TRUST ACCEPTED. BEQUEST FOR A SCHOLARSHIP.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 25, 30 January 1908, Page 7

TRUST ACCEPTED. BEQUEST FOR A SCHOLARSHIP.

'A RELIGIOUS DIFFICULTY. DISCUSSION AT UNIVERSITY SENATE. It was announced in Tb« Post last week that the lato Dan,iel O'SuHivan, of Pleasant Point, near Timaru, JmkJ ( by his will made on 17th S«ptenib«ri 1907, bequeathed the residua of j hi* estate after the fulfilment of certain trusts therein contained, to the Uni« versity of Now Zealand for the pur' pose of founding a Sullivan scholarship, or scholarships, for medical students ol the Roman Catholic Faith. The present value of the estate aa shown in the stamp accounts was, it was stated, approximately t £4800, subject to payment of legacies and costs, charges and expenses. To-day, at a meeting of tha Univei* sity Senate, the chancellor moVed-~ • (1) That tho senate expresses its gratification at the generovis benefaction .which Mr. O'Sullivan has bequeathed for educational purposes. (2) That it would be contrary • to precedent and not in accordance with the spirit or intention of oup university constitution, as explained in its acts and chapters, lor the university to administer such a trust. - > - (3) ThjA the trust , should,' ..in,' the opinion of the senate, b« trann- ' " ferred to the Public- Trustee to «d» 3 minister. J (4) That so far as examinations, etc., are concerned, the university will be glad to assist the Public Trustee in administering the .trust. ANOTHER MOTION. Dr. Fitchett moved an amendment that the bequest should" be, ¦..ec.eepted with thanks and the hope that'it-maj be the forerunner of many beneJactiont from public spirited citraenfi =fo* th« advancement of sound learning through the medium of the "University ,'of "New Zealand. He further moved th»t iff every cans, where, -oa here, the university received a benefaction,, VHkn is not open to , students generally,: but is confined to - a specified! -claaV the money should be kept distinct from the university funds, and for' that purpose be placed in the hands of th« Public Truste-a. . :'_-,. The chancellpr 'considered that tlu bequest should be ' handed over to the Public Trustee,"*ahd 'maintain jthe,"purely secular character of the university. Dr. Fitchett submitted that there was nothing to 1 justify the refusal of a private benefaction for specific, purposes. He failed to see that the acceptance of a bequest reserved for members of t certain church was in any v?aj..pij>pos ing religious tests. -Thara-' .jvas n« practical difficulty in working out i scheme for administering the terms' oi the bequest. The university and th« Government should not interfere W?tl a private benefaction. -There .was noi the least danger ol introducing sectarian strife. Mr. yon Haast, in supporting the chancellor's motion, recapitulated th* extreme difficulties that .were . jnv6lved in the question. ' "LET THEM ALL'COIiE;" The Hon. J. A. Tole proposed that thoy should take tho bequest rinipliciterand movtd that the benefaction; should ba gratefully accepted by, the. #enat*. He submitted that to roject the bequest was not in the spirit of ths university. His idea, was "Let them all come," whether Socialists, <, Free-Thinkers, ot what not. The university had nothing to db with enquiring into the matter. Ssetarianism was a more bogey. Thtf "whole of the statute was an anomaly. Its wording was such as to forbid a recurrence of ¦ the intolerant Acts of centuries past. It was strange that the benuest should be almost simultanepus with the chancellor's complaint in his address of the lack of generosity in public benefactions. They were "willinir. to take the bequest, but paly by a side tvackt vicariously. There wwass s the bogey that men would profess to ba Catholics iust to qualify ' for' the scholarship. He had noticed that when he became Minister for Justice a" number of prisoners suddenly „ betyma Catholics. Ha' asked the senate to consideV the question carefully. Tho firßt clause of r ths chancellor's motion was carried. ' / ' Mr. Baume pointed out that the statute forbade tho imposition; of a religious test, if the trust were accepted. The question- was finally simplified by the chancellor as to whether the trust should be accepted or not. The senate- voted by 14 to 6 for tfeo acceptance of the trust.