" STARVED."

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 207, 2 September 1936, Page 8

" STARVED."

THE UNIVERSITY. AUCKLAND PEOPLE BLAMED. PROFESSOR SEWELL'S VIEW. A striking address 011 "The Place of tho University in tlie Community" was delivered 'by Professor W. A. Sewell. chairman of the Professorial Board of the Auckland University College, at the luncheon of the Auckland Creditmen s Club to-day.

I "The normal development of a university college is its growth into a university, and I suppose that in a vague way citizens of Auckland who think about the question at all hazily expect that one day—fifty years hence, perhaps, or more —there will be a university here instead of a university college," said the professor. "For my own part, I would like to think that the university will come sooner, because I can't see how the college or the town can be what they should be until we have true university status. And I think we should not be discouraged from that idea by a consideration of the college we have to-day.

"I will go further. Notwithstanding much that many of us, including have said about standards here, there is in the college the human equipment both in teachers and students of an autonomous university—l am going to say a good deal in criticism both of the college and the community, but I would not have you think that that is all there is to say. It is not all, by any means: there is much to be said in praise of the college and before you dismiss the place as a 'night school' you should find out more about it." Library a Disgrace. But tlio college was not what it should be, continued the professor. There was some colour to the charge of being a "night school." It lacked many things, jit had no halls of residence and out- | student life suffered accordingly. The college was poverty-stricken and understaffed and that prevented the teachers from doing that research which would chiefly entitle it to the name and status of university. The college had no pride of endowments and no record of the munificence of men of business. The library was a disgrace. There were no playing fields. The college only struggled to exist as a community and it did not do it very well. There was not even room for a staff common room. "Much of this may be our fault, but it isn't my business to-day to blame ourselves," remarked the professor. "I think the blame chiefly lies elsewhere. We simply do not receive that support we have a right to expect from the three chief potential sources of support —the Government, the municipality and' individual members of the community. "You test a man's beliefs by his beand we test this country's evaluation of its universities by the amount of money it is prepared to invest in them. In 1931, according to the very . valuable analysis made by Mr. O'Shea, the registrar of Auckland University College, this country held the opinion that university education— •everything the colleges do, whether in teaching, research or the building up of libaries—was a fraction more than the conveyance of children' to school and the allowances made to school children. That is to say, the whole of the university education in this country , was thought to be worth as much as a necessary but small supplementary service to school children. University Revenue. "As Mr. O'Shea points out in a further analysis made this year, the University share of national expenditure of 'education has grown smaller and smaller since 1931, so that to-day out of every £100 spent on education, the University receives about £3 4/. In 1934, as the registrar points out, the amount spent on University education in this country was £20,000 less than the amount spent on primary school committees' allowances for " cleanin" 1 , heating and repairing the primary schools."

The Auckland City Council, said Proles,sor Sewell, contributed nothing to the college, not even a nominal sum in recognition of the presence of the college in and its importance to the municipality. Much was heard of the coining "centennial," but he had not heard that the college was to play a part in it. That might be the fault of the college, but it was symptomatic of the prestige of the college in the municipality.

New Zealand could not expect the great gifts from individuals that had made other universities possible. The Dominion had no men with the fortunes of Wills and Boot. There is no Rhodes in our history, no Wernher and no Beit. But there were men in Auckland who could lielpi substantially—and, what was more important, there were numbers of poorer men who could give a pound or two. The University of Wales was made possible by copper collections.

"We may not get the money and we may have to wait 50 or more years for a university of Auckland," concluded Professor Sewell. "If this is so, it will simply mean that the people of Auckland are not really interested in ideals, and that they don't believe in the value of a university. But they have no business to starve their university college of the bare necessities of life and then despise its poverty. It is an impudence on their part to depreciate the value of their university and not lift a finger to pay the price of a better."