MINE MANAGERS CERTIFICATES.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 97, 17 January 1908, Page 9

MINE MANAGERS CERTIFICATES.

' REGULATIONS CRITICISED. [BY TZLEGUAm. —JMtESS ASSOCIATION.} . ■ Auckland, January 16. ' At.tho mcetjng of tho Auckland University .College Council this afternoon, a letter n-a'a road i'roni ! l J rofcasor Jarman, of the Scnool ;of Mines, drawing attention to the regulations for tho Now Zealand mine managers' ceitificates, under which graduates and associates of . the University School of Mines wei-o unduly handicapped in that no .allowancewwats t made for the time already spent in obtaining a high technical training. This tiaining, i the l'rofessor wroto, was of such a naturo as. to require the whole time and energy of tho student. It was not sufliciont for hir.i to do underground work in the daytime and spend tho remnants of his energy in studies in the evening as at tho goldfields schoob of mines. But, having spent four : years over this .technical training, the graduate was still required to put in tho full live years of practical work to qualify for a 'mine manager's'certificate, which was equivalent to saying that lie was unable to learn tho practical side of his profession any more rapidly than a man with no such training,who nad also never been in a mine in his life. Ho contended that a graduate or associate, by reason of his high technical training (four years in ono caso and three in tho other), could learn as much, if not morc, : of tho practical side of mining iu three years than an ordinary person could in tho' five years required. by tho Act. It was of considerable importance that local graduates should take their part in the underground development of Now Zoaland mines, but the olfect of tho present regulations was to cause many highly-trained technical men to migrate to Australia and elsewhere, whore tiio conditions were less onerous. There wns,eon- ■ eluded I'rofe ssor Jarman, considerable opposition at the Thames and elsewhere against such a reform, and he therefore respectfully urged that a letter urging the Council's view of the matter be sent to the Minister. Oil tho motion of Mr. liaume, it was decided to accede to the request of Professor Jarman, and se.nd h copy of his letter to tho Minister, requesting that efFbet be givon to it.

. The' Christian College at Boston, New Hampshire, is bringing an action against a 'minister named Hoffman, because he refuses to pay a certain sum. Mr. Hoffman gives as his reason for not paying that tho "College is an infidel institution, inasmuch as it refuses to accept as true the Biblical story ,or Jonah aud the whale. ■ "