CAPPING CEREMONIES.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1029, 19 January 1911, Page 4

CAPPING CEREMONIES.

SHOULD THEY BE ABANDONED? 1 Sir Robert Stout is not enamoured of the college capping eeremony, particularly .that feature of it which is sanctioned by tradition, and-in his official capacity as Chancellor of the New Ztaland University he said so, with considerable emphasis, during his inaugural address at the opening of the annual meeting of the Senate at Christchurch yesterday. "The Professorial Board of Victoria College," he said, "has written suggesting that the capping ceremony should fce placed under the control of the Proftssorial Boards. In my opinion, if the capping ceremony is not to be under the University, then tho University should take steps to simply forward the diplomas to those entitled to them, and this can be done by registered p° sta se> leaving the affiliated colleges to have such ceremonies as the managing bodies of those institutions may consider proper. I for one should favour tho abandonment of the, present capping ceremony. At one of the ceremonies last year the conduct of the students was such that in my opinion no ceremony should be held in connection with tha't institution for some time to come. I intend to bring the matter before the Senate. The expense of these ceremonies is considerable, and in some" of the colleges the junior students resent any address on educational subjects, and I fail to sec the necessity of continuing a ceremony that ceases to be of any educational value. I exceedingly regret that,this should l>e so, but those who desire to speak on higher education, and to bring claims before the public most, I am afraid, take some other opportunity of doing so than at our' only popular meetings, for in many centres they receive scant courtesy from ■ the undergraduates if they attempt to ' speak on educational topics."