UNIVERSITY ESSAYS

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 47, 25 February 1927, Page 9

UNIVERSITY ESSAYS

COUNCIL DISSATISFIED

(By Telegraph.)

(Special to "The Evening Post")

AUCKLAND, This Day. In the course of the discussion on the dearth -of entries for university essay prizes at the New Zealand University Council yesterday, Professor J. MaeMillan Brown (Chancellor) said the question was whether an opportunity should not be extended to'graduates to compete. . Eeferring to the Haydon prize, he considered that candidates were unduly restricted in having to limit their essays to 1700 words. He suggested that 4000 words should be allowed. ,

Sir Bobert Stout regretted that there \vas so little competition.

Mr. W. J. Morrell proposed that Professors of History and English should bo asked to bring before their classes the essay subjects relating to tlie work of their chairs.

Professor A. P. W. Thomas said that there should not be a dearth of candidates, as first-class passes in history were fairly numerous.

Professor T. A. Hunter endorsed the Chancellor 's suggestion that' post-gradu-ate candidates should be fallowed to compete. At present the difficulty was that an honours student had no time jto compete for essay prizes while preparing for his examination. He moved that tlie question of prizes be referred to the Academic Board for a report. "This University has no' right," he added, "either in the interests of education or morality, «.to send out people with prizes that are awarded on University work which shows them to be quite incompetent." The motion was carried.

The Chancellor reported that the winner of the Haydon Prize this year was G. H. Bignall, of Auckland University College. .There was only one entry. The subject for the next Haydon Prize would be "Problems of Sea Power in the British Empire Compared with that of Other Sea Empires Past and Present. " •