CANTERBURY COLLEGE

Press, Volume LXXX, Issue 24444, 19 December 1944, Page 4

CANTERBURY COLLEGE

Plans For Expansion iAnd Development

CHAIRMAN’S REVIEW OF YEAR’S ACTIVITIES

Reviewing the outstanding events °f the last year, and P^ ec^ n {2r b urv future, at a meeting of the University College Council yestoday. the chairman (Mr J. H. E. Scnroaen said the council stood at. the pomt where it was hoped to a very large step forward m the improvement of the college buildings. ot ,. ll<!lv The council was waiting anxiously for annroval of the new chemistry block, said Mr Schroder!, and there was reason to regard toe authority for proceeding with the buildmg as b ® in f hj a t hand. The consequence would be that one of the college’s most serviceable buildings would be free for the ac commoaation of other, departments, However, only a measure of relief to accommodation needs would result. it would not be possible to think that the council had broken the back of those needs until it was authorised to proceed with the building of a new kbrary, and the department of geography was properly housed, and until the School of Art had been moved to its new site, with the transfer of the department, of music to a new building. During the . year, contmued .Mr Schroder, the coimcil had made additions to the staff 1 -as a step towards the expansion of the college. Perhaps this had been rash, .but the step had been taken as an instalment for future developments. The council hoped to be able to move much further. •The point ,had been reached where the other three university colleges had moved into .line with the Canterbury College Council, and had agreed to support plans dealing with salarie-, superannuation, and allied matters, it would then be possible to make a united drive against the Government to secure reforms were long overdue, , , . During the year two new departments had been introduced at Canterbury College, said Mr Schroder, They had been the departments of electronics and applied chemistry. These developments were a kind of earnest of the work the college would be undertaking later. The council; was on the point of making an appmntment to the department of electronics. . Some of these expansions had done more to put the college .in touch with the business community of Christchurch than anything else recently, said Mr Schroder.- Evidence of this was the fact that the council had received more aid from outside sources in the city than ever’ before. Mr Schroder mentioned the assistance given by the Municipal Electricity Department and private firms in the establishment of the two new departments. In the Denham Memorial Laboratory' would be a great body of equipment supplied by people outside the college, The college authorities should never be so foolish as to. allow the contacts made with the business community to be weakened. The list of replies to approaches made for the expansion of the Canterbury Museum was as yet incomplete, added Mr Schroder, but the volume of encouragement for the proposal had been very great. Replies had been received from 18 local bodies out of a total of about 28. Of these, 11. headed by the Christchurch City Coimcil, had agreed to the rating proposals; four had deferred it until next year; two had declined to be rated; and one had conditionally agreed to the proposals. Nine had agreed to make contributions in cash. Mr Schroder expressed appreciation of the work of Messrs A. E. Flower and A. A. G. Reed, and the director of the museum (Dr. R. A. Falla) in furthering the appeal for the expansion of the museum. Commenting on Mr Schroder’s remarks, Mr J. wyn Irwin said the council should certainly step up its drive against the Government for reforms in salaries. •

Mr T. H. McCombs, M.P., said the council had -to realise that its proposed buildings were not the only ones in view; 'Auckland University College wanted to erect an entirely new set of buildings at Tamaki. and the other colleges also had building plans. “We must see that we do not. fall behind the others in pertinacity,” Mr Schroder said.