BAN ON SMOKING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20985, 23 September 1931, Page 8

BAN ON SMOKING.

WOMEN AT UNIVERSITY. COMMON ROOM PROHIBITION. PROFESSORIAL BOARD'S DECREE STUDENTS NOT PERTURBED. Women students at the Auckland University College were advised yesterday that the privilege of smoking in their common room had been withdrawn by the professorial board. The privilege has been a short-lived one, as it is only a few months since the board decided to allow smoking in the common room. It had been rumoured for some days that the privilege would be denied, but the first official intimation was the following notice, which appeared in the room yesterday:—" Smoking is prohibited from now on, by order of the professorial board." This means that the only portion of the college in which smoking is now allowed is the men's common room. Women students interpret the ban as applying to the university buildings and also the precincts. They understand that a walk outside the cloisters for an occasional cigar ette will also be objected to. Asked last evening for an explanation of the professorial board's action, the chairman, Professor W. Anderson, said he did not wish to discuss the matter publicly. He indicated that the step taken by the board was a disciplinary measure. It is not considered likely that the women students will seek a lifting of the ban. It is not a burning question with the majority and the smoking element adopts a philosophical attitude. Ihey state that student life, as the layman understands it, is not a strong feature of the Auckland University. If the professorial board wished to move with the least possible opposition, it could not have found a better time than the present. The examination period is approaching and the majority of students are too busy with their preparation to worry over comparatively small matters. It is stated that it is now no longer possible to make up a bridge "four" in the common room.