THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. SATURDAY, JULY 29, 1905. THE UNIVERSITY SITE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12931, 29 July 1905, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. SATURDAY, JULY 29, 1905. THE UNIVERSITY SITE.

*,\ , . Auckland is about to have a university building somewhat suited to its requirements and we would call, attention to the great necessity of agreeing forthwith upon a suitable site. . The building'will come. That may now be considered certain. What we should do is to avoid all possibility of friction by considering where the best available site.is to be found and uniting to - obtain /it for our. future Auckland University. We gain nothing by putting off this question and risk very much by leaving it undecided and unconsidered, to be hastily and possibly very badly answered at the very last moment. For there are two distinctly opposite , views of , where " a university should be situated: The one taken throughout the . world by all who have perceived the real bearing of a university upon industrial and commercial life, as we'll as, upon the arts and sciences the other to which the Government may be inclined in order to settle, the matter as cheaply as possible.-- The university, may 'be near the centre of the city, or it may be four or five miles out in the suburbs. As it will be non-residential there is every reason in favour of the central site and i none against it excepting upon the i score of economy. In all the university cities of the colonies— Adelaide, Melbourne, rind Sydney, in Dunedin, Christchurch, and Wellington, as in Toronto and Ottawa— the university stands near the heart of the town. Similarly in every city of, the .United Kingdom which has built up a great School in connection with a diverse civic- life— Edinburgh, London, Birmingham— university is prominently central. If we go . afield in Auckland weshall : make a departure from the recognised system which has nothing to justify it and which is opposed to all modern' experience, which will depreciate greatly the practical value of such, an institution and cause us for 'endless years unavailing, regret. For in modern times a university is not only a School for students whose whole time is devoted to learning, but, is ' the rallying-point of ' the intellectual progress of ...the entire community. Merchants and manufacturers have now an interest in university work not less than that of lawyers, doctors, mathematicians, and classical scholars, and the popular classes . and lectures attached-to modern university schemes form an important feature of their organisation. If we are to have successful popular classes and successful popular lectures, and otherwise■ to 'extract ; the greatest advantage from our university for those who are not able to spend their entire time in 'its' precincts, we must' fix its site well in the centre of the city, as sites have -been fixed in every modern town that has helped to place Higher Education upon a popular and encouraging basis.

Fortunately we have in Auckland a.site which would be all that could be wished if it could be obtained, and the attainment. of which does not appear to be difficult if the Government is sympathetic. We refer to the piece of ground in the rear of Government House, and now attaching to that establishment. ■ It would not be desired to detach from the residency of the Governor when in Auckland any portion of the ground necessary for its reasonable seclusion but the piece in question does not appear to: be in any way necessary for the maintenance of the "Vice-regal comfort or dignity. Naturally we cannot speak as freely of Lord ' Plunket as we • could of ■ Lord Eanfurly, who 'in his seven- years of office gradually established the most complete harmony between himself and the people of this colony, but we are sure that His Excellency mil sympathise keenly with the university spirit and will lend Auckland his assistance to smooth over any difficulties that might arise in this connection. We believe that * the great majority, if not the ;?frole, of the professors would welcome this solution of the. site question, and that it has also the tentative approval of the Chancellor of the University. Nor is this remarkable . when we consider even for a moment the unique advantages it offers, ' lying close to Queen-street, the wharves, and the railway station, yet in a residential neighbourhood and surrounded by some of the loveliest views that we have in Beautiful Auckland. In this spot, which could not be excelled and could hardly be equalled, it may be possible to secure for the University a site of about an acre in extent, ample for all immediate and apparent uses, in close proximity to the Choral Hall arid in close touch with the tramway system. Within five minutes' walk of the very centre of Auckland and in the . best possible connection with the suburbs in every direction and on. both sides of the harbour, we could not better it. We would urgently represent that unless it is found quite impossible to secure

this site, for reasons now unknown, all those interested in the university question should unite- in the. effort to obtain it, so that there may- not be diverse and antagonistic suggestions placed before the Government. For as we have pointed out, agreement upon ' a site is just now the most important part of the question. The means for erecting the building are practically assured. It is the site—and we must , have a suitable which is yet lacking.