KING GEORGE VI MEMORIAL

Press, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 26671, 4 March 1952, Page 6

KING GEORGE VI MEMORIAL

SUGGESTED ENDOWING OF COLLEGES PURCHASE OF ANCIENT BRITISH HOMES (New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, March 3. A scheme for the Dominions to perpetuate the memory of King George Vl by endowing memorial schools in England to which would be sent scholars from all over the Empire has been suggested by Mr Frank Luke, of Wellington. Mr Luke recently returned to New Zealand after a 15-month visit to the United Kingdom. There he found that increasing numbers of England’s .stately homes were being demolished or allowed to tall into disrepair because their owners could no longer afford the cost of upkeep. Many of these large homes Were unsuitable for conversion ihto smaller dwelling uhits, and few purchasers of entire properties appeared to be offering. He suggests that one old home be bought by New Zealand and possibly two or three by each of the other larger Dominions, and that they be maintained as memorial Colleges. To each of them the Dominions would Send each year a numbar of students in their early teens. Thus would British subjects from many countries complete their formal education together in the Mother Country and in the company 6f United Kingdom scholars, it beihg assumed that the British Government would be a party to the scheme. Each student would be awarded an Empire scholarship tenable for three years.