THE WELLINGTON COLLEGE.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4147, 6 July 1874, Page 3

THE WELLINGTON COLLEGE.

[From the Canterbury Press."] We congratulate the people of Wellington on the efforts that are being made in that Province for the promotion of the higher education. Hitherto Wellington has been behindhand in this respect. We do not say so as intending to convey a reproach. Compared with Canterbury and Otago Wellington has always labored under difficulties which fully account for the wide difference that exists between them. It has* possessed only a modicum of territorial revenue; and that disadvantage, which it shares with other Northern provinces, has been aggravated by the state of chronic embarrassment which till within the last two or three years has prevailed in its finances. So great has been the want of means as to render the maintenance of any educational system almost impracticable ; nor, when the primary schools were being mulcted of their subsidies, could it be reasonably expected that money would be forthcoming for grammar schools and colleges. Still, whatever tho reason, the fact remains that in Wellington the means of higher education have always been defective. There is a school which we believe has passed by the name of a College. It was founded in 1868, and slenderly endowed with lands set apart for the purpose in 1853. But it has not proved successful. Mr. Andrews, in his report on the institutions affiliated to the University of New Zealand, mentioned it in very unfavorable terms. He described it as " decidedly inferior to any other institution he visited;" and spoke of the "lack of discipline," the "low standard of the school," and "the absence of a well advanced upper form." Of late, boys whose parents have wished them to receive an education of the better kind have been sent to the College Grammar School in Christchurch. But it is to be hoped that this state of things will soon be an affair of the past. The Governing Body of the Wellington College are now doing their utmost to effect a radical improvement. ' We trust that the success of the College will not be impeded by any money difficulties. We heartily wish it good speed, and shall be gratified to learn that it is fulfilling the most sanguine anticipations of its founders. We may hope, too, that the progress made by Wellington will excite the emulation of Auckland. Nothing can be more satisfactory than that the collegiate institutions of Auckland and Wellington should be placed on an equality with those of Nelson, Otago, and Canterbury. This is all tho more necessary in view of the proposed change in the constitution of the New Zealand University. According to the scheme agreed upon at the last meeting of the Council, tho University will resign its teaching functions, and will restrict itself to the work of testing results by examinations and of granting degrees or rewards of merit. The practical training up of the youth of each Province will bo left to the local affiliated College. Under this system the Colleges become of the first importance. They are indeed absolutely essential. Tho ■ establishment in every capital town of an institution in which youths can receive the full amount of training requisite to prepare them for a University degree is no less vital a part of the system than the University itself. In fact, the Colleges might exist without the University, but the University without the Colleges would bo a nullity.