ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 416, 27 January 1909, Page 4

ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES.

MODERN DEVELOPMENTS. NEW PROFESSOR FOR CHRISTCHURCH, Mr. J. M. Gabbatt, tho newly-appointed: Professor of Mathematics'..at'- Canterbury . College, was a passenger from England by. the lonic, which arrived .yesterday afternoon. The new professor, who is quite a'young man, and unmarried, had a successful university . career, which. was' all the more interesting through being divided between one of the oldest' and one of the newest of Erig-. lisli universities. From 1897 to 1900 he wits, a student of Liverpool University. He obtained a first-class in mathematics arid the Derby Scholarship.; He was at Cambridge from 1900 to 1904 as - a scholar of" Peterhouse. He was Eighth Wrangler in the; mathematical tripos, part 1, 1903, and won first-class honours in tho mathematical tripos pai't'2, 1904. He then accepted,an,appoint-" ment as lecturei' on mathematics at, University College, Nottingham, and filled that post from October, 1904, until the end of last November, when he relinquished it to come out and talco up his-new and important position at Ch'ristchnrch. ; His appointment is for -three-years in tho first instance. 1 . ... '. In. conversation with a Dominion, reporter, Professor Gabbatt said .he expected to . find', the; Now Zealand University, mora, like t-lie. new'universities such as "Liverpool, Man-.-Chester, Leeds, Sheffield, and Birmingham than the.old..'foundations of .Cambridge and' Oxford. . The new English universities! were doing, excellent work, though of a very different type.from' that of the old ones; -The. former made it i cardinal aim to keep closely in touch', with, industrial .life., '..Their -.techno;logical.,'wbrk' .yras .-by.' far' the inost important side! ~ot. their , activities. ', : They . trained a •large.,number of . engineers,, and, tho Leeds University devoted special 'attention..'to" dye T ing.. ( Big manufacturers. jn many instances, reduced' the duration of, apprenticeships, in consideration of periods of study at these liniver'sities. . Solicitors , also were accustomed to knock, a year off their articles in the; sahio way.,-.. The residential advantages "of the _ older .universities were, lacking, but a beginning;was being .made: with, the estab-: lishment ofhostels. This, however, was not likely to develop into anything comparable , with the social-side of lifo at, Oxrcrd or : Cambridge.. At, these placos culture, "rather; than industrial efficiency was the aim, whilo sport .and: society 'were the-;,main, attractions:' for mftriy-,.'students.- Nevertheless,' thfe '.best:] teachers 1 and the best' students were 't6' be-| found at- th© older universities. ".Many. who . •go there,", sa.d Professor , Gabbatt, " are much more anxious to get their, .'blues'' than' their degrees." In choosing a university for oneself, finance would enter, largely into the' decision, as Oxford, and Cambridge were far more expensive than tho more modehi universities. ~ ,- :, Professor Gabbatt left. for. Lyttelton by tho: Mararoa. last night.