The Press. THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 1879.

Press, Volume XXXI, Issue 4176, 16 January 1879, Page 2

The Press. THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 1879.

Undouß- em/, the first thins necessary in setting the future system of the University of New Zealand on a proper basis is the fixing of a proper standard. And it must be carefully provided that when this standard has been arrived at it most be so guarded and so fenced round that it cannot feo tampered with. It is to the want of this precaution that the present difficulties of the University iggyf he traced. We observed in our last article that there were three points for future consideration: the fixing of the standard, the i-SMation of the Colleges, and the .onstitution of the University authorities. In reajity the three fty hang j tha fejing oi the 'standard depends greatly npon tha. ponetitntion .oi] the Senate, its maintenance depends grpatiy npon the character of tho educational institutions of 'which the University, tfs. whole, is composed. We have already several times expressed our approval of tye views of those who advocate the raising of jtjis University- standard and maintaining'it at a.highJeyeL Art the. same time, we believe that even if tile Senate had been constant throughout to one ideal, whether that was low or high, it would have saved itself and the; Unirarsity from a great part of the o£po-i----tion which has heen excited. There is always somet_ing respectable in earnest persistence of purpose, even though H should take wrong directions. Tacillaiaon is neyer respectable. D -fortunately, th-i-itory df tii- of: New ZeaJajud appear.to o^islrotiittie fiaji a constant succession of changes of system, jjntij. ppobably few oi the inemfcere of Bwejto'lfama&fM _?<? aware exactly how their statstes st*mi It is probable that a good deal of this is referable partly to the mode ia which the senatorial appointments have; heen 9-_de, to the fa et that the attendance of _i«jihags fee-? been so fitful a_d jrregnlar. We remarked a little ; while the original appointment- _o- the .§<__& w4a ©ore for .or official purposes thaa anything else. {jTftdees we greatly err, tiese appoj-Jtmente were made dosing & session of the Assembly, or at all events ynftsi tjoisswit_ the representatives mWe__iig_on. A A gkn-eat* "&e :^_»g___l list will show how thia worked. Out of twenty names eleven are members of Ass-rahly. 4ZA i___»,t3_h_ee hatred ire -.believe,; peyei. atiended a meeting of the Senate since JS7I; these a_# Mr. SGllej-. Mr- ac - andrew, and Captain Fraser. Others

snch as Mr. Curtis, Sir W. Mr. Stafford, seem to have attended when the Senate met in their own towns, but not otherwise. Then there were four clerical members, two Bishops, and two gentlemen high in authority in their respective denominations. Also two Judges, neither of whom, as far as we can find out, has attended for years. Of the remaining senators, excluding the Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor, some came in one year, others in another, according as chance brought the meetings their -. reach...... Again, when, ia.couxse, of time vacancies occurred, they have been -filled in ■ precisely the same way. Messrs. Macandrew, Miller, and Fraser, who never troubled themselves to attend, were constantly replaced on the Senate : so were Dr. Stuart and others. The place of Dr. Croke, the Catholic Bishop, was filled by Dr. Redwood, another Catholic Bishop. Judge Chap- j man was succeeded by Judge Bichmond; Chief Justice Axney by Chief Justice Prendergast. The only question which seems to have been asked by the Government was whether any named gentleman occupied any parliamentary or official position. Other qualifications for conducting an institution like a University were quietly ignored. The result which actually followed was the only one which could have been expected. There was no j sequence, no intelligent appreciation in ' the work of the Senate. Members who came one year undid everything that other members had done in the previous year. Members who attended pretty regularly had not sufficiently thorough knowledge of their work to stick persistently to any one course, and members who never attended at all, and knew nothing about it, started violent opposition outside to everything that had been done by their colleagues. It became quite clear that this state of things must lead 7 to most unfortunate consequences. We need not now discuss the question whether or no particular senators lent themselves to the views of particular educational institutions. But the fact remained that, whilst, in pursuance of the agreement and of the Act of 1874, urgent endeavours were made on the one part to keep the University standard at a properly high level there were always some who used to be perpetually tampering with. it. These were sometimes from one part of the colony, sometimes from another, but their actions were always similar. It would be easy to multiply instances of what we refer to: but our limited space prevents us. However, it was with great satisfaction that we received the announcement a few months ago that amongst the newly appointed senators were three Professors of the University, It may be hoped that for the future there will he at least a strong likelihood of practical and consistent action, Nearly connected with the constitution of the Senate itself is the question of the affiliation ,of colleges. We have already said that many of the senators held their seats mora from their official Btatus than for their educational acquirements or practical knowledge.. Now qne consequence of this was that, if they were members of Parliament it naturally occurred to them to push the claims of institutions within their own.districts;; if they were denominational Authorities they naturally pushed forward the institutions congenial to their opinions; if they wer,e, merely ordinary members of high social standing jthey naturally favored those institutions which they personally were acquainted with- It is to some such influences.as these.tliat the University is indebted for the affiliation of sijch " cot"leges" as "Wellington College, or the Auckland (jframmar School; or B£ch"' educational abortions as St. John's', College, or the Theological College,! Nelson, or . the Wesleyan Training Institution at the Three Kings. * And when these schools had once obtained admission as part of the University, it ? naturally became their interest to.establish Such a' standard as was suited to -their own teaching power. But they were piot allowed to do this without a conflict. The Southern Colleges, being mainly jinteresfod in maintaining the standard, continually opposed all attempts to loWor it, and the consequence was that, accord-. ,ing to the actual strength of either party in the Senate in any session, the standard fluctuated up or down. Now* it is quit© clear that it would be most unfair; and, indeed, it would be ; absolutely unwisej in the interests of colonial education,- to' <#niino all participation, in the University work to colleges only in,the, Southern and richep portions of tlie powatTy. Something tavdt be dqne whereby jthe dwellers in the North may have -the fullest possible facilities given them for sharing in the benefits of . j the: University. At the same time; it is absolutely necessary to make sure that in future the interests. of j all shall be so perfectly identical that there 6hall be no danger of tha|; oscillation and of that' tampering With' the proper standard of higher education which has been the characteristics hitherta; of the University of New Zealand. There seems to us to be only one way to with justice to aIL It js to raise the educational institutions "of the north to the level of those of the, south. 'As the Canterbury College and the University of Otago are so should be the Colleges, whatever their names, in the. rest of the colony. Two would be puffi--cient, for Nelson and Napier could He taken as part of Wellington, and Taranaki as part of Auckland. There are University endowmontiin Juland sufficient to start - both- Let them be properly utilised and, If necessary, Bupple. mented till full justice is done. We need not now enlarge upon this point, as we have, in former articles, urged it, in more detail. We need only rjene&t f bat one of the first things, to b? ddneis to wipe out? the present 'sjsteim of affiliation altogether; to throw hackj iiiito their proper position the crowd of little Schools and theological training places now tacked on. io. the «jd to erect instead a system of iouri&qroughrj' -organised University Colleges," propejiy endowed, properly supplied with teaching pdwer, t'wß (for the South |glau4 and, #o for. the Nprtb, ........ f _ ; ■'■ - iThui, for the future, w urgp that the Beaate, or whatever the IBg body may fte> called, should be : reconstitutedSA§.< 99 £lted up that there; mjiy T bo every chance of the requisite fixity, and, c«a__iiiity - jn. |fcsf wpr&i/secoWiy,; ihat the educational * institutions '• frppj which the University'would have to draw its be such, only as would keep tb« «_ndafd Always&fed at a' properly high loveL There is yet one point to be glanced at. It must not be forgotten that a very great deal depends on the examiners appointed. An examiner may be* so lax that a high would be useless/or so rigid that a low standard would be unworkable. It would be, $or instance, of no avail for the to

demand from its undergraduates the study of the higher branches of mathematics if the examination questions were too simple or too loosely valued by the examiner. Now in this point also reform is necessary. In the early day of the University the questions were, we fancy, only set for young boyß, and were therefore not necessarily severe. But now, when there are numbers of candidates for degrees it is necessary that the examination should be searching, and it is necessary also that it should be consistent; - that -is,-that its. level ,§hQnl.&_J. ok, vary from year to year. For tins, the examiners areb rfisponsibleC; apd for thi? tho examinera have, every;, inducement to roaintain the pitc_. of* their' questions. "We fear that in the past there has not been this care. , We aro inclined to believe that iio two years eoußl lie'-dund in which the examinations of the University of New Zealand have been of the same character. Yet, unless this be always attended., to. unless a student by searching the records of past years can form a clear notion of., the. probable character of future examinations, .here can be little use in laying down a general standard of study, and certainly there can bo little satisfaction either for the candidates or for the University. ! Supposing, thoh, that the "points which we have alluded to are attended to, we incline to tha belief thpt enough will have been done for the present. Giveii a sufficient .standard so fenced and guarded as to be permanently maintained; given a governing body so constituted that its action will be continuous, consistent, and free from political influences; given four properly endowed colleges in the two islands, naturally bent towards the maintenance of the standard; given examiners disposed to preserve consistency and suffU' ciency in the examinations; and there will be nothing more required. Practically these questions narrow themselves down to one, the providing of the necessary funds for establishing the colleges, in the north. But, as...we have shown in earlier articles, there are already large endowments and there may easily be found more for this purpose. And if the Commission now sitting turns its attention carefully to this point we believe that it will evolve a system which may be satisfactory to all parts of tho colony. * -"'