AUCKLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 1243, 25 September 1875, Page 6

AUCKLAND.

I don't observe that you have received any telegram about the action of the Education Board respecting the dispute between the students here and the New Zealand University. The alleged failure of the studonts to pass the examination was telegraphed all over the Colony, contrary to all practice and precedent in such cases. I thought you would have received therefore full telegraphic intelligence, as an act of justice to these students. This does not appear to have been done, and as the dispute is one of Colonial interest, sure to affect very seriously the future of the New Zealand University in this and the other Provinces affected by the late action, it may be worth while giving you an outline of the case.

The students here comprise scholars in the Auckland College Grammar School, which is an affiliated institution, as well as others studying under private tutors. With reference to the former, the Head Master, Mr Macrae going upon the clear meaning of the regulations, and of the express reference to them in the report of the Chancellor to the Senate, examined them in the usual way in November last as undergraduates of the first year. Me passed several of them, and was distinctly told by the Chancellor that his construction of the regulations was correct. The two first examinations were to be by the Board of the affiliated institution, and the'last, for the degree itself, was the only one reserved for the University authorities. I believe this is in accordance with the practice at Oxford and Cambridge, on the model of which the present University authorities desire that of New Zealand should be constructed. Students not belonging to an affiliated College were to go up in May last, and did so. At the same time and in the same place, there was the examination for University scholarships. For the latter the Auckland College lads contested. Undergraduates had to pass in three subjects. The candidates for scholarships needed only to take two. One young lady Mis 3 Kate Edgar, has always taken a high place, especially in mathematics and natural science. She is the only female student here • is attachep to the Auckland College, passed as undergraduate with the rest in December, and went up with them in May for a scholarship. Some of them won scholarships. Miss Edgar among the number. Others did not succeed but all were published, without distinction, as having failed to pass their first year's examina tion as undergraduates, the fact being that they did not on that occasion try to pass, that they had already done so in accordance with the Regulations in the previous May, and that they took places so high in the subjects for which they went up that it is plain they could easily have passed in a third had they thought it necessary. This is muddle No. 1, The Board of Education hold that they have passed and have bent a f ull report and the full cvi' dence of the enquiry held by them into the m&ttet A copy ot this has been sent to you and u'iil give any further details you may require. Jt has also been sent to eveiy member of Hie Senate and tlie members of both Houses of Assembly, as well a« published in the papers

here. Full publicity has, therefore, been given, and the case will not be allowed to sleep till fairly settled one way or the other. Among the outside students there is R. W. Eattray, a second year undergraduate, and a well-known mathematical student, actually figuring among the candidates for scholarships which he had not the most remote idea of trying for, .and published as having failed to pass, though he, too, only took two subjects in hand. He is ranked also below others who were only in their first year, and whose examination was very different. There is evidently muddle No. 2 in his case.

Another case is that of E. G. B. Moss, who is also down as a candidate, failing to pass fora scholarship that he had not the least idea of gaining, and which he had actually written to *he Chancellor he had no idea of compctiug for, as he found the rules prevented his holding it, he not being attached te an affiliated institution. In the undergraduates' examination lie is published a.s having failed to pass ; 3'et, in the identical list in which the failure is announced he is flown as ranking in his three subjects above Beveridge of Wellington and Wilkinson of Canterbury, both of whom have passed. This is muddle No. 3, and will be enough to show you that there is, at least, very great room for expl nation, though nothing can excuse the publication, under any circumstances, of the names of these students, even had they failed, which they have every right to maintain that they certainly have not. It is to be hoped the University authorities will give the matter their early attention, for they have discouraged students in this place more than they perhaps are aware, and I know of two or three of the parents who feel this so keenly that they are bent on bringing the whole affair into the Supreme Court as a breach of contract, rather than see it drop through altogether. The dispute with the Auckland College is entirely as to whether proper terms have been kept in accordance with the rules. There is no pretence whatever of inefficiency, and the question raised will probably lead to another, namely, why should a mere examining body insist on terms at all ? The object in a new country should be to attract students to the final, which is the real test, examination, and not to repel them by putting difficulties in their way. We have the Rev. J. Agnew lecturing here, and he will go South after a week in Auckland. I went to-night to hear his first lecture and enjoyed it very much. He is not, as an orator, equal to the Eev. C. Clark, but his manner is good, his matter exceedingly interesting, and the whole lecture highly instructive as a record of the past and terrible history of the Colonies in their convict days. Some of his stories are humorous, but the majority are pathetic and excite the strongest sympathy for those who suffered so horribly for, very often, the lightest offences. I recall one story of a poor woman whose husband — a carpenter — returning from work, \vas seized by a press-gang, leaving her with eight children to starve in London. She stole a loaf from a baker's shop, was tried and transported, ending her life, after some years of brutal treatment, on the gallows at Bathurst. Mr Agnew is a tall, finelooking man, with a face full of power and mobility. He has lost an arm, bub the long, empty sleeve does not interfere with his action in speaking, which is occasionally very impressive. The defect in the lecture struck m<s as, if I may use the expression, a want of purpose. As a bit of history, it was excellent, but it wants, in these days, direct application. Happening, on coming home, to rest on a stray volume of Burkes reflections, the best application seemed to me one of profound thankfulness that the days of chivalry he glorified had passed away, with the laws dictated by the mere brute force on which that chivalry so largely relied. One is too apt to forget" the gulf between the present generation and the last, and such lectures do good in recalling it more vividly to mind. How much reason we have to be proud, too, that New Zealand has escaped the curse of convictism, and that her early annala need not be burnt, as those in some of our sister Colonies have been, less for the sake of the descendants of the convicts than of those who committed the horrible brutalities upon them which these records revealed.

The improvement Commissioners are again endeavouring to effect an exchange of sites ■with the Mechanics' Institute. The Commissioners are a purely irresponsible body nominated by Act, and have succeeded in dissipating in a few years one of the noblest endowments possible in any city. If they preserve enough to endow decently a future free library, they will have done some little service ; but their idea is apparently still to drive as hard a bargain with the Mechanics' Institute as they •an.

In the mining world we are having a little excitement over the " jumping of the Union Beach. The case, as I hear it, is thus : The Maori owners leased the ground to the Green Harp Company. The Company was wound up, and its assets taken by the Union Beach, which was formed by the old shareholders. The Maori owners — or rather certain of their white friends for them — say the transfer from one Company to the other was illegal, and that the ground reverts to them. The shares have not been affected, so I presume the knowing ones do not attach importance to the jumping. The mine is undoubtedly very rich, and a fine property. Another sensation, and a very disagreeable one, is the seizure of Father Paul's furniture, to pay his Education Bate. Two men— pretty well off— have been in prison, and others are to follow, for non-payment, but Father Paul is not likely to be sent there. The others alienated their property to save paying. He leaves his to be seized, and it is now in the auction room, but will doubtless be restored by^frienclly purchasers, as Dr Wallis's books were. One cannot but respect conscientious scruples, even if differing from them, but it is curious to see two men, whose opinions are so extremely opposite in all things, as Father Paul's, and the great anti-Catholic lecturer, Dr Wallis, both exalting into matters of conscience, the expenditure of money over which, when paid, they have no more control than they have over any other taxes. The majority of people here— the great majority— are perfectly satisfied that it is a gain to have their children taught in several needful secular branches, even though religious instruction is not given at the same time. This is shown by the increasing attendance of all classes and creeds at the schools in the Province.

The Star of the South has returned, after 17 days' absence, without reaching Fiji. She broke her screw shaft, and had to put back, with great loss to the live stock with which she waa chiefly loaded. Among the passengers were Mrs N. Chalmers and family, formerly of Otago, who were on their return to Fiji after a health-recruiting visit to Auckland. They leave again in the " Star" in a few days.

In political news I have nothing new. There is, however, a wide and stern determination to back Sir George in refusing to recognise the right of the Assembly to override an Act of the Imperial Parliament. The determination to pass the Act in defiance is looked on as an insult even by anti-Provincialists, and I feel perfectly sure the General Government will have to resort to the law courts to bring it into operation, even U parsed, Qt course they tan

use or display force if they make up their minds to do so, but I am persuaded that it would end badly, even if they were so illadvised as to try. On all sides I hear men declare that they will not suffer the road to preferment and public life to be narrowed for their children more than it is for themselves. I hat is the view they take of the matter ; and it is the view they will, I firmly believe, stick to at all hazards, until at least the Assembly be reformed so as to make it as easy of access as the Provincial Councils -and Governments have hitherto been.

Ihe Rev. P. Agnew gave his second lecture Ja-st night. It was even better than the first. He has a power of humorous as well as pathetic narrative, which found full vent. The story of poor John Mnir was one not to be forgotten. Iransported for sedition; in other words, for advocating Parliamentary reform, and he, a young and ardent student and barrister, was consigned to the purgatory of New South Wales. The story of his escape, his sufferings, and his death were told with deep feeling, and moved the audience as deeply. You have a great treat in store, for Mr Agnew intends visitincr Dunedin, and your people will, I trust, give him the hearty reception hu abilili-js and purpose claim. That purpose is, lam told, to rescue from the oblivion into which it is fast fadijic: the hibtory of events that indicate the terrible effects of government, even of criminals, by the brute force which formed the only idea of government in the days to which he refers. Among those so-called criminals were thousands whose offences were purely political—if offences they could be called— or of the most venial kind. All were herded together. All tore their food in pieces from the same tin dishes. AH were put together into reeking and filthy dens, to be tyrannised over by warders and overseers more brutal, and only more cunning than themselves. Yet these things were ordered, and this condition of affairs was defended by men calling themselves gentlemen, statesmen, and Christians. How enormous the gulf between then and now ! How has it been bridged, is the question one asks himself, and ponders over after hearing Mr Asjnew's lectures. He is to give his third to-night. The bare facts of his narrative are to be found in many cases in Parliamentary records, but his personal acquaintance with these facts, and his wonderful .memory, enable Mr Agnew to impart to them a fullness of detail and a vigour of pourtrayal that impart the charm of novelty even to those already known. T , Th ®. Vesey-Stewart party— special settlers at KatiKati, on the east coast of this Province, near Tauranga— are here, and are to be entertained at a banquet under the auspices of the Orange Lodges to morrow night. lam glad to hear that the attendance will not be confined to Orangemen, but that men of many-coloured creeds will assemble to greet them. This is well, but It would have been better in the opinion of many, if the Orange creed and party had not been so prominent in the matter. * It would be a great pity to allow these people, fresh from the very hot north of Ireland, to be under the slightest impression that sectarian differences prevail here. They are a very lucky lot of immigrants — luckier than they themselves are perhaps ready at present to admit. They have a splendid block of land, and are to be put upon it by the General Government free of expense. I believe a certain amount of house accommodation is also to be provided. They bring with them about £30,000 in cash, and are certainly a fine body of people and a desirable addition to the population. A good many of the old settlers with growing sons look on nevertheless with no great pleasure at the alienation to strangers for nothing of land which they can only get by paying highly for at Government sales, and with the heartiest wishes for the welfare of the present body sincerely hope that it is the last of the special settlements on the choicest land in the choicest portion that we are to see.

The agitation respecting the Abolition Bill has ceased for a spell. But it is to be sincerely hoped that Ministers will not be misled. I was never more struck than now by the wide determination not to allow the Bill to be put into operation here if it became law. One of the largest landed proprietors in the neighbourhood of Auckland, a, wealthy man and no keen politician, told me only to- clay that he was prepared to make grave and serious sacrifices to save the country, as he put it, from falling into the hands of *' a mere ring of schemers." I will not mention his name, though. I doubt not he would readily have agreed to my doing so had I thought of asking his permission, for he spoke openly enough ; but all people acquainted with Auckland will at once recognise whom I mean, and the weight that attaches to the statement of a quiet and money-making, but large-minded man. I asked the gentleman why he did not come forward. His answer was direct. Mrstly, his health and tastes disinclined him for it ; secondly, he was satisfied that no talking would have any influence on the party that desired for its own ends to seize the reins. They were bent on it, and could only be met by a firm bold, and open defiance when the proper time came. I was much impressed with the earnestness and determination with which this gentleman spoke. I have heard hundreds declare bitterly that they never will be ruled by the present Assembly, that they know too well its moving spirits, and have had too much experience of its land jobbery, Native jobbery, and jobbery of all kinds. Nor will they see the slightest bar put m the way of their children's free access to public life by any living man or body ot men. Impend upon it a storm is brewing here, of which those who are needlessly provoking it have little idea. If they only heard themselves, their past histories, and their present proceedings canvassed, with the bitter keenness that I hear, they would hesitate a little more than they aeem at present disposed to do.