OTAGO SCHOOL OF MINES. (From Our Own Correspondent.)

Otago Witness, Issue 2368, 20 July 1899, Page 19

OTAGO SCHOOL OF MINES. (From Our Own Correspondent.)

WELLINGTON, July H.~ "' Mr James Allen, who has been specially interesting himself in the welfare of. tin Otago School of Mines, convened a' meeting of Ofca^o members. of both Houses to-day, with a view to getting them to take united action to secure an increased annual' grant from the Government. Mr Allen explained that owing to the great decrease in their endowment rentals the University Council could not make ends meet, and unless they got some assistance the School of- Mines would suffer.' Even as ifc was now,- the school was unequalled anywhere south of the line, as was shown by the excellent positions secured by their students all over the world, "or, at all events, over the southern portion of- the world. What he suggested was that they should ask the Government far another statutory annual grant of £1000 a year, making £1500 per annum in all. The cost of the school now tc them was about £2000, and there were between 50 and 60 regular students in attendance. That had been the average for the last three or four years, and the attendance was growing. The Hon. Mr Lee Smith complained of the unsatisfactory returns from the battery. There should be a good income from that source, but people complained of the delay and the ineffectiveness of the results. He di<? not think they should ask the Government for so much as £1000. The first thing was to see how far the people of Otago would help in their own interests," and then to ask the Government for a pound for pound subsidy. There were any number of people now making money — simply picking money up— in the gold mining industry, and he thought they should contribute.

Mr' Eawlins combated Mr Lee Smith's arguments. The Government and the whole colony benefited largely from the development of the mining industiy, and any subscriptions received from those engaged in mining would only be of a temporary nature.

Mr Scobie Mackenzie said they should put the School of Mines on a permanent footing. His own impression was that they^ should get an additional endowment for it. If they were going to depend on Mr Lee Smith's idea of private subscriptions, they might as well chuck it up at once. Mr Sligo pointed out that it would not be fair to ask those engaged in mining in Otago to support the school, because students came not from Otago alone, but from all over the colony. After considerable discussion, it was resolved to wait on the Premier and Ministo for Mines, and ask for a grant of £1000 a year in addition to the £500 already voted.

Mr Samuel Goodbehere, solicitor of Feilding, who .was three times mayor of th« borough, died on Friday, aged 80 years. Constable Hanson, who went from Lyfctelton, and was one of the first batch who passed in the newly-instituted probationers' school for police, died of typhoid fever at Wellington on Saturday morning.