Doctorate Conferred On Professor Wall

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29268, 28 July 1960, Page 16

Doctorate Conferred On Professor Wall

With the full ceremonial of the University of New Zealand, the Chancellor (Sir David Smith) last evening conferred on 90-year-old Emeritus Professor Arnold Wall, of Christchurch, the honorary degree of doctor of literature. As the pink hood, cap, and scroll of this rare degree were presented, the large audience broke into a prolonged ovation.

Led by the Esquire Bedell of the University of Canterbury (Professor L. L. Pownall) with the mace, the official party (including members of the Senate from Wellington) moved into the hall to an organ processional and then “Gaudeamus" was sung. At the request of the Chancellor of the University of Canterbury (Mr C. H. Perkins), Sir David Smith convened a meeting of a committee of the Senate and the ■university orator (Professor J. C. Garrett, who now occupies Professor Wall’s chair of English) read the citation. Conferring the degree. Sir David Smith said that the University of New Zealand and he personally were delighted so to honour Professor Wall as professor, writer of prose and poetry, mountaineer, botanist and broadcaster—a national figure. Professor Wall responded with an address on the “explorers” in learning. When formal proceedings had ended, Professor L. G. Pocock gave a personal appreciation of Professor Wall. University Orator Professor Garrett presented “Arnold Wall, professor emeritus of the University of Canterbury, to receive the degree of doctor of literature (honoris causa) for his work as scholar and poet and his services to the English language in New Zealand.” The university, its professors, and lecturers, had collective pride in his achievements over a very long period, said Professor Garrett. Initially (from 1898) Professor Wall held the combined chair of history and English at Canterbury and, when the subjects were separated in 1906, he continued as professor of English language and literature until his retirement in 1931. “During those arduous years, when he was busily engaged in teaching, in administrative tasks, and in the promotion of the library. Professor Wall found time to pursue his linguistic research, to write poetry, and to explore the mountainous terrain of this country, ever in search of botanical specimens,” said Professor Garrett He then recalled

the most important of Professor Wall’s works. Speaking of the written and broadcast commentaries on “The Queen’s English,” Professor Garrett said Professor Wall had—what was given to few scholars—the capacity for sharing his knowledge with those less learned than himself. “National Institution” “His contribution to the literature and language of this country has been extensive and long sustained,” said Professor Garrett “Few men have become, through persistent attention to the habits of a people’s speech, almost a national institution. But his achievement, when viewed in relation to his other interests and activities, has also a quality of uniqueness. “If a man’s life seems, on retrospective survey, to have completed a design or pattern, then that life has found true individuality,” said Professor Garrett. “Professor Wall’s achievement in three distinct fields has (viewed broadly) that inter-relatedness which reveals a design—for each activity has had its bearing on the others. “Scholarly concern for the living language issued at length in a concern for the naming of living things in our natural landscape; his passion for the language issued also in poetry; which in its turn reflected the beauty of the land he loved so well. His pursuits in life thus reveal the wholeness and the uniqueness which are the marks of true distinction. We are glad to honour him, for he has brought honour to us," said Professor Garrett.