NO N.Z. RHODES SCHOLARS

Evening Star, Issue 21354, 7 March 1933, Page 11

NO N.Z. RHODES SCHOLARS

WHY CHOICE WAS WITHHELD . PERMISSION TO DOUBLE NUMBER NEXT YEAR [Per United Press Association,] WELLINGTON, March, 6. In the course of his remarks at the opening of Weir House to-day the Gov-ernor-General (Lord Bledisloe) made special reference to the.action of the Rhodes Scholar Selection Committee in not selecting a Rhodes scholar at the last annual meeting. “ My only contact with the output of the university colleges odours once a year,” said His Excellency, “ when I preside over the Rhodes Scholarship Selection Committee. Many quite capable young men of good intellectual calibre, physical fitness, and athletic prowess present themselves after selection for nomination by their respective colleges, but seldom can wo honestly say that wo are impressed with their outstanding ability or exceptional intellectual equipment, their marked capacity for leadership, or their desrire to be of service to their fellow-country-men or the Empire as a result of their vocational success, following upon Ihe privilege of an Oxford University ition. Sometimes, too, there is a strange absence of the mode of poiilo phraseology and address which the average New Zealander possesses, and which should be specially conspicuous in a university man. “ It was under these circumstances,” continued His Excellency, “ that we declined last year to make any recommendations to the Rhodes Trust, partly because we wore not satisfied that the candidaes who presented themselves complied with all the conditions so carefully and precisely laid down by that far-sighted Empire builder, Cecil Rhodes, in constituting his historic testamentary trust, and partly because we felt that it would prove in the long run to bo a disservice to this dominion to send to Oxford a New Zealander who, by comparison with Rhodes scholars from the other parts of the world, was lacking in outstanding academic achievement or the capacity for leadership. At our earnest representation the Rhodes , Trustees in London have recently intimated their willingness to accept'from New Zealand during the coming year twice the normal number of nominees on our assurance that they possess the requisite high standard of character and achievement, so that the number of Now Zealanders at Oxford University will not in future fall below the average of the past. .It will require a special effort and a sense of special responsibility on the part of the university colleges to find if there is available a, suitable personnel to satisfy this temporary concession.”-