THE UNIVERSITY SITE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15998, 17 August 1915, Page 6

THE UNIVERSITY SITE.

The tone of yesterday's meeting ol the University College Council was on the whole, unfavourable to ar early settlement of the University site difficulty. Some members were disposed to take a reasonable am public-spirited view of the questior and to weigh the manifest advan tages of the site under offer al Mount Eden against the Orakei pro posal put forward by the Mayor Others held tenaciously to the con tention that unless Metropolitan Ground be made available there car be no University College in Auck land. Every resident of Auckland [is familiar with this attitude. It has for years prevented the erectior of permanent university buildings |and may be the cause of further in ! definite postponement unless the i public insists upon an early decision in favour of an available site. The invitation extended to the new Minister for Education to visit Auck land to inspect proposed sites is , open to no serious objection ! although it is somewhat difficult tc see what is to be gained by furthei reviewing a matter upon which the considered decision of Cabinet anc the. unmistakable feeling of the people of Auckland are in complete accord. Mr. Hanan may as wel familiarise himself with the various sites under discussion. He will find, if he cares to inquire, that the citizens of Auckland believe firmly that, they can have a popular Univer sity while retaining Government House and grounds. An excellent University site is under offer al Mount Eden. The objection to it seems to be summed up in the grotesque, claim that a university ceases to be democratic the moment it is removed beyond a stone's throw from Queen Street. This will hardly be sufficient to satisfy the intelligent democracy of Auckland when the College Council has to face the obvious duty of either accepting the Mount Eden reserve or finding an acceptable, alternative.