NOT CIRCULATED

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12455, 25 May 1926, Page 7

NOT CIRCULATED

UNIVERSITY BILL CONFERENCE THIS WEEK An unexpected turn has occurred with reference to the now University Bill. Last January the New Zealand University Senate was asked to appoint n representative to confer with representatives of tho Government. It appointed Professor T. A. Hunter. No approaches fo the Senate’s representative wore made, however, and though the next meeting was moved forward in order to enable the'consideration of the bill to take place before the session, the bill was not corculated among members of the as was originally arranged. It is stated that this was due to the fact that there was no Minister for Education, and that the Prime, Minister, to whom the Bill was submitted and who had changed his mind, decided that the Bill should not be sent out. The present position is that the college councils have each been asked to appoint two representatives to » departmental conference on May 28th. Further conferences will be held between the chairmen of the Professorial Boards and representatives of the Senate, respectively, and the nominees of the Department of Education. Each of these three conferences will be separate and members of the Senate have expressed- astonishment at thq method adopted by the Government. The Senate long ago sent in its suggestions as to tho framing of the Bill, and it was universally supposed that at its May meetings it would have the bill before it. But the three meetings arranged will not have any concrete proposals before them, and in any case the Senate, which is the goverfling body in university education, will have to consider the bill finally or endorse any new proposals which may Mb put forward. As the Senate has already sent in its suggestions members of the Senate consider the conferences now arranged to be superfluous. It is pointed 7 out, also, that the office of chairman of the Professorial Board is in most instances a rotary office and does not necessarily moan that the chairman is the person whom tlie hoard would choose to represent it.