The Press Monday, July 16, 1928. The University.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19363, 16 July 1928, Page 8

The Press Monday, July 16, 1928. The University.

The reception to graduates at Canterbury College though only a shadow of the old capping ceremonies (now legally abolished) was at least significant as a sort of farewell by the College to those men and women it has helped to equip for the business of life. But the restatement by his Lordship the Bishop of the ideals of unfettered thought and leisured study for which the University stands would have redeemed any gathering from mediocrity. We hear much from wellmeaning people about the need for "bringing the University into closer "touch with the community," and in some respects much good can be achieved in this direction. The work done by the Economics Department of Canterbury College, for instance, in co-operating with the Chamber of Commerce in issuing economic bulletins has shown that the College can do much to assist in solving problems that are immediate and practical. But those who have the larger interests of the University at heart are always uneasy lest a too close touch with contemporary life should impair the University's function as a centre' of independent thought and leisured study. As his Lordship remarked, the greatest discoveries have been made, not by those who sought them selfishly or commercially, but by patient lovers of the truth. The provision of means and leisure for the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, apart from its application or its rewards, is an ideal which the public at large is not likely to understand, and which Governments, particularly in this country, are not always ready to further. For this reason it is desirable that a University should be an independent corporation, strong enough, if need be, to disregard public opinion, and not, as here, a State institution legislated for by men of whom the great majority have no conception of its meaning.