HIGHER EDUCATION.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 914, 6 September 1889, Page 28

HIGHER EDUCATION.

The presentation of de-

greea to the successful candidates for TTniver-

sity honours on Saturday last again brought into prominence the claims of this city to be the site cf a ttdiversity College. \Ve are not con-

founding th 9 University of New Zealand with a University College, the latter being the stepping stone to the former, from which the honours -proceed. This necessity of a University College for Wellington was dwelt upon by all the speakers last Satur*dav, being forcibly uttered bv the Chancellor, Dr Hector, and Mr j. R. Blair. Both gentlemen, clearly and logically, gave their reasons, and we can heartily endorse all that they said on this question, so momentous to the young people of our city. Considering the condition of Wellington, from an intellectual and educational standpoint, wo find it at a great disadvantage compared with centres where the stimulus of higher education is not wanting. It is a fact, and wo regret to admit it, bat we have it on the authority of experts, that the status of our secondary education is behind that of both Canterbury and Otago. We do not mean to assert that the want of a University College is the only cause of this backwardness, but we do insist that such colleges exercise a vast amount of influence in the general development and tone of a community. Take for instance the nistribuiion of scholarships, and it will be seen that the number that have fallen to the share of Wellington during all these years are quite disproportionate to the population, and are nowhere in comparison with other mala centres. Again with regard to degrees during the years University Colleges have been in operation. [Fifteen Hundred and eighty five candidates presented themselves for preliminary examination, and of this number 1074 passed. This, in the first place, is clear indication of the necessity for University Colleges, and, in the second, that as one-fourth of the 1585 were Wellington students, there is at least as much need for a college in .Wellington as at either of the.other centres. Wellington annually equips one hundred students for the University course, but the percentage of passes obtained is meagre ' to a degree, and can only be attributed ro want of facilities for the prosecution, of the higher studies. These had reached the threshold or i-he higher educational life, and. had there been greater local advantages for the pursuit of it it is reasonable to conclude they would have been seized with avidity by those who had jought a good fight to a certain point, and then found the'way to further advancement barred to them through want of means. It is only a lew of the more favoured students who are in a position to transfer their studies to Cnristchurcb, Dunedin, or Auckland. To the great mass of the people there is no stimulus to intellectual life ip Wellington. The want of this reacts upon their ordinary social life. ft is perceptible in the households and stunts the status and affects the habits of the members. The higher the intellectuality, if it is linked with high ethical attributes, the greater the happiness, the more substantial the contentment obtained. Hot a member of the household but is beneficially affected by it. The mere existence of such people is artistic and scientific compared with the average humdrum of the masses. Their sphere is exalted, for they really have touched the higher life. And such people may be anybody or everybody if the opportunities for advancement are placed within the reach of our young folks. What a fillip would be given to the national system, of education of this district if a University College was within sight, so to speak, of every boy and girl! The educational ladder would be complete before them, and, swarming up it, lads and lassies in eveiy degree of advancement- 3ome at the very bottom, a few near the top —their bauds almost grasping the greater prizes. As it is, there is the ladder, it is true, bat there are no rungs in a section of it. Wo are doing our youngsters a <*ruol wrong in condemning th*-.m to such a serious handicap in the educational race, hoi the best positions, not only in the educational,world but in r,ne ordinary walks of life will bo monopolised by those who, having grasped the higher educational -advantages placed right within their reach, hare benefited to the uttermost by them. Amt, where such aovantages are not, there the people must occupy a lower position than those who are affected by the higher stimulus. The pupils of our secondary schools feel this acutely. To many of them the land of promise is * in sight, and they cannot reach it because of the unbridged chasm that intervenes. Out of Wei-

lington they may not go, and in Wellington there is nothing for thorn. Year after vear students of the greatest promise find their way blocked, and perforce resign themselves to a career of mediocrity. Touching the cost of maintaining a University College, Wellington is, as wo have pointed out in previous ar tides, at a great disadvantage in the matter of endowments compared with Christchurch and Dunedin.- Both of those places absolutely revel in maintenance derived from.endowments set apart many years ago. Auckland, on the other hand, has a college endowed by a charge upon the Consolidated Bund of £‘4ooo per annum. Such a sum would amply suffice the needs of a college in, Wellington for years to come, and "if it were allowed would be a -charge upon the fund for the whole Colony for University Colleges c£ only £BOOO. We ft did hope that some steps would have been taken 'during this session of Parliament to have done Wellington the bare educational , justice ihe city is so clearly entitled to. Wlien the very influential deputation waited upon the Premier in May last upon the question of a University College for Wellington, he freely admitted the - reasonableness of the propo sitions set forth, and promised to give the question the most serious consideration. A Ministerial statement of the kind is, of course, worth what it is worth, and that is not much when political exigencies come in the way. Put the fact of the all bub passing of a Bill framed by Bir Robert Stout in 1887 to provide for the establishment of a college in Wellington might have induced Ministers to make another attempt ,in a similar direction. That Bill made provision for the very moderate payment of £ISOO a-year out of the Consolidated Bund in support of the University College, and also for the appropriation of a certain proportion of the proceeds of the Wellington College reserves which, in. the not very distant future, will become enormously valuable. Since that time the Government have half promised to endow a University College in Wellington with the site and buildings of the Ministerial residence in Tinakori-road, formerly occupied by the Premier. As a site for a University College we do not approve it, but as a source of revenue it could be made of great value, while the University itself might find a place, as was formerly proposed by Mr J 1 1. Blair, in the Wellington College grounds, which are some twenty-eight acres in extent. It is of course hopeless t;o expect anything in the way of legislation this session, but the=people of the city' will be open to a charge of criminal apathy if they allow another year to pass without laying a sure foundation for a University College to rest upon. ’ Its inception must be undertaken at all risks, and if there is the hearty unanimity that should distinguish the pursuit of such an object, we are quite sure it will be captured with comparative ease, and put to the purpose the higher education of this city is now famishing for.