UNIVERSITY RESERVES.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 12014, 15 October 1904, Page 8

UNIVERSITY RESERVES.

MR SBDDON'S PROPOSAL. BOARD OF GOVERNORS , OPINIONS. In view of the statement made by the Premier m the as to tlie educational reserves of the colony, a representative of "The Press" yesterday interviewed several members of the Estates Committee of the Board of Governors of Canterbury College on the subject, and their views appear belo.v. MR G. J. SMITH. Mr G. J. Smith considered that the Premier was srmply giving voice to «t suggestion that had been made several time-, during the past few years. This was that the Educationnl Reserves s"hould bepoole-l, and the income divided throughout the colony. . This, if allowed to be carried out—which he hoped the people of Canterbury Mould never permit—would be a very grave injustice to this province. The early settlers of Canterbury, with a foresight, which wo of the present day could hardly overvalue, hnd made liberal pr>vl«don in the way of endowments for the educational requirements cf tho.«e wh> came after them. The fact that the. early settlers in the other districts of the colony had made no such provision was no reason why a proposal should be mado that Canterbury should now be robbed for their beneflt. Ho bad always consistently opprved the- Government interfering in any way -with these educational reserves far secondary education, and he would, on tiio Board and elsewhere, most strenuously resist the attempt which it was evidently proposed to make to enrich the other part-- <»f the colony at the expense raf Canterbury. A-vked his opinion respecting the management underthe Roard of Goveniors of the reserve*, Mr Smith replied that whatever might bo said about the management of the reserves generally, lie thought the way the bu.«ine.ss was carried out by the Board cornpaired favourably with that of the Crown Land.? Department. If any proposal in the direction of handing over these reserves to the Government came before the Board of Governors, he would most oejtainly oppose it in the best interests oi Canterbury. He hoped also that the people would take all the- steps in their power to prevent such a thing being done. . MR W. IZARD. Mr W. Izaxd, in answer to the interviewer's questions, said tliat the idea put forward by the Premier in regard to specialisation was merely an attempt to get the School of Mines to Auckland. The reserves for secondary education under the Board of Governors of Canterbury College were carefully and wisely administered. The Estates Committee, some of whose members were keen business men, took a good deal of interest in tho work, and every- step was fully considered. Of course, there were f<ome members on the committee who did not profess to be business men, but tho services, so freely given, of Mr T. W. Adams, of Greendale, who, he thought, clasped as an expert, enabled all the facts to he placed to clearly before the committee that ther w*To fully able to deal with the matters before them. He (Mr Izard), and he believed all tho members of the Board, was strongly opposed to these reserves, which hail been taken ou* of the lands of the province, being shared up with, other parts of the colony. Tho endowment*— thanks to the wisdom of the pioneer «>ettlers—belonged to Canterbury, and were for the benefit of the rising generation ofl the province. He trusted, therefore, th:it any attempt to divert the revenue from itfl original purpose by sharing it with other provinces, as would inevitably be tho caso if they came under the management of tho Government, would be most vigorously opposed by the Canterbury public. MR J. L. SCOTT. Mr J. L. Scott said it eeeined to him that, broadly looked at, what Mr Seddon had fr-tated was in a way a proposal to "colonialise" the endowments for secondary education, and place them- under tho management of the Government. Ho said emphatically that, looking at. tho manner in. which our educational endowments hnd been made, a proposal to pool them -with any other part of the colony simply rnea-rt robbery of Canterbury. He was distinctly opposed to anything of tho kind, and he thought ho might «ay that the Board nf Governors, as a. whole, was nlso. .Speaking on the method of administration of the reserves by the Board of Governors of Canterbury College, through the Estates Committee, Mr Scott said th.it he did not think the Lands Department could do the work better, or even aa we'll, as it was now being done. He had been a member of tho Estates Committee ever since he had been on the Board, and he knew from personal knowledge that the liveliest interest was taken in the management of tho estates, and a great deal of zeal displayed in the work. Without being invidious, be might point out that Mr T. W. Adams, who was possessed of expert and local knowledge to . v great degree, took a very warm intercut in the working of the reserves, and gave most valuable advice to the committee. In the early days, fortunately for Canterbury, those in authority had «3t aside liberal endowments out of the lands of tho province for the support of secondary education, and, as a member both of the Board and of the Estates Committee, he would strongly opposo any interference with these endowmonts. Tho founders of the province had. a.o he had said, the foresight to f*t aside lhes<» r«»erves, and it -would bo a. most fatal mistake that Canterbury should euffer because of the neglect of other parts of the colony to make the same provision. MR O. W. RUSSELL. Mr G. W. Russell, -who is a, tho 'Estate* Committee of the College, on being asked his opinion on the subject, said that tho quart ion raised by the Premier was the most important in connection with Canterbury College that had yet boen stated. It. was not the first time that the question had been raised. foven years ago the late Sir John M'Kenzie. he believed, had gone so far as to prepare a Bill for the purpose of the Government taking over the management of the endowments of all secondary educational inrtirutaw. His proposal was chiefly aimed at the Otago endowments, but the Government hesitated then to tackle tho ques-tion and nothing more was heard of the Bill. Nor. was the opinion in favour of colonialising these endowments entirely confined to Mr Seddon and his following. He had heard Captain Russell on the tloor of the House express the opinion that all there endowments should be colonialiscd. Of eoune, the North Island did not possess tither the men with forosign. to set aside the endowments, or the land to do so. Canterbury and Otago were fortunate in possessing land in the early days. Hence, the North Island now looked with envious eyes upon tho splendid endowments which thes{Southern provinces posseted. His fear, however, wns rath<T of the enemy within the gate lhan of Mr Seddon. There seemed to be a. certain section of the community -who shut their eyes to the efforts made, "by thfl Board of Governors to promote higher education, and were consistently seeking to pull down the superstructure which, had been built after so many years of labour. Mr Seddon's proposal to compel the colleges' to specialise amounted to very little. For example, Dunedin had hitherto specialised with respect to the Medical School and the School of Mines. Y«t it was now understood that the Government favoured the removal of the School of Mines to Auckland. On the other hand, Canterbury College held, and had the highest authorities in support of its view, that if any change was made from Otago. prudence anc financial interest would point to the desirability of attaching the School of Mine; fo the School of Engineering, which they here already possessed. Wherever the School of Mines was establisheJ, the mag nificent plant at our School oi costing somewhere about £15,000, Mould have to bo duplicated.

Again, the proposal for fpecialiration wasj that Wellington should *pecialisa in law, presumably so that the law students would be able to see-how fearfully and wonderfully cur laws ivere made. But was it to be "supposed that students from all over the colony could Ro to Wellington to specialif»o in law? The idea was a nonsensical one. The peculiar configuration r-f New Zealand, with its four large centres, seemed to imply that specialisation could only take place to a limited degree in eHch. liich city had a large territory round it, and must cater for the all-round requirements in education of the population fnirroundrug it. Tl»e greater objection to Mr Soddon's jwoposal was that it was a further blow at the local self-govern-ment of the people. Taking Canterbury College.a*i an trample, the Board of Governors was representative to a large degree. The Victoria. College Board (Wellington) was still more representative. Holding the opinion that he did, that tlw abolition of the provinces wm a huge mistake, he had always opposed every effort on the part of Mr Seddon to lew*n the £elf-governing powers of tho people. "Wo had reen the powers of the Education Boards whittled away to nothing, and if the Premier was allowed to have his w;»y in tho matter, a« he now proposed, he would soon acquire the huge patronage which would follow* in connection with controlling tho secondary system of education throughout the colony. In Mr .Russell's opinion, this would be a deplorable state.of things, as ho had heard Mr Seddon, in the fioiu«e years ago, pride himself on having done without higher education. In regard to the administration of the endowments by Canterbury College, Mr RiL'sell said he did not believe that thrir aelniini.'tration wrrultl bo impritved in the flightest degrw by being handed over to the Government. The Estates Committ-jc carefully supervised every proposal for leafing, and reporte were constantly received from a responsible officer as to the way in "which farming was carried on, and though improvements might be made, and were, indeed contemplated, he was quite satisfied that their endowments were better managed than theww of the Government. One point more, n.nd it ivae tliis: Wo were face to face with the possibility of the freehold to the Crown tenants. It might bo going a long step towards the possibility of losing our endowments altogether if they were placed in the hands of the State. At prwent they were, absolutely inalienable. Would they be so if treated as ordinary Crown lands in the hands of the Government? On the Board of Governors lie had .vy,stematically opposed anything which would tend in the .direction of recognising the authority of the Government over the reserves or our institutions.