an impartial outsider. After a long delay, the Government has just lately made known its intention concerning the matter of a school. It will be remembered that last year a committee was set up, and that its report wa-i not only in favour of establishing a school in Auckland, but of transferring the school from Dunedih to Auckland. In any case either of these two alternalives woul 1 have meant less expenditure than the new school at Dunedin, said Mr. O'Shea. In the face of this report, however, the Government Tefused to establish a school in Auckland. The Auckland Hospital Board was very wisely extending its dental department to meet the needs of the community, and as part of its very i progressive general policy was desirous 1 of working in with the Auckland College ; for the establishment of a Dental School in Auckland, the annual cost of which • would be very largely borne by the , Hospital Board. In spite of all this the , Government steadily refi'sed to estab- • lish a school here. The difference ! between the financial support accorded , the Otago School by the 0ta?o Hospital : Board and the very full and generous support offered by the Auckland Board ! to the University College in Auckland 1 was very marked indeed, and it was difficult to understand the Gov- '. erament's attitude.