SIR JAMES HIGHT HONOURED

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25765, 29 March 1949, Page 4

SIR JAMES HIGHT HONOURED

APPOINTED EMERITUS PROFESSOR

FOURTH AWARD BY COLLEGE

Sir James Hight was appointed the fpurth Professor Emeritus of Canterbury University College at a meeting of the college council yesterday. Sir James Hight, a former rector of the college, retired this year from the chair of history. Sir James Hight had a great knowledge of the problems of the city, its institutions and families, coupled with a very retentive memory, said the chairman of the council (Sir Joseph Ward), moving the appointment. As rector he had always been noted for his willingness to help students, said Sir Joseph Ward. As an economist he would be remembered for his work on the governmental committee which hgd recommended the alteration in the exchange rate long before the recent war.

Sir Joseph Ward also paid a tribute to the late Mrs Hight, and to Miss Hight, for their interest in Sir Janies Hight’s work. “Perhaps we shall remember him longest for his charm of personality,” concluded Sir Joseph Ward.

Sir James Hight’s Career Sir James Hight, who was born i: 1870, entered the Christchurch Train ing College in 1891 and began hi studies at Canterbury University Col lege. He graduated Bachelor of Art in 1893, gaining a senior universit; scholarship in English and French an the Tinline Scholarship in English. H graduated Master of Arts in 1894 wit: double first-class honours, in English

and in French. From 1896 to 1901 he was chief modern languages master at the Auckland Grammar School. His first appointment on the staff of Canterbury University College was as lecturer in constitutional history and political economy. In 1904 he became a Fellow of the Royal Economic Society, and in 1906 he was the first recipient of the degree of Doctor of Literature from the University of New Zealand. Appointed professor of history and economics in 1909, Sir James Hight became professor of history in 1920, when the chair was divided. In 1927 he was professor of history at the University of Leeds, on exchange. He became rector of the college in 1928, and retired from this position in 1940. He retained the chair of history until February of this year.

In 1934 Sir James Hight was made chairman of the Academic Board of the University of New Zealand, of which he had been a fellow since 1911. He became pro-chancellor of the university in 1938.

Sir James Hight served on a number of governmental commissions, including the Royal Commission on the Cost of Living in New Zealand in 1912, the Board of Trade investigation into the coal industry in 1918, and the Economics Committee of 1932 (of which he was chairman). He was formerly a member of the North Canterbury Education Board and chairman of the Board of Governors of the Christchurch Technical College. He has been actively associated with the Workers* Educational Association since its formation in Christchurch. He was created C.M.G. in 1932, and knighted in 1947. His publications include “The Governance of New Zealand” (1905), “The Constitutional History and Law of New Zealand’’ (1914, joint author), “The Uses of History” (1935), and many published articles. He - was adviser for New Zealand and a contributor to the Cambridge History of the British Empire from 1927 to 1933.

The other emeritus professors of the college are Professor W. P. Evans, Professor Arnold Wall, and Professor J. Shelley.