UNIVERSITY CONTROL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20072, 9 October 1928, Page 13

UNIVERSITY CONTROL.

MORE MONEY FOR AUCKLAND. SCHOOL CIF ARCHITECTURE. ESTABLISHMENT OF CHAIRS. NEW PROVISION IN BILL. [liV TELEGRAPH—PRESS ASSOCIATION.] WELLINGTON. Monday. 'Hit! New Zealand Universities Amendment Bill was passed .by the House l this evening. The Minister of Education* Hon. R. A. Wright, said a contentious clause was that giving tho Minister the right to veto the establishment of new chairs, but he was prepared to include provision in tlio bill that where tho State was no' 6 called on to pay any part of the salary connected with a new chair, the right of veto would not exist. Subsequently a clauso to this effect was introduced. By Governor-General's message further amendments to the bill were introduced. Tho Minister said tho amendments provided for an increase in the financial assistance to universities. Tho finance of universities had been examined by an expert and there was no doubt they were in need of assistance. Students had greatly increased in numbers, but the staffs, had not been increased and this must be done, while assistance must be given to special schools. Tho addition to tho grants amounted to between £9OOO and £IO,OOO. Tho Auckland University College is entitled to a payment of £4OOO under the Auckland University College Act of 1882 and in 1914 provision was made for a further annual payment of £SOOO. This extra payment was increased to £7500 in 1919. The grant is now raised to £9750, of which £1260 is to be used for a School of Architecture at the college. Mr. M. J. Savage (Auckland West) said the tendency of the bill was to bring the university under tho control of the Minister. This was not altogether new, but in this measure it was most pronounced. 110 was seeking to control chairs, and instead of giving the university a statutory grant of money, it was now to have an annual appropriation, which meant that tho university would be at the mercy of tho Minister. Mr. T. K. Sidey (Dunedin South) thought even with tho proviso suggested by the Minister tho proposal to veto new chairs should be dropped. It was a new principle and should not be pressed at this time, but the Minister should trust to tho discretion of the University Council not to do the wrong tiling. The Minister had mentioned the duplication of the chairs of forestry, but that duplication was due entirely to the Government. Tho Minister said it was not proposed to interfere with the teaching of the university. All he said was that if a university wanted to establish a new chair and asked the Government to pay for it, tho Government should at least have a voice in the matter. 'lhere were two chairs of forestry in New Zealand, and tho country could not afford to keep them going because the country could not absorb more than one forestry expert a year. The subsidy of local bodies to the Workers' Educational Association was not affected by the bill, but the association would as a result get an additional subsidy of about £6OO a year. The bill, with amendments, was passed. THE FINANCE BILL. BORROWING POWERS. PUBLIC WORKS EXPENDITURE. [BY TELEGRAPH.—SPECIAL REPORTER] WELLINGTON, Monday. The Finance Bill, introduced in the House of Representatives to-day, empowers the Minister of Finance to borrow £3,000,000 for public works and £2,000,000 for the purpose of the Railways Improvement Authorisation Act. A clause authorises an advance to the Waihou and Ohinemuri Rivers Account of £50,000 from the Consolidated Fund. Provision is made for the maintenance of tho military police force in Samoa, and another clause deals with the application of profits accrued in connection with the Samoan reparation estates account. The sum of £12,000 is to go to the Samoan Treasury, not more than 50 per cent, of the residue for the development of the New Zealand reparation estates and the balance to the reserve fund. There is a validating clause in connection with rpfunds made after the due date under the Motor Spirits Taxation Act. Tho bill provides for extra travel facilities for members of the General Assembly or alternative means of transport between their homes and Wellington. Members may travel by service cars at the public expense in cases where no convenient railway or steamer service is available. Members shall be entitled at any time to travel by the Union Steam Ship Company's steamer between Wellington and Lyttelton and Wellington and Picton at tho public expenso. A clauso enables the Minister of Finance to make refunds of totalisator duty in any case where he is satisfied tho refund is required by the racing club for expenditure during the year in which such refund is made, for the erection of, or permanent improvements to, stables on land not forming part of its racecourse, or tho discharge of such liabilities incurred by it for such work. ARBITRATION ACt. AGREEMENT WITH SHEARERS. [BY TELEGRAPH. —SPECIAL REPORTER] WELLINGTON, Monday. A short amending bill to the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act, to give sanction to an agreement between the Shcepowners* Federation and tho Shearers' Union, was brought before the House to-night. The l'rimo Minister said under the law as it stood now it was not permissible to make industrial agreements for a greater period than three years. The Shcepowners' Federation and the Shearers' Union had conio to an agreement covering a period of five years, the wages to be on a sliding scale, rising when prices for wool were above a certain level, and coming down in sympathy with any retrograde movement. The bill was simply to validate the agreement. PRICE OF TOMATOES. VARIATION IN SHOPS. [BY TELEGRAPH. —SPECIAL REPORTER] WELLINGTON. Monday. In tho House of Representatives to-day Mr. J. McCombs (Lyttelton) drew attention to a statement that in certain Wellington shops hothouso tomatoes were ticketed at 2s a pound, while in other shops Island tomatoes were ticketed as hothouso tomatoes at Is a pound. This,* he said, constituted misrepresentation and unfair trading. Tho Minister of Industries and Commerce, Hon. A. D. McLeod, said this matter was not directly covered by the Board of Trade or by regulations unjjer it. The department stated there was no necessity for making any such regulation, tho purchasers having the right of action at law.: