NEW RHODES SCHOLAR

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15480, 11 December 1913, Page 7

NEW RHODES SCHOLAR

MR, W. M. JONES SELECTED.

AUCKLAND'S FIFTH SUCCESS,

f STUDENT AND SPORTSMAN.

[BT telegraph.—press association-.]

Wellington*, Wednesday. The Rhodes- Scholar Selection Committee met this morning, His Excellency the Governor presiding, and chose Mr. William Meirion Jones, B.Sc, of Auckland, as New Zealand Rhodes scholar for 1913.

The committee, including His Excellency the Governor, the Earl of Liverpool; Sir Robert Stout, Chief Justice, as Chancellor of the. University of New Zealand; Mr. Justice Chapman, as next senior Judge available ; Professors Segar (Auckland), Picken (Wellington], Chilton (Chrietchurch), Malcolm (Otago), and Mr. Barclay Hector, Registrar of the University of New Zealand, met at Government House, and as the result of careful consideration, chose the Auckland candidate. Tho unsuccessful men were Mr. F. E. McKonzio, Victoria College, Wellington, Mr. G. Lambie, Canterbury College, Christchurch, and Mr. H. W. Slater, Otago University, Dunedin.

FINE SCHOLASTIC RECORD. Mr. William Meirion Jones is 20 years of age, and is tho youngest sou of Mr. D. • W. Jones, headmaster of the Papakurai public school. Born at Papakura Valley, Mr. Jones received his early education in his father's school. His scholastic record is a brilliant one. At tho 1904 examinations he qualified for both a junior national and a junior district scholarship, and entered the Auckland Grammar School, being then considerably younger than the boys amongst whom ho was placed. In spite of this ho beat all-comers at the senior district scholarship examinations in 1906, heading the list for tho Auckland Province. Two years later ho was awarded a senior national scholarship, coming 16th for the Dominion, but being under 16 years of age he was precluded from accepting it. In 1909 he won a junior university scholarship, being fifth on the list for New Zealand, and as he was then old enough to be matriculated, he became an undergraduate at the Auckland University College. During his career at the'college, Mr. Jones gained first-class passes in every subject in which he kept terms. He won premiums in pure mathematics, applied mathematics, chemistry, and, geology, and was placed second in Latin. At the November examinations last year he gained His B.Sc. degree, winning senior scholarships in both pure and applied mathematics, these being tho onlv two senior scholarships which fell to Auckland students. At the November examinations of this year ,lio sat for his M;Sc. degree, his honours subject being mathematics, but the results of those examinations are not yet available. Scholastic achievements alone do not ensure a candidate's selection as a Rhodes scholar.'' Considerable attention is paid to excellence in athletic sports, and on this side Mr. Jones's record is a good one, hockey being the game to which he has devoted most attention. At the beginning of the season which has just ended, he mado is debut as a senior grade player, and by the time the representative teams were selected his unusual promise as a fullback had _ earned him inclusion in the second senior representative team which toured the Auckland Province. Mr. Jones is also a tennis player of considerable ability, and shows promise as a cricketer. ' In the social life of the college he has done good work. In 1911 he was treasurer of tho Christian Union, and secretary of the tennis club; in 1912 he was the recording secretary of the Christian Uniorl. a member of the Executive Committee of {he men's Common-room Club, and in 1913 executive president of the Tennis Club, and secretary of the Musical Society. Mr. Jones is tho fifth Auckland candidate out of eleven to secure selection as a ''Rhodes .scholar, the other four being Messrs. S. N. Ziman, K. Sisam. A. G. Marshall, and A. Wallace. Auckland now holds the record for Rhodes scholars, Otago being next with four.