UNIVERSITY PROBLEMS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18032, 4 September 1920, Page 8

UNIVERSITY PROBLEMS.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —I have read with interest the articles on university problems. In the second article of September 1 the writer states: "One of the first tasks of the board when associated with the council and the Synod in making an appointment to a chair is to set up a commission of leading exports at Homo to recommend the namss." "Was this done in every case? Was it done in the caee of the last appointment to the mental science chair? If so, it would be interesting to know what was the personnel of that commission. Philosophy lies at the root of all knowledlge and is a fascinating- study, yet it has fallen from one of the most popular to the most unpopular subject now :-.t Otago University. It is a calamitous thing for students that a commission is not E©t up to inquire into the reason of this state of affairs. Though it appears so to rational beings, the necessary qualifications for this chair cannot pessibly be " Presbyterian ism," einoo the writer of the article states that th 3 Synod docs not make appointments in case it might bo influenced by its own religious views. Many of U6 (old graduates) wish to know what kind of men. the bodies (too numerous to mention) concerned in university appointments expect to obtain at the salaries offered for university chairs (£750-£850). The English classes are i tremendous and the chair is on arduous one to fill. The type, of man required is surely worth £1000 a year at least. Remember ho should be net only an expert and a good teacher, but also an all-round man—a man such as Cecil Rhcdfcs called: a man. It is the personality and influence of a man that lives in his students for ever, long after the actual lectures are forgotten. No man worth having is worth less than £1000 a year. This applies to all university professors. Sydney University gives £1100 salary, and after 20 years' service a pension of £400 a year; and it is not too much. Otago gives a pittance of £750 and no pensions. Heads of secondary schcols are much better paid than this. There can bs only one result. The university will suffer bcdJy under tho bad economy she is practising. Perhaps it is a bad thing that professors are not now allowed fees or part' fees, because a fixed salary is an inducement to certain men to try to have small classes. The income from the Church Board cf Property appears to bo roughly about £3600. If this sum is for four chairs, it with the fec3 of tho yearly increasing number of students, tho salaries offered could! be good enough to attract tho fine typo of man essential. There are enough nincompoops drifting into the teaching staffs of the Now Zealand University. Let us remember that buildings will never make a university. It is the professors who make the place respected at Home and abroad and who have an undying influence on thousands of people.—l ain, etc., V. C. F. Dunedin, September 2. UNIVERSITY APPOINTMENTS. TO THK liniTOß Sir, —-I think your special commissioner is wrong in raking up once mora tho question of recent medical appointments; but ho should at least try to avoid misleading references. He says, in speaking of the appointments: "It is a well-known principle in tho oldest universities that the assistant to a professor is not likely to bo chosen as hia successor. Indeed, they rarely make application, because they recognise that, even in these large and long-established institutions, the authorities prefer to have men from anollier centre, bringing with them a fresh outlook and fresh ideas." I suppose vour ooinmissioncr would accept Edinburgh a.3* tlio type of school he means. Well. I invite him to mention one case in tho last 100 years where tho authorities have gone outside tho staff of the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary in making an appointment to the chair of medicine.—l am, etc., Purity.