OTAGO AGAIN

New Zealand Times, Volume L, Issue 11664, 31 October 1923, Page 7

OTAGO AGAIN

RHODES SCHOLARSHIP DR. R. S. AITKEN CHOSEN FOR 1923. A BRILLIANT CAREER. t By the Rhodes Scholarship Selection Committee yesterday Dr. Robert Stevenson Aitken, ALB., Ch.B. was chosen as New Zealand Rhodes scholar for 1923. The chairman of tho selection committee, Lord Jellicoe, presided over an assemblage of the following gentlemen : —Tii© Chief Justice (Sir Robert Stout), tli© Chancellor of the University of New Zealand (Professor R. Alacmillrm Brown), the vice-Chaneellor (Professor J. Rankin© Brown), the chairman of the Board of Studies (Professor H. AY. Segar), and Professor R. W. Robertson, and Air C. W. Oiiray, LL.B., twe pact Rhodes scholars.

The chosen candidate is now 22 years of ago, having been horn on April 16th, 1901. Ho attended Alcsgiel District High School from 1907 to 1915, Gisborne High School from 1916 to 1917, and has been at Otago University ever since 1918. At Alosgiel District High School h« gained first place in New Zealand in the Junior National Scholarship Examination of 1913, and in 1915 lie topped the list of successful candidates in the Senior National Scholarship Examination. In 1916 he wa.- Dux of Gisborne High School and secured a Junior University Scholarship, being tenth on the list of passes. He was under age for this, however, and sat again the following year, this time passing second on the roll ©f successful candidates. The year 1918 saw him entered as a student at Otago University and lie passed his A fed ie a 1 Intermediate Ex ami n a t»o n with an average of 81 over four subjects. In 1920 he sat for and passed his First Aledical Professional 'Examination with distinction, and in x 921 was through his Second Aledical Professional, also with distinction. In 1922 he completed his medical course, graduating as AI.B. and Ch.B. securing also the Batchelor Alemorial Aleda) and Aledical Travelling Scholarship. And in the present year he wae appointed junior assistant to the Professor of Anatomy. Other teaching i positions which he had previously held were those of relieving teacher at Gisborne High .School from February, 192:. to February, 1922; Lectuier in Oati logy, in the Anatomy Department of Otago University from October i,1920, to October, 1922; Tutor in Anatomy and Physiology at Knox College from October 1922, to Alay, 1923. His athletic record is well balanced. In 1918 he wae a member of the second eleven and second fifteen at Gisborne High School, and in 1917 rose to the senior teams in cricket- and football. From 1918 to 1923 lie lias played teni nis and hockey. In the former sport “ho was ranked as an “A” grade , (senior) player in Dunedin during the 1921-22 seasons. At hockey he was first in tho Otago “B” team in 1918. i From 1919 to 1922 he was in the ! Otago University “A” team, and gainled a ’Varsity hockey blue. In 1921 anti 1922 lie was in the Otago representative hockey team.

Besides this, Dr Aitken has a good -■o'inl- and executive record. Ho was. a. prefect at Gisborne High School and a platoon sergeant in the Cadet Corps. At Otago ho has been on the committcce> of the hockey club, the Aledical Society, the Literary Society, the playreading circle, and the Debating Society. He has been secretary of the tenuis clu-b and of tho Students 5 Council, was a senior student in the midwifery class, and \va6 elected to organise clinical midwifery work, was captain of the hockey club this year, and contributed to the University and Knox College magazines, and one of the University’s two representatives chosen for the Joynt Scroll contest (the annual intcr-’Varsity debate).

In the required statement- of his interests and of his proposed line of study at Oxford, Dr Aitken remarks : “I am particularly interested in teaching, and have gained some experience here in the anatomy department, as well as in the position of tutor in anatomy and physiology in Ivnox College. If 1 should go to Oxford, my aim would be to take an honours course in physiology, and associate with it, if possible, some -work in psychology, particularly from a medical point of view. Later I hope to spocialbx; in medicine, with a view to teaching it.” The usual testimonials accompanying Dr Ait-ken’s application were from Air Frank Foote, 8.A., B.Sc., principal of Gisborne High School; from Professor W. p. Gowland. ADD., F.R.C.S., of th* Oliair of Anatomy in the University of Otago; from Professor T. I). Adams, AI.A., chairman of the Knox College Council; from Professor G. E. Thomson, M.A., Lit-t. D., of the Chair of Alodcrn Languages; and LieutenantColonel J. H. Moir, late N.Z.E.F., commanding First Battalion Otago Regiment. These pay tribute to the successful candidate’s marked ability. Professor Gowland calls him “exceptionally brilliant”; Mr Foote dwell* upon his fine personality mul “orderly, methodical habits of mind”; while Professor Adarup bears witness to his “unusual gift of clear and interesting exposition,” and his “natural power of taking command.” Lieutenant-Colonel Aloir, who has known Aitken for over 14 years, sums up his knowledge as “unselfish to a fault, and inspired with an ardent loyalty to friends and duty, he is, in my opinion, a real man.”