LETTER FROM MINISTER OF EDUCATION.

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 25, 30 January 1924, Page 8

LETTER FROM MINISTER OF EDUCATION.

(BI TELEGRAPH.—PRESS ASSOCIiri.IV.) , - ' DUNEDIN, 29th January.

A special meeting pf the .University 'Ccuncil1 was held this afterriepn for the' purpose ef cpnsidering the departmental repert pn the ' accommodation provided at the Otage Dental School. The meeting • was attended by the Vice-Chan-cellor (Mr. T. K. Sidey, M.P.), Sir Henry Ferguson, Messrs. W. Eudey, J. C. Stephens; W-., J. Morrell. J. Wallace, J. Scurr, J. Bennie, J. S. Douglas, and Drs. Fitzgerald and Marshall Macdonald. The business was introduced by the registrar (Mr. Chapman) reading the folic wing letter frpm the Hon. C. J. Parr (Minister ef .Education): —"I enclpse fpr your information a copy of the report en the dental accommodation submitted by the committee, .set up as a result ef ypur deputatien pn 23rd Octeber last. The repert calls attentien to the serious deficiencies ,in, the ■ standard of training given by your dental schpol, and particularly tp students' lack pf practical experience; ;owing' 'to 'the insufficiency ef clinical material. Frem their nature these ebjecticns will apparently netlbe met by mere granting ef sp large a sum as f £38,000 asked I_r by your council/and the erection cf a new schepl at .Dunedin. This 'defect. would seem to be spmewhat serieus, aiid unless the' objections mentioned are everceme I feel I ijhall be ebliged- tp place befere ~ Cabinet 'proposals ' for ...a more satisfactory solution of the whole pro-' bl.em of dental training. ■ I shall be glad to reoeive such comments and suggestions. as your cpuncil may deem' fit tp make." Proceedings, were.taken .in committee.) As a result pf the. deliberations it was decided to send .a telegram to , the Min-1 ister of-^du_catipji,;-a^gg''-io's.. l arcopjr,pi;-i the evidence on which' the departmental Cemmittee's repeat was based, and, further, that the whele questien, be remit-• ted tp the Finance, and Medical Cemmittees pf the council. It was also decided: "That this council offers a strong protest'against the' extension of tli 6 original order of. reference of the Departmental Cemmittee to a: general inquiry into the status and- efficiency pf the Otagp Dental Schepl, the purppse lor which the cemmittee was presumably not originally selected, and also against the course taken by phe committee ,in coming to a decision on the extended reference without giving the Otago Uni- ■■ versity Council _n opportunity of being I represented before it." . '. j