The Press. SATURDAY, JULY 13, 1912. FOUNDLING HOSPITAL AND UNIVERSITY

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14406, 13 July 1912, Page 10

The Press. SATURDAY, JULY 13, 1912. FOUNDLING HOSPITAL AND UNIVERSITY

The affairs of tho University of London cannot have any Very special interest for the pcoplo of Now Zealand, , notwithstanding tho fact, that it has exercised v more potent influence on Onivoraity edncation in New Zealand than any other institution o£ tho Old World. But the spectaclo of a great institution in quest of a site cannot Fail to touch a responsive chord ■ in those institutions among us which themselves have known what it is to he homeless. It may well be asked how rt comes that the University of tho capital of the Empire should be in this forlorn nnd desolate condition. Tho story is a long one, and would require very full elucidation, but readers may rest assured that the position, anomalous though it may sound, docs not indicate am- backwardness on London's part in the matter of higher education. i>unice it to say that, tho University itFolf was for many years merely an Examining Board, but is now incorporated iv an organic unity with the two great colleges, which for the past seventy or oigUty years havo kept up a standard of- university teaching .as high, probubly,. ns that of any corresponding institution in the world. As an Examining Board, the University never needed t any homo beyond a suite of offices and an examination hall. For several years past it has found this accommodation in jtho massive buildings of the Imperial Institute at South Kensington. But under its new constitution, the .University demands such buildings

of its own as would, bo consistent with its added dignity and power, would enable it to discharge effectively its expanded functions, and would be an adequate outward and risible symbol of university education in the metropolis of the world.

Tho question has now come- to one of sites and one of the collection of funds, r.nd curiously enough, these two have ! become tangled up with each other. Some little timo ago a committee was appointed, with Lord Haldano as chairman for the purpose of raising a large sum of money for the purchase ot ground. Tho first site offered was a I lock of open land at. tho back of the British Museum buildings, in the Bloomsbury district. This is controlled by tho Duke cf Bedford's trustees, a body which administers an enormously valuable property in West-Central London. As soon as this sito was known to be under offer, very large sums began to pour in, tho trustees themselves subscribing fifty thousand pounds in the form of rebate on tho selling price. Tho committee quickly found itself in command of three hundred and fifty thousand pounds, offered on tho acceptance of this sito and no other. Naturally the committee recommended that tho site bo accepted. But the Senate of the University took umbrago at not having been consulted in the matter, and complained that tho site was quite unsuitable. Bloomsbury had fallen from its high estate. From a region of fashion and culture, tho haunt of wits.and authors, it had become the stronghold of cheap cockneyism, its residences being turned into second-rato boardinghouses. Far better to keep the London University in the Kensington district, which was at least irreproachable from a social point of view.

Then tho battl 0 of the sites was transferred to tho newspapers. On the on© side tho scientific glories and associations of South Kensington, its epjendid museums, its Imperial College of Science, its "Central Tech.," its aloofness from thd bustle- and roar of city life; on the other, the epltmdid munificence of the offers, the proximity to the British Museum, to tho great Univorsity College, to tho main railway stations connecting with the north, tho advantages of middle-class surroundings over a centre of social idleness nnd fashionable frivolity. Lord Haldano wrote quietly defending tho attitude of tho committee, and pointing out the j serious responsibility involved in rejecting euch munificent offers. So the battle went on. But, as frequently happens in such cases, whale men were waiting breathlessly for the issue, the situation was complicated by ft third proposal. . Many of our readers havo heard of old Captain Coram, -who settled in Lonhdon early in the eighteenth century, and, after doing many philantlu'opic works, concentrated his energies jOn the establishment of a foundling hospital. There it still stands, unfortunately, in the degenerate Bloomsbury district. The city, in its onward march, has compassed it round on all sides; but its nine acres of reserve remain inviolate, and the statue of good old Coram is still in front of tho gates. Someone (no doubt a Bloomsburyite) was inspired with the idea of suggesting this a$ an ideal site for the University. Tho hospital would be a decided gainer; for. with.the price which such a block" would command, a site could be purchased in the country, and more modern buildings erected. The proposal at one© jumped into favour. Many.people who had no particular interest in the University went into ecstasies over a scheme which would get tho foundling children into the country. Aβ a matter of fact, there has been in recent years a systematic migration of large schools from London city regions into the country, such as Charter House, St. Paul's, Christ's Hospital, and tho University College J School. Of course it still remains to be seen whether tho offers conditioned by the British Museum site would bo allowed to hold good for one half a mile to the eastward of it. Certainly one of them -would not, viz., that of the Bedford Estato Trustees, for tho'hospital'site is beyond the limits of their domain. But there is little doubt thot i new channels of generosity would bo I tapped by a scheme which would have the effect of benefiting a multitude of waifs and strays. And subscriptions from such sources would be free from tho taint of eelf-intercSt which .undoubtedly mars the apparent munificenca of a number of speculators in real es-/ tato. who scent a considerable enhancement of the value of Bedford property from the erection of n pile of university buildings in its midst. The Senate of tho University has now appointed a committee to investigate and report on tho whole question.