UNIVERSITY RESERVES

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 12013, 14 October 1904, Page 4

UNIVERSITY RESERVES

It has been suspected for some time that the present Government have had an itching desire to nationalise all our educational endowments in land, and a statement made by Mr Seddon yesterday will go very, far to strengthen this impression. Being asked what the Government intended to do in respect to the Otago University reserves and a grant for the Otago Medical School, the Prime Minister replied that the-Go-vernment had been asked to take over the reserves and give an assured income to tho University College, equal to the revenue that was obtained from the reserves some years ago. He added that he thought a general Bill should bo brought in so that all the reserves should be vested in the Crown and managed by the Land Department, the Universities getting an awnired income. The Government do not intend apparently to bring in such a Bill this session, but their further action in this matter should be very closely watched. Mr Seddon states that in some respects the management of the reserves has not been satisfactory. In such a case it is quite easy to imagine that the University authorities themselves might beg to be relieved of their responsibility in regard to the land on condition that they received a fixed annual sum in aid of their funds. If such a course is adopted, however, it may prove hereafter that they have made a very bad bargain on behalf of the institutions they represent. As the colony progresses tho University reserves ought to increase in -value. If the University authorities sell their birthright as proposed they will hereafter be dependent on the will of the New Zealand Parliament for the cost of their maintenance, and it is not impossible that with a Socialistic Government in power they may bitterly rue their indiscretion in parting with their endowments. The proposal is one, at any rate, which those interested in our Universities ought at once to take into serious consideration.