RHODES SCHOLARS

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21941, 16 November 1936, Page 8

RHODES SCHOLARS

LITTLE INDUCEMENT TOl i j RETURN i I

I i CONCERN OF EDU CATIONAt* 1 AUTHORITIES *| I. I [THE PEESS Special Service.] | WELLINGTON, November ISLf ! The lack of opportunity for New ! Zealand Rhodes scholars seeking 1 careers in their own country, referred to by the Chief Justice, Sir j Michael Myers, at a welcome to J. !e. Lovelock last week, has drawn (ready comment from educational j authorities in Wellington. There is i general agreement that a great deal 1 more could be done for Rhodes ! scholars and other outstanding studjents with overseas experience, particularly in the public service, j Professor T. A. Hunter, vicei chancellor of the University of New i Zealand, said he considered New | Zealand was backward in providing appointments for its graduates, but* it had to be conceded that a num- ' her of students would prefer to remain abroad in any case for theii' own intellectual reasons. In the j teaching profession at least, he {thought that a good case could be {made out for the better treatment jof returning graduates. Owing tq •the working of “grading," a fulltime student who went abroad on a post-graduate scholarship had no 'alternative when he got back, other ' than to start at the very lowest i position. University Staffs Professor W. H. Gould, Professo# iof Education at Victoria College, said that one of the main reasons for the lack of opportunity for re- ; turning Rhodes scholars and holders !of post-graduate scholarships was ; the gross understaffing of the uni- ! versily here compared with the staffs ;of universities in any other part of the world. The University of New Zealand should provide vacancies for a number of returning students, but the small size of the staff made vacancies very infrequent. There was no other university in any part of the world that did not have at least double the staff for the number of students attending. A student who went abroad on a post-graduate scholarship was penalised to such an extent that it did not pay him to come back to New Zealand, however anxious he might be to do so. Room for Scientists “People do not realise what work there is to be done in scientific investigation in New Zealand in the highly technical chemistry of cheese and butter research, in plant and stocH improvement, in forestry, and in dozen other scientific fields relating both to export trade and to indus- ■ trial production for the internal ket,” said one professor. “Take the case of New Zealand s most important crop—grass,” he said. “Despite the excellent work of the Department of Agriculture, comparatively little has been done, in comparison with what, from a strictly business point ofwiew, should be done, in the scientific investigation of pastures and grasses. New Zealand lives i by its soil, and yet it cap offer nothing to a New Zealand student who went to England to study and become an acknowledged expert on soil chemistry.” Bias Alleged “When I consider the opportunities that could be made in New Zealand education for returning graduates I am reluctantly forced to the conclusion that there is considerable personal hostility against them on the part of those in charge of the Education De* i oartment,” said Mr H. G. Miller, chief librarian of Victoria University College who was elected to the 1918 Rhodes Scholarship. Mr Miller was described in the official report as “a man of unusual ability.” . “The older men in the service have not generally had any opportunity to travel abroad and they have what used ; to be called a ‘trade union outlock ; unon younger competition, ’ continued ■ Mr Miller. “Up to the present, at . least, the Education Department has been not at all keen in employing i scholai's returning to New Zealand. Mr Miller quoted the case (a num- ■ her of years ago) of a Rhodes Scholar who wrote to the then New Zealaaa i Director of Education, from Oxford, ! asking whether there was any l bility of obtaining a position m the Ue- ! partment if he returned to New Zeai land. The director invited him to ran ■ if he returned to New Zealand, bu i when the scholar did call the director > had apparently forgotten his invitatiom The Rhodes Scholar, who had had eight ’ vears’ university training, asked that i he might be graded, and he was graded I to receive a salary of £215 a t plus a small marriage allowance. Couta 1 any Rhodes Scholar, asked Mr Miller,. 5 finding himself always welcome E English public schools where bis training was appreciated, be expected ■ return to New Zealand in such cir t ciunstances? : One of the main avenues of app°^ t ment for returning Rhodes Scholar* J should be the New Zealand civil service. said Mr Miller. But while the T civil service here was organised as » ' present, it appeared that appointment " of Rhodes Scholars was well-nigh im ' possible. In England the administra- ‘ tive division of the civil service made special provision for the entry of m who had undergone higher training.