UNIVERSITY OF LONDON.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19986, 22 July 1930, Page 7

UNIVERSITY OF LONDON.

HALL OF RESIDENCE TO BE BUILT. APPEAL TO THE EMPIRE. (fbom on* owh coßßCsroßoarr.) LONDON, June 5. It is a strange thing that London University has never had a hall of residence. Beside the English students there are over 800 students from the Dominions attending .the various colleges, and the numbers are increasing. London offers them unparalleled educational opportunities in the colleges and schools of her University, and at her other centres of professorial education. But no residential accommodation is available other than that obtained by the students themselves. This disability is short# to be removed. A fine island site in Bloomsbury has been purchased, and a hall of residence for British male students of European origin from the Dominions and Colonies and from the United Kingdom is to be built. This is to be called London House. It will offer to the students residence hear their work, peaceful conditions in which their studies can be pursued, and the great advantages of that corporate life which marks other great seatß of learning whose historical beginnings were founded on similar inspiration' to provide ' a unit of residence.

A meeting waß held at the Mansion Houbo this week in support of the movement, the Lord Mayor presiding. Many prominent people were present. The Rt. Hon. Stanley Bruce (late Priine Minister of Australia) represented the Commonwealth, and Sir Jameß Parr represented New Zealand. The Lord Mayor read a letter from the Prime Ministor, regretting his inability to attend. Mr Mac Donald Wrote:

"Our Capital Oity possesses the richest opportunities in every sphere of education. It is the heart of our British civilisation. But it needs a residential hall, where students, undergraduates, and post-graduates, particularly those who come to us from the Empire overseas, can meet under one roof and form a collegiate society. "Without such a home tho student's road is indeed a hard one. Any of us who were once newcomers to London will remember- the impression of the spirit that lies in wait for the man without family or friends to hand, who, after a hard day's study, finds tho blankness of another evening in front of him. In 'London House' not only will reasonable comfort be secured to him, important and difficult as this is to provide for students who more often than not are pursuing their Course on very narrow means, but also he will find what is perhaps the greatest of all benefits that a university education in the full sense can bring him—the widening and livening of ' intellect, the growth of character, that come from the pontact and clash of mind with eager mind, and from those friendships that may well be tjie closest of a lifetime." Great Opportunities. The Lord Mayor said the need for such a Hall of Residence had been greatly felt for many years, and as the development of educational facilities in London took place, and Dominion students came there in increasing numbers, it-was, in his opinion, their duty to provide suitable residential accommodation where, under favourable conditions, these young men students could fulfil •the object which brought them theire. In recent years the University of London and its colleges and schools had continued to offer great opporunitles for education of various kinds; and now they had the latest development—the establishment, with the assistance of the Government, of the PoSt-gradnate Hospital and Medical School at Hammersmith, which wjjs destined to make London the home of one of the greatest medical schools in the world. No better name could have been chosen than London House, because it represented to the Dominions and Colonies that London offered a home for its young men students. In Londpn House they would have the opportunity of intimate association with other students from Great Britain. No better service could be rendered by us to -the Dominions than by providing a home fir their sons, while they were here. Thd interest of the City had been awakened to the desire to provide such a homq, and the large sum of money contributed by the City had enabled the purchase of a magnificent property in Bloomsbury for the establishment of London House. This property would reduiife further money to be Bpent upon ft in rebuilding, and first of all in the erection of a hall and common rooms. These essentials would, he had no doubt, be ifeadily forthcoming Wbeto the general public had been aßked to add their contributions to the sum already provided by the City of • London A Seal and Urgent Need;

Mr Amery said most of them were agreed that the true aim of university life was not only study, but education in- the very widest ■ sensewthat education which cam* from human understanding and human intercourse, Cecil Bhodea divined what our English collegiate life could give to the youth of young countries, and what an ® v ? r * growing link of Imperial unity and international understanding it could create. . . For all these students there was in London at present no corporate collegiate life available. Some were inmate? of stuffy boarding-houses, dwelling in surroundings, often leaving London at the end of their studies as friendless, as uninformed by human intercourse, as- uninspired by close contact with other minds, as uncomprehending of the spirit of England and the English Empire, as when they landed here. It was to meet that real and urgent heed that London House was directed. Mr Stanley Bruce mentioned that the railway companies of Australia sent some of their men abroad for experience. America found no difficulty in absorbing them, but unhappily there was almost an insuperable difficulty in getting any man taken by railways m Oreat Britain. He was afraid that problem was not solved to-day. Men who world control railway systems got their training In America, and there was an inclination to place orders in tlra countiy where they received their training.

A Great Empire Job. Sir James Parr said he came from a Dominion in which the people had almost a passion for the education of their young poople. He welcomed this project. They were doing a great Empire job, and he wished to express his appreciation and the appreciation of New Zealand, he was Bure, for What had already been done by Mr Goodenough. •Although he was a busy, banker, he was putting his soul into the business, and there should not be the slightest doubt about its eventual success. The Governments of the Dominions might well contribute ' this scheme. He was entirely in agreement witji Mr Bruce when he pointed out the danger of allowing our young people to go to America, Germany, and other countries for .their post-graduate studies, "or for the conclusion of their professional education, yhey should come to London. For une

great branch of study—medicl^e—-Aus-tralians and New Zealandcra Invariably came to London, but for some other branches at learning there was a tendency to »end our young men to other countries rather than to this. The present scheme would help to Correct that te Th«7*were'living in London, said Sir James, in conclusion, many wealthy men from the Dominions. They were enjoying all the privileges that Lohdon could oner, and he would suggest that a scheme such as this was well worthy of their support. Not a few of these people could sign a'cheque for a,paltry & 10,000 or £20,000, and never nms it. Mr Frederick O. Goodenough (chairman of Barclay's Bank) has so influenced the business people of London in the scheme that £130,000 has a ready been contributed. The Corporation of the City of London has accorded its support by making a donation of £SOOO to the fund, and the Ehodes Trustees have given £SOOO. ' 1 . i-j To purchase a site, build, equip, and establish thiß new centre of student life in London, the Governors are raising a fund of i 250,000. Half has been subscribed, and they now launch their appeal for the remainder. Gifts and promises should be addressed'to: F. O. Goodenough Esq., the treasurer, Dominion S fcu aeirtß Hall Trust, Barclay's Bank, Limited, 54 Lombard street, E.C.3, and cheques made pa- able to: The Treasurer, Dominion Students' Hall Trust, and .crossed Barclay's Bank, Limited.