UNIVERSITY INJURED

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 266, 5 August 1932, Page 11

UNIVERSITY INJURED

Dismissal of Professor REFLECTIONS IN NOVEL S, Cape Town, August 3. Professor H. P. Lamont, of the University of Pretoria, who was tarred and feathered following the publication of a novel containing reflections on the descendants of the “Voortrekkers,” has now been dismissed by the Council of the Pretoria University, which states that he has estranged the Afrikaans section to the incalculable Injury of the university. Professor Lamont, author of the book, "War, Wino and Women,” was tarredand feathered recently by four men as a protest against anti-Afrikaans sentiments which he was said to have expressed in the book. He was roughly handled, and released almost naked in the middle of the city. The incident was the culmination of a "heresy hunt," lasting several weeks. Professor Lamont wrote the book under the pen name of Wilfred Saint Maude. It aroused vehement protests from Afrikaans-speaking people, who demanded its withdrawal from circulation and dismissal of the author from the university. In defence of himself Professor Lamont said it was absurd to attribute to him the sentiments put in the mouths of some of his characters, but since certain references in the book had given offence, he would unreservedly withdraw them and delete them from future editions.