UNIVERSITY SENATE.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 17997, 14 February 1924, Page 9

UNIVERSITY SENATE.

session of yeak.

~ „f the University of its first session of in the Canterbury professor J. Maemillan <>) presided, and others w-erc: —Professor J. Hankinc Tiie-Cba'.cellor), MrE.T.JSorP'l Professor Segar, I ro--0 Sir Henry Ferguson, Proflfr J e Dr. Anderson, Professor Hfofcssor Thompson, Mr "ft. Mr J- Caaghley, Professor to I'. «■ Bakcwcll ' Mf IL D ' Mr J. C. Adams, Professor Professor Wall, Hon. J. A. go- G. FowlcU Mr F. A. dc 5?, Hon. Dr. W. E. Collins. JHE CHANCELLOR'S address. r l( Chancellor delivered the foladdress for thc first Iwellor I'ask your indulgence ; iome misgiving in occupying that I have seen so many 'Oilmen fill, the first Chance lor the second Sir James llccSir Bob." j nrtsidency of this august body so familiar that there r ; p'ia every mind a certain tinge I might call resentment at Ijjfr'taking his place. But I shall " sr best to respond to Ins fine ia retiring in order that should fill the post, and to your S£«i» »«e in Acting me to fol- % la the forty-seven years that •*.r> been a Fellow of this Senate the personnel chango allatn yar; sometimes the elecsis changed, sometimes the mind ■ but the greatest Ife of change has been that relent£mkt, Death; it fills me with sad*lo think of the ™ny men of ««character and wise counsel who hit sisMf from our ranks. Jjilr thc last secessions havo not ■lit to this final silencer of char-SnJ-Triidom. Professor Scott, so jti mentor and guide in the inZJjjjj 0 { engineering technicalities, taifettd to take a well-earned rest 1 .je guidance of the School of raring of whiQh ho was the saiw and mouidor, and has also pre'end to tesga his Fellowship of the sJjtt. We all wish him a long and a®T enjoyment of his freedom. Wo "ijj i! 8„ nils professor Dettmann and jjl fas waunonsense and keen humour, &to to to cm P lo y tliem on * yoathfol talent of New South Wiki, ui *« not only wish lam ail i3«M ia bis new post, but are quite pjjj tlut he tvill attain it. 1,4 I East welcome to his place i"«r ranke another member of the ssfß»riftl staff of Auckland Universi>Col!tgt,Professor Algie, whose closo with law is needed by aia all Mtten connected with our ifdegno. And in placo of Professor ta tome the Chairman of tho i W of Govtraore of Canterbury Colm, Mr ED. Acland, who bears a I'm that iJ widely known throughout !? & British finpiro and wa3 not unif# e»riy years to this Senate; abjkl iin to carry out the tradiSadtanamo and family, as liis ; Sfa&teforo him, on this body, siSkiisf the experience he has ■ psi ii jffliniatering the affairs of : ..j r«nif college to bear on tho sfcat/ik University. ' Mnmt all feel regret that we ttttfSssj delegates to take part in tiiMts of one who was an active wfcr of this body for twonty-six Jtss 13Grace Archbishop Redwood; ItiwMßion been a little earlier or ifcielater ife should have been able i*«fnta!ste him personally, by bs% «e ormoio Fellows, on Teachlis iftieth year of his work in ttfagw. I'have already had a let«drafted jad gent forward embodyS|w ttajrstnlations and our regret to ?«ejnaot send delegates. liSsAtehave reason for congratuas well as the Dean dtk Se&eal School in Otago Unift* tlia knighthood that has I him. His long and p the medical provoted service to the aodin Medical School than his deserts. I ) must congratulate le apportionment of their discovery that erea besides tho polirecognition for the r on the community, man and Follow of Eonr Dr. Collins, has t that describes the he took part by Lu body. It will be The Senate also apdolegate to tho Panngress in Melbourne hristchurch "Press" two articles on the have a copy of both the Senate, that will an' account of my r Japan. Jyfcjbojtfae I renewed my former 'fc ' n Ja P an with two of e l c fT a ' C3 i Professors Omori. I did not see them " ; but when Zcnhnd th ° viccn • agTeed that we should Verßitieß of Jil a IctJ!* em ia the losses I*Tste a^ ln ® d ' n ttlo great disaster, had » ? ro^eßsor Sakurai, and "itfresting reply from df Te ply to our fctlife shall quote a \ f ® Uowi PB an expresbin k found his family imaged when he I 9 "♦artrni I St?n of s >" m P at -hy in :^Na£!,tr nveyed t0 t! '° ! l ßearch ( ' ouncil (he n -V the I "L P , de ' and from ! ls »Rtihr understand that your | ?J"dp. It is n ' c ' n 8 of giving ; tad extre ® e 'y generous of „ j Shly appreciate ,<«• k»j« s rw „[£ 0 , W. \ COUT3e > I,e un.leribt Jatejl U 'V Verait -y of Tokyo a " 01lal Research of thf i-i acce P t anv t . t »> Ba TT*,* . rßity PreS3 no but 1 thi "k it u step of . thi3 Senate thiJ t OnC , ln New Z ealib7ll tW " bodie3 to re- I I have l ? nr University ' valuable voi° a have duI)U- . U^ 8 trans- | and so doubti tliCy coukl i of Private Kh t>SS '- havo tho fee the G oVer l ranes - And Wto S a , nd theNcw i 2lad t0

supply a copy of their publications. Nothing would help to cement tho friendship of Japan and the British Empire in the Pacific Ocean as such a gift, and the peace tff the world for generations to come depends largely on the relationship of Japan towards the English-speaking communities in the Pacific Ocean. University and Empire. But as essential for the welfare of the world is the unity of the British Commonwealth of Nations; if the cement that binds that together should decay, mankind might bid farewell to civilised peace. And in the interest of this unity the University should do everything in its power to steep its talented graduates in the science and art of the Homeland, and in its atmosphere of liberty. It was with this end in view that Mr Marriott, a delegate to the Pan-Pacific Science Congress, approached me in Sydney with his brief for the Imperial College of Science and Technology; he wished to persuade me that the Senate should arrange for two scholarships every year to take New Zealanders to postgraduate study at that College. I said that the University had no money and that, if it had, I could not commit it. to any such course, but I arranged that lie should meet the local committees of the Senate as he passed from city to city in New Zealand, and that he "should also meet the Minister of Education and the Director. lie put his case before them, and they were all persuaded that it would be a good thing, whilst the Education Department would place the scheme before Cabinet so that they might take action. Meantime ho was going to the other Dominions to persuade them to do likewise.

And recently a letter has come from the Hector of thc Imperial College of Science stressing the great advantages that such a scheme of scholarships would confer on the Dominions, and saying that in order to initiate it the Governing Body had decided by aid of funds generously provided by friends of the College to place at the disposal cf each of the Dominions two scholarships of £3OO each for the year 1924-23. It is not stated in the letter, but I have seen it stated that Mr Massey had accepted them for New Zealand. And as this is merely to lead the Dominions to continue the scheme of scholarships at their own expense, I have no doubt that thc Prime Minister will be favourable to continuance of the scheme. The letter and twelve copies of the calendar of the Imperial College of Science will be laid on the table. And it would be well that the Senate appoint a committee to look into the matter and appeal to the Government. Free Passages to Britain. Closely akin to this is the question of free passages which the shipping companies have so generously given to enable graduates to follow up their studies at Home Universities. Before I left for Australia the office had received a letter from the agents in Wellington which seemed to imply that though tho same number woulu be granted this year, they would be reduced an number thereafter. I toek the ictt® l " with me and had an interview in bydney with Mr Service, who represents the P. and O. Company, in the offices of the jnion S.S. Co.; I left the letter with him and when I saw him again he said he did not think that this n as the true interpretation of the letter, but lie would communicate .with. London. I hope that his interpretation will turn out to be the correct one. Home Science for Girls.

Before I come to the main theme of my address, I should like to refer to a few unconnected items. One is a suggestion from the head of a girls school that prepares for matriculation. She deplored the fact that though home science is in the matriculation programme of subjects, it is purely theoretical, the course of practical work not being examined but only certified to bv the principal of the school or by the submission of the candidate's notebook of practical work to the principal of some secondary or technical school. She thought it a pity that girls should not be able to present as a special subject homecraft as defined by the Education Department for its Intermediate Examination, covering cookery, laundry work, dressmaking, and needlecraft. TbSs would make the practical side of home science a reality and train girls to regard household work as on a footing with tho learned subjects and as worthy of being learned as an art. There is much in what she urged, i thought, and perhaps the Senate would ask some committee to look into the matter. Macmillan Brown Prizes. A second matter that will need a committee to arrange is the adjustment of the three Macmillan Brown prizes, one in the University and one each in Otago University and Canterbury College, so that there may not be more than one each year. The committee should have on it a Fellow from each of these University Colleges. Examination Arrangements. A third matter is some means of inspecting annually the arrangements for the conduct of tho University examinations in each examining centre. It was agreed during last session of the Senate that "in the four chief centres at least the local committees of Senate satisfy themselves as to the suitability for the accommodation provided for examinations, the arrangements made for "the separation of the candidates, and the fitness of all the assistant supervisors employed." In Ohristchurch I was unable to get a meeting of the local committee of the the purpose, and went into the matter myself, finding that the ar rangements were completely satisfactory. But perhaps it would be as well to have an annual inspection of the arrangements at each examining centre by an official from the office. Degrees and Special Schools.

\ fourth matter is a letter from the Hon. the Minister of Education regardin"' the recognition of work done tor professional degrees in other centres than those in which the special schools are situated. I have had it printed so that each member may have a copy and along with it a report on Dental Training in the Dominion. It would be better that these be discussed by the Senate as a whole than that they be referred to a committee to report on. , _ . Convocation and senate. \ fifth matter is the proposal of the Hon. the Minister of Education to curtail the scope of the elective powers of convocation so that it should not elect to tho Senate any active member of Oollege staff and to cur tail the powers of the Senate in appointment of examiners so that J should not appoint any Fe low. Ihe Vice-Chancellor and myself heard that these proposals were to be inserted in a University Act Amending Bill that was to come before the las session and took upon ourselves to go as a deputation to the Hon. tho Minister of Education; we asked him if he would allow these matters to be discussed by the bodies concerned before they were presented to the House, he answered that he would submit our suggestion to Cabinet The clauses containing the proposa s were ultimately excised from the 8.11. It would be well that tho Senate discuss the matter at this session. A sixth matter is the election of a member to represent the Senate on the Council of Education, as the term ot the present representative expires on Juno Ist. The Senate was land enough to appoint me its representative; but 1 think it would be well to havo a ' •ccaskmallY.

A University Press. A seventh is a letter from Dr. G. H. Scholefield on the inauguration nf a University Press. I shall lay it on th-e table and it can bo referred to some committee to report on. The Inst item I have to mention is the finances of the University. 1 here was in the general account at December 31st, 1923, the sum of £7173 Gs od as the cash balance. Last year the cash balance was £12,068 los' 9d. But there had not been paid various sums liicTi have been paid this tirn© before the end of the financial year, £2154 to law and commerce examiners, £1621 to B.A. pass examiners, and £2050, imprest to our English agent; these together make £SS2o, which added to our cash balance of £7173 6s sd. places it on more than a par with that of 1922. In the ordinary scholarship account the cash balanc-e at December 31st, 1023. was £1205 8s 4d, as compared with £915 9s 9d at the same

date 1922. AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION REPORT ON LINCOLN COLLEGE. I have to lay before you the report of Professor Richardson, of Melbourne, on our degree in agriculture and the criticism of it by tho Director of the

Lincoln School of Agriculture and others. Both will have to be considered by the Senate at its present session. Their relevancy to the economic condition of New Zealand has been emphasised by a growing demand for the inclusion of agriculture as a science in the curricula of the University colleges. It showed keen foresight on the part of the Provincial Council of Canterbury that in establishing and endowing an institution for University education it did not neglect the interests of the fundamental industry of tho country. In founding Canterbury College it did not fail to see the significance of the sheep in the coat-of-arms and its classical motto "ergo tua rura manebunt." And this was at a time when most of the farms and runs had the advantage of virgin soil and there were still considerable tracts to take lip. The pioneers of the province saw that the time would come when this advantage would vanish and science must takes its place. And so before all the lands passed into individual hands, there was bought and set aside a magnificent piece on which the farmers of the future might learn their art and ultimately develop the science that would still retain them their fields as the prime source of their country's welfare and wealth.

The time lias evidently now arrived when their foresight should reap its harvest. There is a consciousness abroad that most of the advantages of a virgin soil have been exhausted and that the farmer must be aided by the experience of others, but most of all by scientific investigation. Farmers are no longer tho most prosperous section of the community, as is shown by the large percentage of bankruptcies amongst them during the last two or three years. The high prices of th€,ir produce during war time raised the price of land in many districts beyond the limit of its profitable employment. And ,it the price of wool and dairy produce and mutton were to fall, our fundamental industry and, as a consequence, the we'fare of the whole country, would be in direst peril. In founding a school of agriculture our pioneers foresaw the possibility of such a crisis.

And are we to stand passively by and let the storm strike us? Should we not forestall this by no means improbable fall of prices? Is it wisdom to shut our eyes to the only method of forestalling it? By no effort of legislation or arbitration or diplomacy will -we be able to place prices back where they were; by no rearrangement of taxation or proprietorship or public burdens will we be able to stave on the descent of rewards for labour. There is one way and one way alone to meet such a disaster, and that is to find out how to "make two ears of corn or two blades of grass to grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew before," as Swift puts it in his "Gulliver's Travels." All other methods are but toying with the calamity and aggravating its results. To export more and better produce is the oniy economic way of retaining the real value of rewards of labour in such circumstances.

Of course one of the methods of taking this way is to work longer and harder. But there is a more efficient method, and that is what the Canterbury pioneers had in their mind when they founded as an essential part of a University institution an agricultural college. They meant to link up the basis of the country's prosperity with science. BuVthe application of steam to thc cheapening of transport and the application of frost to the preservation of meat staved off the need of carrying out their intention even during periods of depression. There has been no necessity till now to make the School of Agriculture other than an institution for teaching youths how to farm good land such as it was endowed with. Every year has seen good land near to populous centres or to good road and railway facilities grow dearer,

and resort has to be had to poorer laud or to land far beyond tho reach of roads and railways. Tho great development of dairying with scientifically equipped creameries and careful supervision and grading of tho produce exported has again postponad the necessity of tho application of science to agriculture. That wo are approaching the stage at which this will force itself upon the attention of those who seek the best welfare of the country is shown bymany evidences. Tho late Sir John Campbell made Auckland University education in agriculture an ultimate legatee. The foundation of the Cawthron Institute in Nelson provides specialisation for the land industries of that province. Sir Walter Buchanan's endowment of a Chair of Agriculture in Victoria College points the way that Wellington must take. And the recent farmers' deputation to the Board of Governors of Canterbury College urging the establishment of University teaching in agriculture reveals in this province, which has already a School of Agriculture, that more must be done in the way of scientific instruction if agriculture is to meet the difficulties in front of it. Three Eoads to Prosperity. There are three ways in which agriculture may be made more efficient and productive. The most direct is that of teaching the youth of the country the right methods and the reasons for them. The Lincoln School of Agriculture was supposed to do this. But it cannot accommodate more than three or four dozen, and what are they amongst the thousands of farmers that have to be guided into more efficient ways? Another disadvantage is that it has one of tho finest pieces of land to farm and teach its students to farm; most farms will have now to be of the less rich type. How to manage for tiie best the great varieties of qualities of land and the still greater varieties of conditions, especially climate and rainfall, that a country like New Zealand, lying across the latitudes as it does, presents is a problem that cannot be taught on such a high-class farm with but one set of climatic conditions. The practical teaching must vary with every province, if not every locality. And where are we to find the teachers sufficiently trained in the fundamental principles and methods of agriculture

to make such a scheme real and efficient? Some of the Boards of Education have one or two teachers (J agriculture: but they must feel their task almost hopeless with 60 wide an varied an area to cover. Every school and ultimately every primary school should have on its staff a. teacher who could train its pupils in the n ' a mental principles and methods of tie agriculture of its locality. And for a supply of sueli teachers there is n0 * where to look but to tho University an' the University colleges. The boys f ronl the farms, as well a3 boys from the towns, must be drawn into the colleges to study the scientific principles t 1a underlie all successful practical muthoc s of agriculture. Nor must stu<.} be divorced from constant application of these principles to practice. °r >- at the agricultural college or scien 1

fically-managed farm must run para e or alternate with the scientific instruction. It is not possible to make tie degree in agriculture an essential the majority of teachers; but it shou be the sine qua non for all agricu.tura inspectors and teacher-guides and or all teachers of agriculture in hig i schools. This is the first aim that tlie country should keep lief ore it in trying to improve its agriculture. _ A second way of helping it to nice the new conditions is the spread o iu formation on the best methods of tic countrv amongst the farming cominuin ties. With the same environment and chances one farmer makes a great success of his farm, whilst his neighbour is ahvavs in difficulties. The latter puts it down to luck, whilst it is duo to foresight and care and constant expan sion of knowledge. Most farmers would be none the worse of knowing how aw why uninterrupted success has been

gained by the few. And for tho pur pose of spreading such knowledge, ic United States method of having ft specialist in every county who makes a periodical survey of all the farms in it, with accurate figures as to costs and results and detailed accounts of al i® methods that had led to the results bad or good, is one that might bo adopt( with advantage in New Zealand. 110 spread of this knowledge over all tno countrv soon levels up the bad farming to at least the average. But such a system would not be possible without a constant stream of graduates from tho agricultural universities and colleges. It is still tho University that is tho fountainhead of such an advance. The third and most important way of making up fy the rise in the price of good land and the resort to po° rer lands is scientific investigation. J-no spectacular results that have been reached by this in chemistry and physics and medicino have mado it in the eyes of the public the modern magician. But the obscurer_ rcsmts that take generations to realise their importance are perhaps the more beneficial to mankind. And it is such less spectacular results that investigation reaches in agriculture. It takes a generation to realise their importance. It was not till after Farrer's death that Australia realised how immensely his experiments with wheat, resulting m his well-known "Federation/' had

added to her wealth. So did it take time to see how much tho new Canadian wheat, "Marquis," had enhanced the agricultural yield of America. Anil far less striking than these wheat experiments have been those that resulted in the increase of butter-fat in the milk of cows and increase of wool on the backs of sheep. Research Must Bo Organised. Most of these have been tho result of sporadic work by isolated workers without the aid of public money or public apparatus. The country is lucky that has such self-sacrificing workers. But it should not be left to luck; agriculture is the foundation of the welfare of a nation, and especially, welfare of these Dominions, and it has now to face conditions that have in the past brought communities and even great empires to ruin. Tho whole work of agricultural investigation should be organised by the country, if it is to retain and develop its prosperity and keep up the real value of its Towards of labour. For like every other country it has its own agricultural problems; some of them may be solved by aid of the light that the investigations of other lands have thrown on them. But a large proportion of them will have to be solved by its own investigators; nay, many of its problems will _ be -peculiar to one or other of its localities or zones of culture, and will havo to he solved by the of the region. Soil, climatic conditions, rainfall vary with the locality, and tho special kind of crop and treatment, of crop and the special kind of utility animal and treatment and feeding of the animal vary accordingly. There is an almost limitless number of agricultural problems for investigators to solve. And we have scarcely begun to turn out such investigators. Any advance that has been made in farming has been haphazard. This will not serve in the difficult times ahead. Investigation will have to be organised. The United States during this century realised how essential this was to the wellbeing of the nation, and has established an agricultural experiment station in every i State of the Union. And the result of every investigation is tested under normal farming conditions 'and then is shown to the farmers of the community. No piece of new knowledge falls stillborn; it is handed on by tho specialists to the men who need it. America lias discovered that there is no better investment for the community than money spent by the State on this specialisation of investi-

gation. and propaganda. It returns to the nation a hundredfold. Where are the Specialists? Now where is the country to look for a stream of such specialists if not to the University colleges, aided _by the Schools of Agriculture or the scien-tifically-equipped State farms? _We must see that the degree course is so arranged that it will not merely test and encourage rule-of-thumb knowledge and practice, but bring out originality and talent. The course should be as much followed as that for any profession, and ultimately, if the country is to continue its prosperity, it should become the favourite course. The ablest; bovs from our high schools should maKe for it as eagerly as now for medicine or law; it ought in the end to draw some of the best talent in the country, ihere arc already in front of them manj 6 00 posts offered by the Department- ot Agriculture and by the Boards of Education. sSoon there should be many times more, when every lngh scliooivill have its agricultural teacher an every rural county its agricultural

We are not far off this stage; a fall in the prices of our produce would make it a necessity. And then there will be a rush for scientific training, in agriculture; the University and the University colleges will have to respond to this demand. And if , ■ appeal for funds to be devoted to this, purpose, the appeal will be justified, for; whether it is the State or private benevolence that will respond to the appeal, the country can have no hesitation in feeling ihat it is the most profitable investment it can make. Without this educational advance the finances of the community would soon bo in difficulties; their foundation would be insecure. A Eevised Degree Course. It is well that the Senate should consider the conditions that will meet this contingency. It is not too early to reconsider and perhaps revise the course for the degree in agriculture. I hope that a representative committee will be appointed to report to it on

the suggestions of Professor Richardson and the criticism of these by the Director of the School of Agriculture and other experts; and it would be well to have before it witnesses, such as the Director and one or two of his staff, to clear up any points that his criticism leaves obscure. One of his preferences is for a four-year course vjth the first two spent at Canterbury College. And it seems to be one of the preferences of Mr Richardson; and naturally so, as the course at Melbourne University covers four years. It is the samo at Sydney and at ail the American Agricultural Colleges. ;It would be well to consider whether this should not be adopted by this University. The Director seems to indicate that the number of subjects makes it difficult for the undergraduates to manage the course iu three years. There must, however, always be a proportion of them who couhl manage it without strain in that period, whilst those who could not are not debarred from taking the longer period. The advantage of the four year course would be that it could be divided easily between Canterbury College and the School of Agriculture; in the two years at the former ail the pure science could be done and such subjects as Agricultural Geology and Agricultural Engineering and Surveying which are not specially taught at the latter. It may be noted that in the Melbourne Statute for the degree candidates must go into residence at the State Research Farm, Werribee, during the second year, and spend not less than five weeks acquiring irrigation experience at Werribee, before they can proceed to -the work of the fourth year. For the Sydney degree "twelve months' practical field work is a prerequisite." "This can usually be performed by the students in their four long vacations, plus part of the shorter vacations, and is carried out at Hawkesbury College, one of the Government Experiment Farms or on an approved private farm. The conditions in New South Wales are so varied that the students generally go to a different district each year so that they may become familiar with the different systems of farming practised in the main agricultural regions." If the professor of Agriculture in Victoria College establishes a full course, some such modification of the conditions for taking tho degree will have to be introduced into the statute. If a fourth year is to be made an essential of the course it should be-

reserved for research work and ns a preparation for a post-graduate or honours course of which training in investigation should be the main purpose. The University and the University colleges would not be doing their duty to the country unless they kept putting out a steady stream of researchers. Research in agriculture, the fundamental industry of New Zealand, will become more and more vital to its prosperity. In other arts and sciences it is of great importance; hut when the pinch of low prices for our produce comes, it will be a matter of life or deatli for the country to have constant research into agricultural problems and difficulties. The Government must never hesitate to endow agricultural research as well as agricultural education in every possible way, if it has the welfare of the people at heart. There are plenty of problems in every division of farming already to soi(ve ; and when the pinch comes, they will be countless, and varying with every locality. No type of cultivable area will be without its experimental station, with its specialist, to spread the results of its research amongst the farmers. Science and scientific research are apt to be looked upon as luxuries by the layman and especially bv the politician. But the time is rapidly approaching when agricultural science and agricultural research will be a necessity of national life. Research Fellowships. If the Government has any foresight it will prepare for this crisis by instituting agricultural research studentships and fellowships. Iu this way it will turn the eyes of youthful talent iu the direction of Agriculture its problems. And when the times comes in which low prices will challenge the utmost skill in farming there will be a full supply of talent for investigation and research. It has already been doing much to forestall the evil day. It ,has enabled the boards erf education to have an instructor in agriculture; to make this efficient the larger boards should be able to havo many instructors who would visit each school more than once a year. It has also sent down officers of the Agricultural Department to lecture and teach here,and there. But it needs a whole staff of lecturers in every province to spread any new knowledge that the department or the farming community has found. It has also established rural high schools which are intended to lay stress upon the teaching of agriculture. The goal should be that all secondary schools and ultimately all primary schools should make a feature of applied natural history, of forestry, of horticulture and of agriculture.

Concessions to Agricultural Students. But tlie University might well do' something to encourage and advance this side of education. Iu the matriculation examination it allows agriculture to be taken under Natural Science, provided physiology or botany is not taKen, though both are essential as preliminaries to the study of agriculture ; perhaps it could be managed that candiuates who propose to become farmers or to proceed to an agricultural degree t>hould bo allowed to take two of them or all three and be relieved ol some of the less essential sections of some other subject that are also less relevant to bis purpose as, e.g., in Elementary Mathematics, Algebra and Geometry might be left out ancl a, little elementary plotting or surveying added. I have heard of one rural high school that has had to abandon the subject of agriculture for matriculation because 'A the difficulty of tho other subjects that are not particularly relevant to it. Again, one concession has been granted to the candidate for the B.Agr. in his first examination hy substituting the definition of Biology in the Home •Science degree examination for that in the Medical Intermediate. The latter has no botany; and it is recognised

that botany ta wore relevant to the science ol acrii ulture t!Tan zoology. It the number of candidates for the degree* in agriculture increases sufficiently, it would be a rational conces sum to hare a special syllabus in all the pure science subjects (Biology,*; Vhysics, Chemistry and Inorganic Ghemijitry), with a special examination sftt that will bear upon agricultiual Hf-ieuce. like those that are aet for the Home Science degree and the Medical degree. There were in 1922 twenty-four candidates for the B.Afr. examinations and in 1923 there were twenty. There is a third concession that woidd encourage talented students to take up the subject. In all the pro-

fessinaf courses, as in those in Arts and Science, there is an inducement held out to the abler graduates to proceed further with their studies and especially with investigation and research. There is the advanced degree granted on an honours examination except in Home Science, Forestry, Veterinary Science, and Architecture, whilst in Engineering there is the Engineering Travelling Scholarship. In the exceptions the candidates are either nonexistent or few. The candidates for tho degree in agriculture ore increasing in number and it cannot be denied that advanced work and research in this subject are at least as essential as for any professional degree. Already there are many openings for those who have taken liiaher tt'Qik in and

in a few years there will be an earn-: est demand for research and researchers. If they are . not forthcoming our prosperity as a country will decay. Another concession might ered by the committee, whether agriculture and the subjects that lead up to agriculture might not be allowed some chance in the examination for Junior University and National Scholarships, or whether a special set of Entrance Scholarships should not be earmarked for agriculture. We know that such scholarships tend to pick out the talent amongst the youth of the country and bend it towards certain careers. The talent of this our country has hitherto sniffed or turned up its nose at the agricultural career; and yet it is the one career that already is or will soon bo in need of the fines* talent and greatest originality that New Zealand can produce. When prices of our produce fall we shall be in a bad way if the best brains of the country are not trying to solve our agricultural problems scientifically. If we are to met'the difficulties that are in front of us, if we are to keep our country as prosperous as it lis wo shall have to induce a considerable proportion of our young talent to enter on the study of agriculture and tako it as its career; we must prevent this basis of all our prosperity remaining side-tracked by the ambition and capacity and originality of our youth. And one of the best ways to do this is to let the subject and the career have a considerable place in the system of scholarships and prises. To assign a certain number of scholarships to those who intend to follow out a course in agriculture might not attain their aim of elevating the subject in the eyes of young ambition and drawing some of our best talent into it. _ Perhaps the aim would be better attained bv giving agriculture and the subjects that bear on it and lead to its study some value in the scheme of marks for Entrance Scholarships. But the committee might well consider which of the two alternatives is the more likely to attain the end. Higher Degrees. As a natural sequence to this and to the establishment of an advanced or research degree there should be considered by the committee whether a Senior Scholarship in Agriculture should not be given. Thi3 is the best way to ensure that some of the talent of "the undergraduates should make its way towards research in one of the various branches of agriculture. And if the committee thought it good that such an advanced degree and such a scholarship should be established, '• should consider how they should bo so abnflt tfce wads daae sha')

be scientific and of value to the interests'of the country. There are thirteen Bachelors of Agriculture on our books who have taken their degree here, and one ad eundem from Victoria. A considerable proportion of these are anxious to go to a higher decree; but there is no master's degree in agriculture such as there is in most other departments. This gap in our statutes must have a serious deterrent effect on research in agriculture and on the attracting of the youthful talent of the country into the career. If the Senate saw fit to offer such inducements to follow up research in agriculture, I have little doubt that the Government would back it up by making the degree a condition "of certain appointments in the Department of Agriculture and offering fellowships for the further pursuit ot Nor have I any doubt as to the absorption by our own country of all the graduates and researchers we . may turn out. After most professional courses a certain proportion of the graduates have to seek a career elsewhere But so fundamental 13 agriculture to the welfare of onr country, so numerous are its problems, and so dominant the occupation, that I am convinced that it will not be the case with mir agricultural graduates for a long time to come; in whatever numl>ers they may be turned out, there will be occupation for them all. On the motion of the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Macmillan Brown was accorded a hearty vote of thanks for his adNctices of Motion. The Hon. J. A. Harian gave notice

to move that the question of remodelling the subjects of the matriculation examination be referred to the Entrance Examination Committee for consideration and report to the meeting of the Senate. The Hon. G. Fowlds gave notice to move that the Statutes Bevision Committee be instructed to prepare such amendments of the statutes as may be necessary to enable the students attending the Auckland Engineering School to sit for examination for the

engineering degrees on the same terms and conditions as are accorded to the sutdents attending the Canterbury Enginering School. Professor Hunter gave notice of motion that the elections of the Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, and representative on the Council of Education take place on Monday next at 10 o'clock. Mr J. C. Adams gave notice to move that the Finance Committee consider the advisability of increasing the monetary value of (1) the junior scholarship, under Regulation 2, by £5 per annum (making a total of either £35 « T

plus fees, or £6O, pins feesj (2) the senior scholarships to be increased by £lO per annum.

Rhodes Scholarship.

Sir Henry Ferguson moved: that the resignation of the medical travelling scholar (Dr. Aitkenj on election to the Rhodes scholarship, be not accepted on the ground that the scholarship was not a New Zealand University scholarship, but was given .from another source. This waa seconded by the Hon. Dr. Collins. * The Hon. G. Fowlds hoped that the resignation 1 would be accepted. '.'lt would be a mistake, he said, to establish a precedent whereby one student was able to get the emoluments of two valuable scholarships. The Rhodes Scholarship was in itself "a very valuable prize. , i , Professor Hunter moved as an amendment: "That this Senate is opposed to the holding of any travelling scholarship, or post-graduate scholarship, together with another "scholarship." A number of other menibers of the Senate opposed the principle of allowing one student to hold more than one such scholarship, and the amendment,

on being put, was carried. , ; Sir Henry Ferguson asked what would be the position in"the event of a medical student being given a position in a London hospital. Professor Hunter Teplied that the scholarship would then be available for another student in the Dominion. Miscellaneous. A complaint from a student that he had been excluded from examination through a mistake in respect of the

entrance paper was referred to the Law Committee. A number of other matters were referred to various committees to be re-, ported on. Senate will resume at 9.45 a.m. today. . ■