N.Z. VETERINARY SCHOOL

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27698, 30 June 1955, Page 15

N.Z. VETERINARY SCHOOL

SYDNEY DEAN’S VIEW OF NEEDS VISIT BY PROFESSOR , R. M. C. GUNN “You have a dearth of veterinarian!, and the only remedy is a school near home,’’ said the Dean of the Veterinary School of Sydney University (Professor R. M. C. Gunn) when he arrived in Christchurch yesterday. Professor Gunn had been asked about the siting of the proposed veterinary school for New Zealand, but said he could discuss only general principles. “If you have a school of your own. there should be more people ready to take up these studies,’* Professor Gunn said. The present necessity to go to Australia must be a deterrent to would-be entrants. Australia now had two veterinary schools —at Sydney and at Brisbane—and it was noticeable that they drew students largely from their own localities. There was just as great a need for these services in Western Australia, but few students came from there. Proximity to kindred .centres of learning was important in locating such an undertaking. Professor Gunn said. A professor of veterinary physiology, for instance, could gain great help from a nearby medical school's department of physiology. Likewise biochemistry, nutrition, and other studies benefited from association with similar work and training in medicine. Sydney had a university almost as big as Edinburgh, but its remoteness from main centres of learning raised problems which would apply even more in New Zealand. If New Zealand decided to set up its own veterinary school, the facilities offered for research would be a big factor in attracting staff of high qualifications. Professor Gunn said that his school had recently been able to offer* a man in industry a considerable increase on his present salary, but because private enterprise supplied him with magnificent research opportunities he declined appointment New Zealand should note this lesson from Australia. Although Professor Gunn is inter- 1 ested in the New Zealand proposal, ‘ the main purpose of his visit is to assess this country’s requirement- in veterinary teaching from his own W>. : yersity. He said he also wanted? learn about services to farmers an* current practices in animal husbanX? For this reason he will spend the no?* few days travelling round Can t er" This evening Professor Gum wC]i meet the Canterbury branch of tk» New Zealand Veterinarv Associatioa whose members include manr of hii . former students.