COLLEGE EXHIBITIONS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXV, Issue 16567, 3 June 1914, Page 4

COLLEGE EXHIBITIONS.

DEARTH OF HONOURS IN MATHEMATICAL CLASSES. INTERVIEW WITH MR WOOD. Tho question of College exhibitions is being discussed by members of tho Board of Governors of Canterbury College, ant! it is probable that tho following motion will bo moved ut tlio next meeting of the Hoard, nn June 29:—"That tho Professorial Board be requested to report on the conditions which regulate the award of College exhibitions, with a view to. equalising, as far as possible, the standard of attainment exacted in tho several subjects." In an interview yesterday, Mr L. B. Wood, who is a member of the Board. ;;r.ii that ha hoped that the motion, if it were moved, would be carried, as ho believed that it would bring about a solution of difficulties which "at present Faced tho Board. Tho failure of students in recent years to gain College exhibitions in one of the most important departments of study, Mr Wood continued, had given rjso to much anxious deliberation on the part of the members of the Honrd for some time past. Those exhibitions, of the value of £2O each, originally six. but now fifteen in number; were offered for annual competition in all Hie leading subjects of instruction. The award of an exhibition was the highest distinction the Colletre conferred on its undergraduates, and to win one was the ambition of every student of ability. Established ?n the yenr of the foundation of the College with the laudable intention of encnurcg'ii'r sound attainment, those prizes had been signally successful in rewarding the first indications of merit in men" and women who afterwards bad attained to eminence in their several walks of life; and the "Roll of Exhibitioners," published annually in the College calendar, was by far tho most convincing testimony of the success with which the professors in the past had discharged their lugii functions. Year after year, in unbroken continuity, the never-failing certainty of the awards was a lasting monument to the virtues of the men who had done so much to discover and encourage the budding talent of the pupils who sought their instruction. No small honour was due to the professors who first discovered and then encouraged men of the calibre of Mr T. S. Foster, who was awarded tho exhibition in Latin in 1579 and again in 1880; Dr C. Chilton, mathematics and natural science in the same year; Dr W. P. Evans, mathematics in' 18S1 and again in 1S82; Mr T. W. Rowo, English in 1883 and Latin in 1884; Mr R. Speight, mathematics in 188.5, and experimental science in 188". and so on to' the years 1891 and 1892, when Mr J. Hight appeared as the winner of tho exhibitions in English. These half-dozen names formed but a very 6mall fraction of the total numbor on the Roll. They were selected for special mention because the Collego, here for the first time, seata its imprint on men who subsequently took high University honours, and now ill of them were distinguished membera-of its teaching staff. There were other?, and those quite a host, who hail achieved distinction in wider spheres of activity. Indeed, tho nnnua! list of awarda never failed to record some name of note right up to tho time of highest water-mark, when Mr W. S. Marris and Sir E. Rutherford were bracketed equal for the exhibitions in mathematics. In those two undergraduates, Canterbury College revealed an extraordinary vein of talent, which neither Oxford nor Cambridge could surpass, " You will, I trust," Mr Wood continued, " pavdon this brief excursus i?i praise of great men. The fact is, I have just been reading an interesting article on 'Life, in Cambridge,' written by ono of the younger generation of Canterbury exhibitioners!, who has lately gone into residence at that University, and my mind is still subconsciously impressed by his vivid description of the annual "Founders' Day service in the beautiful chapel of King's College, when the lesson is 'Let us now praise famous men, and the fathers that begat us.' But to return to tho subject. All of us who arc in any way ,

intimately connected with Canterbury College are justly proud of our exhibitioners, and until recent years we had no reason to fear that there would be any dearth of talented , members among the undergraduates to continue tho unbroken line of honoured names. Tho professors, with one marked exception, hayo never had any difficulty whatever in discovering mon and women of sufficient acquirements to justify them in awarding the distinctions at their disposal. Five year 3 ago, however, the vein of talent in the mathematical department, which had continued unbroken for thirty-one years, suddenly petered out, and no award has been made in pure mathematics since 1908, and only one in applied mathematics. It goes without saying that such an untoward state of things cannot be tolerated any longer without great detriment to the College. Every endeavour must be made to recover our lost prestige in the department of mathematics, and I hope that the Professorial Board will have an opportunity of inquiring into the position and making a report." m _