THE UNIVERSITY SITE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15717, 18 September 1914, Page 4

THE UNIVERSITY SITE.

| The long-debated question of a university site was again brought up last night in the House of Represen- | tatives. A St. John's College site and an Orakei Estate site were advocated by Mr. Vernon Heed and Mr. Ibadney respectively, the member for the Ray of Islands very lucidly pointing out that central lec-ture-rooms could very easily be provided for students requiring such facilities. To all but those who are wedded to the idea of a non-residen-tial institution, to be located as near to Queen Street as possible, and lacking in power of expansion, there is no difficulty whatever in providing by lecture-rooms for those who wish to attend lectures, and in retaining at the same time the true university ideal. Mr. Allen might have pointed out with absolute accuracy that the Training College students, concerning whose requirements so much is said, could easily have lectures—open to other students— ; in their own building. As a matter of fact, the argument that the College in which primary school i teachers are trained should dominate the' entire university problem is absurd. The College itself is badly situated, as is the Normal School on Wellesley Street. This street has become a busy thoroughfare, the in- \ stitutions in question having their location owing to local conditions, j which were naturally considered in past times, but which the great development of the city has quite outgrown. The Training College and the Normal School would now be much better placed in a convenient suburb where students and children would be removed from the noise of traffic, and could have suitable playing and recreation grounds. To drag a great university into the j heart of the city on the plea that this would suit lecture-attending students who do no true university work whatever, is little more than an apology for the attempted capture of Gov-1 ernment House. Sydney, with a modern suburban university, offers to all students the fullest central lecture-room facilities, and this is such an obvious solution of the alleged difficulty that it should be accepted. If it were not for the perverse claim set up to Metropolitan Grounds in the present and to Government House in the future, an Auckland University site would have been agreed upon long ago. There are at least half-a-dozen thoroughly suitable sites available, but any Government will naturally delay as long as possible with the excuse to avoid expenditure offered by local dissensions. This delay, however, has continued far too long, and a definite settlement of the question -should be demanded by our local and pro-; vincial members, including the member for Franklin, Mr. \V. F. Massey, whose sound views on the subject are well known. '