REUNION OF FORMER STUDENTS

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 187, 7 May 1934, Page 10

REUNION OF FORMER STUDENTS

Foundation Professors and Early Days MANY REMINISCENCES RELATED Opportunity was taken of bringing into reunion at luncheon on Saturday those former students of Victoria University College who had attended the ceremony of presentation of portraits of the four foundation professors at the college earlier in the day. The reunion, which was held in the Royal Oak Hotel, was a success in every way, a large and representative gathering being present. The chairman was Mr. H. F O’Leary, a prominent Wellington barrister, and a former president of the Victoria College Students’ Association The toast of the three surviving professors was proposed by Mr. H. F. O’Leary. Such an occasion as the present was to some extent touched with a note of sadness, Mr. O’Leary said. The fact that the college was commenced 35 years ago, and that they were that day honouring the foundation professors, showed the march of, time, but. sb far as the students were concerned, there was no note of sadness concerning the reeo\ lections and memories they had of tne old college days. The relationship between professors and students was always excellent, ami in the early days the association with the professors did not end in the lecture room. Those professors had their problems, just, as the professors of the present day had their problems with the students. Early Problems,

He did not refer to the problems that met them when they came out to New Zealand as professors of a university college which had no site, and in consequence hail to. deliver lectures in obscure buildings in the city. He was thinking of the. problems with which Professor Brown had to wrestle, such as the question whether “desideranda” was properly used in the college motto —(laughter)—a controversy that rent the scholastics of 'Wellington, or such problems as met a Indent, now an eminent member of the Supreme Court bench, who had the hardihood to turn up for examination in .a sweater. It was with the greatest difficulty that he was allowed to sit, Mr. O’Leary spoke further in reminiscent vein, and in conclusion paid tribute to Mr. G. F. Dixon for his happy thought in arranging the presentation and the reunion.

Professor Brown said he was quite sure that there had never been an occasion in the history of the college such as the present. -If was very rare for a university college to be established: it was rarer for three out of four of the original professors to serve in a reasonable condition of activity for 35 years, and it was absolutely unique for those professors to get their portraits painted and presented to the college while in that condition. (Laughter.) It was impossible for him to express the depth of his feelings in the matter, and no one was more surprised than he when Mr. Dixon told him some months ago of his intentions.

Speaking for himself, lie should like to thank from the bottom of .his heart his old students for their extraordinary help given to him in the carrying out of his duties. He did not think he had attempted to teach Latin in his classes; in fact, for the majority of students, it was really impossible to teach them Latin. But he had endeavoured to show that Latin was very much more interesting than what was taught in the schools, and the far-reaching influence it hjid throughout life, and that if its teaching were abandoned it would be a serious loss to civilisation. /A “Missionary” Journey. Professor Mackenzie said that fifty years ago he was a student of Professor Ranklne Brown when he had developed an inferiority complex, and it was still asserting Itself. Thirty-five years ago he accompanied Professors Brown and Easterfield on a missionary journey to New Zealand in the old Kaikoura. Before coming to New Zealand. Professor. Brown and he had lived and survived five and a half years of Scottish Sabbaths, and that accounted for the so-, briety, the solemnity and the dignity which had always characterised their work. ( Laughter.) Students of the early days had to take their work seriously, and that accounted for the great respect which

Victoria College enjoyed throughout the Dominion. The staff of the college, the graduates and undergraduates had always been such, and notwithstanding what one might hear to the contrary, Victoria College had invariably been on the side of the angels, on the side of the police, and on the side of the Government of the day. (Lau„hte .) Victoria College seemed to have commandeered the Supreme Court bench, and in the other professions it had also had great influence. He was extremely grateful for bis students thrusting, or trying to thrust, greatness upon him. , Professor Easterfield, in a nappy sneech gave some, interesting reminiscences of the early days. He recalled a chemistry class , held specially for lawyers at which some very distin"uished members of the legal profession attended. ■ Sir John Findlay had approached him saying that there was an idea that people studied science from the point of view of more gold, and he asked that a class in chemistry should be formed suitable for lawyers. A class was formed, but in the chemistry and science department of the college they were prepared to look at science from a point, of view other than the search for gold. Aim of University Teaching. Looking back at the students of the early years, he thought that they expressed appreciation of wliat he and his colleagues endeavoured to teach: not that they might get a degree, not that tliev might do something practical. but that they might enjoy scholarship for itself. To his mind, the occasion was a great one. and all should go away feeling that something worth while had been done. He would urge that records be kept about, graduates who had passed through the college. Dr Maclaurin, brother of the late Professor Maclaurin. accepted a special souvenir booklet commemorating the occasion, on behalf of his sistcr-in-luw. lie was sure, he said, she would feel it as an indication of the great feeling of respect toward the foundation professors. . „ The toast of “Absent Friends’ was proposed by Mr. G. F. Dixon, and replied to by Mr. F. A. De La Mare, who said ho could not pass over reference to the old days without mentioning Professor G. SV. von Zedlitz. who was treated with the greatest kindness and the greatest respect by everyone connected with Victoria College. His leaving the Institution was no fault of the college. The men who conducted the college stood four-square to duty, but should it happen in the future that Professor von Zedlitz should either come back’ to Victoria College in an honorary or other capacity, he would walk from Hamilton to see him take the place that was so much his due. Mr. Justice Fair spoke briefly on the benefactors of the college, mentioning especially Sir Robert Stout. The gathering closed with the sing-, Ing «f "Auld Lang Byne."