They were no angels

Press, 8 May 1978, Page 1

They were no angels

The first students at Lincoln College were clearly no angels, according to an account left by the college’s first head, Mr W. E. Ivey.

At the centennial dinner on Saturday evening, when 500 people from as far away as Scotland sat down in the refectory, Professor J. D. Stewart, present principal of the college, recalled that Mr Ivey had kept a register in a leather-bound book.

Professor Stewart quoted Mr Ivey’s comments about some of the first students of the School of Agricuh ture, as Lincoln was then called, at the end of their studies in 1881.

Student A: English very bad. Mathematics nothing. Indolent and vicious. Spoiled at home, I think. At any rate no use here. Student B: Son of an honourable gentleman. Possessed nothing but conceit. Thought himself the son of a great squatter. Student C: Presbyterian. Educated at Christ’s Col-

lege. Very backward indeed. Knew next to nothing. Education neglected. Concerned more for horses than learning. Student D: A good fellow for his size. Too small for horses.

Another early head of the college, Mr W. Lowrie, was recalled by Dr D. B. Williams, the director of Roseworthy Agricultural College in South Australia, who proposed the toast to Lincoln College. He said that Mr Lowrie, who was much revered in Australia for initiating the use of superphosphate on semiarid lands in South Australia, had left Roseworthy in 1901 to come to Lincoln: Australia had lent him to New Zealand for a period. Dr Williams said he saw the need for agricultural colleges to reach out beyond the confines of agricultural technology, and and this he believed would characterise Lincoln’s sec-* ond century.

The Minister of Educa-

tion (Mr Gandar) who began his remarks in Maori, said that when he looked back on the life of the college he doubted whether true recognition had been given to the multi-cultural nature of New Zealand’s society. Among agricultural graduates, he said, the Maori people had been definitely under-represented. He hoped that this would not continue.

Replying to the toast to the college. Professor Stewart pledged that it would continue to strive to produce scientists of high calibre, extension workers with empathy, and farmers who were leaders and innovators.

The college’s refectory building was enlarged by a temporary structure to hold the guests and the refectory- staff did all the catering for a multi-course meal which included roast pheasant and fresh fruit pavlova.