A PRACTICAL UNIVERSITY.

Otago Witness, Issue 1029, 19 August 1871, Page 5

A PRACTICAL UNIVERSITY.

The following is from a paper, entitled " Recollections of American Universities of Harvard and Cornell,"' by Mr Hughes, M.P., and Mr \V. D. Rawlins, in theDark Blue Magazine :—: —

We turned our steps from Cornell with the regret which must always be felt oti leaving (>ne of the critical spots in the world of one's own time — an advanced post t\ here a crucial experiment of firstrate importance is being tried by bravo men, under wise guidance. If our age is to prove, as many of us hope, the day of the poor — the time long looked and prayed for, "in which John o' the smithy shall come by his right"' — intimate relations in early life with men of the highest character, refinement, and requirements, and the tone and culture which only such associations can ensure, stand at the threshold as the most pressing need of millions, and the most precious gift which society has to offer them. And here, on the hill above Ithaca, the thing is being done, and, so far as passing strangers may judge, with a success which may cheer the least hopeful amongst us. Those who were familiar with the London Working Men's College in its early days speak of the very remarkable effect of a few months of college life on the students. What was then (and Aye trust is still) doing in Great Ormond street on a small scale, by volunteer work, in the short evening hours after the day's work, is going on at Cornell in a university which already numbers upwards of 800 students, and in a generation will possess endowments rivalling those of Oxford. The young mechanics, farmers, printers, who are studying al Cornell are much like men of the same rank here, so far as respects outward polish ; but you cannot watch them or talk to them without feeling that they have been lifted in true manliness andgentleness until theynecdnot fear comparison with the jcunesse three of their own or any other country. "They are rough, as you see. but the best material I ever had under my hand," was the remark of one of the professors whose experience has been wide and varied ; and from all the staff we heard the same testi* mony as to the pleasure of lecturing to classes where every scholar is really anxious to learn. This earnestness in Avork is the most hopeful feature of Cornell. No student enters there because it has been the custom of his family, or is the correct thing in his class, and the established and fashionable way of wasting three or four of the best years of his life. He comes because ho is bent on learning, and, as a rule, because he is bent on learning whatever will be of use to him in the line of life he means to follow. The young Cornellian is before all things practical, and he comes to the most practical of universities. And in this lies the danger as well as the strength of the place as a seat of education. If not carefully watched it may easily drift into a mere technical training school, and miss the highest function, of rousing the thirst for knowledge for iis imn ;-ake, and lifting the thmight and culture of the country to a truer ht.indard and a higher level. Fortunately for Cornell those who are at the helm in thohC early years are well aware of this danger, and, while they are pledged by their charter to make the education they oiler bear practically on the trades, and businesses for which their students are qualifying, will resolutely hold up the higher ideal before them.

Our Cromwell correspondent writes ;—; — " The increased value of building allotments must be very gratifying to the poor Imt honest freeholders in Cromwell, and they certainly «u*e much obliged to the Waste Lands Board for the handsome valuation they put on the price of land adjoining Mr Martin's Hotel, hi round numbers, their valuation puts the land at the rate of C-000 per acre. 1 declare I feel a thrill of joy at the idea of being a £4000 man myself, heing, as L am, the fortunate possessor of about two and a-quartev acres*. £"JOOO .in acre ! Why, if the Government will only persuade the Waste Lands Board to re-consider Mr <i. W. (Joodger'b late application to purchase twenty acres, and value it at the same iiynro, they may get rid of their liabilities- at once. What piinriplo settles these valuations ': A few months ago £200 an acre was the upset price of a section right opposite the one now in question.— We experienced a very severe shock of earthquake ou Tuesday evening last, at 8.50. ■'