Oxford Honours N.Z. Historian

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31091, 21 June 1966, Page 9

Oxford Honours N.Z. Historian

The New Zealand historian, Professor J. C. Beaglehole, has received the honorary degree of doctor of literature from Oxford University.

The honour was conferred on Professor Beaglehole, the joint professor of history at Victoria University of Wellington, at a ceremony in Oxford University on June 4.

In a tribute to Professor Beaglehole at the convocation, the public orator described him as “the historian of Pacific exploration” and “a master of literary elegance, who has described the exploration of the Pacific with an accuracy exceeding even that of the Roman historian Lucian.” The tribute, in Latin, continued: “He has also clearly shown his grasp of the de-

velopment of Pacific societies and of Commonwealth relations. Above all, he has edited for the Hakluyt Society the Journals of Cooks and Banks, producing volumes splendid in both scholarship and format. “He has done good service to New Zealand in many ways. “Of his poems, may be mentioned in particular his ‘Praise of Johann Sebastian Bach,’ and his ‘Commemoration of the death of John Mulgan.” A spokesman for the Victoria University of Wellington said that this rare tribute in the traditional terms of academic eulogy indicated the high regard in which Professor Beaglehole is held by Oxford University.