Evening Post.

Evening Post, Volume LXXI, Issue 148, 23 June 1906, Page 4

Evening Post.

SATUBDAY, JUNE 23, 1906. A FITTING MEMORIAL. « So many wild and wasteful projects have already been suggested in honour of Mr. Seddon's memory, and so many more suggestions of the same kind are likely to be still forthcoming, that) it is a pleasure to see the excellent proposal from Mr. Leonard Tripp which we print in another column. We do not think that anybody can take exception. t)o the three points by which Mr. Tripp suggests that any scheme should be tested: — "(1) The memorial should be such that itl will appeal to all olasses of the community. (2) It should be of an Imperial nature. (3) It should be one which would have met with tlhe support of Mr. Seddon if he had now been with us." To these unexceptionable conditions we should have liked to see a fourth added; viz., that the proposed memorial should Dake the shape of some work of permanent) utility — a condition from which our correspondent's own proposal has no occasion to shrink, though he has not expressly included it in his general statement! of the preliminary points. The memorial should be one of a permanent character, of a useful chaTacter, and of a character to appeal to all classes of the communitly. The canon of utility will exclude such a project as that to which the House of Representatives committed itself when, on the motion of Mr. Seddon himself, it decided to commemorate Queen Victoria' 6 virtues by voting £15,000 towards the cost of a statue in London ; and this precedent may seem to establish a conflict between Mr. Tripp's third canon and that which we propose to add. But it) is surely fairer to judge of a stateman's wishes by the general trend of his work and the general set of his mind than by a 6ingle outcome of a passing mood. Practical work and not emotionalism was certainly the keynote of the late Premier's career, and he would desire accordingly that tfhe practical element should take precedence in the proposed commemoration. The second of Mr. Tripp's propositions — that tho memorial, should be of an Imperial nature — seems to follow almost as of course from the first. If the memorial is to appeal to all classes of tho community, what aspect of Mr. Seddon'e career makes so broad an appeal to his fellow-colonists as his Imperial activity? ' ' I lay stress on the fact that the memorial should be of an Imperial nature," says our correspondent, " because I believe that nearly every onei in this colony, whether n© or she was opposed to Mr. Seddon in our local politics or not, was a warm supporter of his when it came to Imperial questions." Mr. Tripp accordingly proposes that the commemorafcior should be of Mr. Seddon, th« Imperial statesman, and that it should take the form of an endowment, not of anything bo bizarre as a chair of Imperialism, but of a. scheme which in a small way wil] supplement the preat work instituted by the munificence and public spirit of Mr. Cecil Rhodes. The collection of public subscriptions towards a "Seddon Memorial Fund," the investment of the moneys by the Public Trustee, and tho provision of scholarships to enable the holders of them to pursue their studies at a university in the United Kingdom, America, Canada, or Europe, are the main features of Mr. Tripp's scheme. Into the general arguments that might be advanced in support of this proposal we need not enter at length in a community which fully appreciates the value of Mr. Rhodes s foundation, and is proud to share its privileges. "It would be the means," urges Mr. Tripp, "of keeping the youth of Now Zealand in touch with tho youth of the Mother and other .countries " ; and the mere effects of travel and of contact with other points of view are an education in themselves, and often enlarge the mind and stimulate the imagination in a way that book learning at a distance, though it may formally supply tho same general truths, is powerless to achieve. No more apposite or more striking exampla could i>6 desired than that of Mr. Seddon himself. During recent years he has been identified throughout the Empire with the most vigorous Imperialism, but hie note when he first took a portfolio was a very different one, and we may surely look to his visit to London on the occasion of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, and his, close association then with Mr. ChamberhuD and the Premiers of other self-governing colonies, as marking the turning-point. Analogous benefits for tho statesmen of the future at an earlier and more impressionable- ago are sought by the Rhodes Foundation, and by the scheme now under consideration. But the lincfl proposed by Mr. Tripp, though similar to those laid down by Mr: Rhodes, are far from identical with them. Mr. Rhodes limited his scholars to Oxford, but Mr. Tripp's suggestion is that the_ Seddon scholars should have the choice of any university in Europe or the United Stales — a suggestion which is rather cosmopolitan than Imperial, and must expect to be criticised accordingly. A narrower patriotism of the school which demands that our culture, and our scientifio experts, like our tramcars and our railway engines, should dl be "made in New Zealand" will object to the privileges being enjoyed beyond the limits of the colony ; and, though we heartily approvo the scheme bo for as relates to th& United Kingdom and the other colonies (Mr. Tripp names Canada only among the latter), something of wider and strictly local application might well be added to meet this not unnatural and not altogether unreasonable jealousy; as, for instance, Mr. Fisher's proposal for tho endowment of a technical school on the Mount Cook site. If the Government provided the aite and the building as it stands, publio subscriptions would surely suffice to complete the endowment and equipment of a technical school that need not feftr comj}«ißoajyi&ii.WJj^and tojoro-.

vide a big sum for an Imperial scheme besides. In one important point Mr. Tripp's proposal differs from the Rhodes Trust, viz., in selecting a more youthful class of candidates, the age limit which he suggests being from seventeen to nineteen years. "The Rhodes Scholars, aa that trust is now carried out, are," he says, "chosen from our university men; that means that the scholar must first go through the university here before he can be chosen, and will therefore be twenty years or older before he, goes to Oxford. This, to my mind, to a certain extent limits the scholarships to those who want to take up science research, or the teaching professions. A scholar chosen, under my scheme would be able to take up almost any profession or calling in life." Mr. Tripp deserves well of the community for the best suggestion yet made in this matter, and we shall be disappointed if room cannot be found for his general idea in the memorial that in to. be.