BISHOP HADFIELD HOSTEL.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 461, 20 March 1909, Page 6

BISHOP HADFIELD HOSTEL.

A HOME FG.fl STUDENTS. COMMON LIFE AND FELLOWSHIP. Tho University of New Zealand differs from tho oldor, Universities of Oxford and Cam-bridge-in-one essential respect. It is nonresidential. • - There tho undergraduates:, for tho most' part' h:) ( v.o rooms in college, or if . lodging out" of college at. least dino. in hall eVory day and shaj-© the common life. Here tho-university, is merely a teaching and examining body. .Students have to make' their own ■ arrangements- for board and lodging;' and,' in spito-bf such united, action, on their . part,-and the'excellent work of athlefic,, musical, ; and. debating societies,, they ' are necessarily more isolated'than is tho case at the older' universities. It'was "partly to supply this want, that tho Hadfield Memorial ' Hostel, was founded iast year, in 'memory, qf a great- arid, good man . who gave the best years of his life to bettering the condition of.Maori, and pakeha in the Wellington privincfi. Money was • raised partly by suDsoription arid partly by a grant from tho Har'ingtqn Trust, an educational trust in 'cohnedtion.'with tho Church of Bngf land. - Plans have been prepared for a largo brick building,'' of Which, one xing :has been completed, with. accommodation' for a warden and, eighteen students. . . .. . ,Tho. Hostel will reopen next'Monday'under the charge of, the Rev. A. W. H. Compton, M.A. ■-Maiiy: 'of- ';Jho studehts sit Victoria College are' resident in . Wellington; but : quite a number/come from other centres, and for those board'and • lodging'must, be . .found. There are special advantages for theological students. attending -Victoria College, as . 'he warden is prepared to devote the greater part of His time .to their tuition, this subject not ..being included in the curriculum of V ictoria Cofiege. * ' 1 ■To help' a deserving theological student,the '■ clergy of the Wellington Diocese have raised'an Exhibition of the annual value of £50; which is'still' unfilled. But .the Hostel is by no : . means merely a-tl»eological oollege.. It is' also open to'other students, who neednot ncceisanly bo'members of .the Church of; England,- :'as 'long as they' are willing , to 1 con--form to the rules, which are;few'and simple. Tlius a wider atmosphere' is .provided: for the theological students, who -are sometimes trained in: institutions where, they only, have iritercohrserwith men of' their own way; of thinking. '; The system of . tho Hostel seems likely to .produce'a hardier individual. The building, stands at Kelburne. in. a commanding position, high and healthy, Borne four hundred fifty feet above the sea. It- is only, tell minutes', walk from the. cable ; tram, and the ssi'me distance from Victoria College; -'In-.this -respect. it' Compares' favour-'' ably with St. - John s College in' Auckland,'• .wbich : is'.six'- miles}- from the .university: - Herethe"'students will -have 1 ' a' pleasant: home,' well; furnished;'-with, the^great; co'nyepierice .'. o'f olectric light', ap'd.'tele'pnone; board:.arid;lodging .anil''a.'certaip.'amount'''of tuition being, supplied for 'the modest sum of 22s'.- _6d. v per week.* ■ There are ;still- several • vacancies, and will bo glad!to hear as soon as' possible from any" student's who have passed the'matriculation'^'examination-.'-Complaints of tho dearth of clergy arc frfequent;- and -here is. a unique opportunity of training for student contemplating ordination; and for .the -general student, a common life and fellowship'such as is rarely found in a lion-residential university. . . .. V

The warden is a-member of Emmanuel Col-, lego,. Cambridge, which' was founded in • the sixteenth' centuryby,':,Sir,'Walter .Mildriiay, Chancellor to -Queen Elizabeth.Speaking of his' work at the close of• his life ho said:— "I'faaVe j>lante<}\ an acorn,' which , when it "is grown/' God only knowetli what the. fru it thereof shall; be."' The words were strangely prophetic. Not many years afterwards,' John Harvafd,.-a.worthy son of Emmapuel College,,emigrated to America, where he foundsd the now famous' Harvard University, carrying something of the older culture into the new world. ! And now, in a far smaller way, and in a hewer :dnd more distant laJid, another acorn has-been sown. What its fruit may bo will depend in large measure on the tone' and character given to : this institution by its first students.