THE BEVERLY BEQUEST

Otago Witness, Issue 2858, 23 December 1908, Page 16

THE BEVERLY BEQUEST

SCHEME FOR DISTRIBUTION. ADOPTED BY THE UNIVERSITY COUNCIL. A special meeting of the council of the Otago University was held on the 14_th for the purpose of considering a scheme for the distribution of the Beverly funds as provided for in the will of the late Mr Arthur Beverly. There were present — The vice-chancellor (Mr J. Allen, M.P., in the chair), Professor Shand, Mr J. Roberts, Dr Church Dr Hocken, Rev. A. Cameron, Rev. W. Hewitson, Mr D. Stewart, and Mr T. K. Sidey, M.P. 'Phe scheme was considered in committee, and adopted by the council in the following form:-r Incbsasing the Fund. J. That 10 per cent, of the gross revenue be" added every year to the corpus of the fun& SOHOLAHSHU'S. 2L"That the following Beverly Soholarshipa be provided : — V a. Entrance Scholarship. £5o be awarded to the candidate who pisses "for matriculation in the New Zeahni& University eitner in the junior scholarship examination, including mathematics, or the New Zealand University matriculation examination, including Euclid and algebra as. pass subjects; to be awarded annually; to be tenable for ihree years, and to amount to £20 in the case of the . candidate living within the City of Dunedin, or within easy access of the University, and to £45 in the case of the candidate's home being in the country. This scholarship may not be held concurrontly with any bursary or scholarship other than "free education," and shall be awarded at the discretion of the University Council. The holder of this scholarship thall study for a B.A. degree, shall keep terms each year, and at the end of the t-econd year must take the first section of the B.Sc- degree. If he fails, the council may withdraw the scholarship, b. Mathematics, Mechanics, Junior Physics. One scholarship to be awarded of £20 for the town student and £45 for the country student; to be tenable for the remainder of the three years' course, and which may be extended at the discretion of the council for another year provided the holder proceeds to "honours." The scholarship to be given in alternate years to the candidate who being otherwise qualified is reported by the professor as best in senior mathematics and mechanics, or junior physios, and who is in the first or second academical year. In the coming year this scholarship will be awarded for senior mathematics and mechanics. The scholarship to commence at the next ensuing session after being awarded. The holder shall study for a B.Sc. degree, fhall keep terms each vv 66 * 1"*1 "* an<^ at tne €n " ' I the second year must take tho first ■tction of tho B.Sc. degree. If the holder 1 ml-.m 1 -. the council may withdiaw tho -tholarship. It may not be held concuri ntly with any bursary or scholarship other than " free education."' c. Higher Mathematics and Advanced Physics. Scholarships of the value of £50 each i* iy be awarded annually to the best i .lgiblc candidate in the classes of higher Mathematics (including mechanics) and to The best eligible candidate in the classes of advanced physics. Candidates must have completed their third academical year before their election to the scholarship. The scholarships shall be tenable for one year, during which the holders must continue their studies ~as candidates for "honours under conditions to be prescribed by the council, and the scholarships ehall not be held with any other fcholfcrships. Worthiness of Candidates. Before awarding any Beverly scholarship tho council shall satisfy itself: (a) By a report from the teacher or the professor < ' the subject in respect of whioh the -holarship is offered, or otherwise, that \hr candidate is worthy on the ground of < h<iracter, ability and diligence of holding :t ; and- (b) by a written declaration or by. "■iidi evidence as the council may require rliat he or she studies to the best advantage without the aid afforded by the scholarship. Demonstrator in Physics. \ That a Beverly Demonstrator in Physics be appointed, at an annual salary of £200, under conditions to be dolined by the council. Provision for App^rvtcs. 4. That each year, for tho next two years, there be allotted £100 for apparatus for the teaching of physks, and £50 for apparatus for the teaching of mechanics. Additions to University Library. 5. That the sum of £50 b» allotted

annually for expenditure on books for the library, the books to deal with the subjects mentioned in Mr Beverly's will. j The Balance. 6. The balance to be disposed of from time to time as the council may direct. ; Under the several headings the minimum demand per annum made on the fund will amount to £470 and the maximum £620.

j AN INTERESTING MEMORANDUM.

| A CHAPTER OF HISTORY. I The following memorandum to the chancellor from Mr Justice Chapman was considered at the same time as the above scheme, and the sincere thanks of the council to Mr Justice Chapman were recorded: — "My acquaintance with the late Mr ' Beverly, whioh was of the most intimate nature, extended over a very long period, and I was for many years an occasional and at times frequent visitor in his house. I became olosely associated with him when I was appointed a member of the Domain Board having the management of the Botanical Gardens on the retirement of ! Professor Hutton somewhere about 30 1 years ago. I prepared his original will ■ when it was feared that he would 'not recover from a severe illness from which he ! was suffering. Tiien when -he recovered , I had many conversations with him whioh ' resulted in the ~ preparation of a will, of ' which the present will is, so far as the trusts are concerned, a copy. ; From the first there was a difficulty about the way in which the will was to be , worded. Tie difficulty arose from the circumstance that a trust had to be constituted whioh would virtually last for all time, and which, while expressing the , views, sympathies, and desires of the testator, should not at any period, however remote, be found so to tie the hands of the administrators as to lead to absurd results. The necessity for attending care- . fully to this difficulty does not arise to i the same extent when the fund is a parI ticular endowment of a small section of ' the work of a great body having charge of vast interests. A trust to extend the teaching of astronomy would be inconveniently narrow in a place where there ( was no supply of students of that science. A trust to forward the systematic examinat tion of the planet Mars might be a most j welcome endowment for an astronomical ; observatory and school where it was con- , eidered that there could be no finality in such an investigation. Topics and views t of this sort formed the subject of constant conversations between Rfr Beverly and myself. The key-note is to be found in the observation: Mind, this is not a provision for a hundred years, possibly not for a thousand years, we must look upon it as" one to last for ever. The case was, there- ! fore, regarded as one in which a man with strong, clear, and broad views, but with definitely and decidedly restpoted objects, wa<? making provision primarily for the carrying out Of those objects. That provision has been made by means of" a j trusrt in whioh the objects are indioated rather than declared, but indicated in such ways as virtually to exclude classes of ob- | jects beyond the purview of the testator's ! intended bounty. The mam feature of that trust, however, ie that its administration is confided to a body in which the j donor had such confidence that he felt ' quite satisfied that in its hands hie wishes would be in secure keeping without the necessity for setting out embarrassing restrictions. I Now, in order to obtain a clearer view as . to what in the main the objects of Mr : Beverly's solicitude were it is ac well that ] one should understand the kind of man I he was, for therein lies the best explanation of hi 9 aims. He had for fully 40 years before hie death lived in retirement I in Dunedin. He had made a great deal j of money in business, and had lost heavily when the shallow workings of the Otago goldfields ran out and there was a ootn- ' mercial collapse in 1864. This induced him I to sell out and live on what he could realise. He was a man in delicate health, | , with definite physical disabilities, but in spite of that fact he was, until the last ] j few years, remarkably active. Ho was ' , scarcely known 4o the existing generation, and his small, inconspicuous figure might pass through the streets of the town without attracting any definite notice. His i fondness of exercise took the form of j walking straight into and beyond the suburbs where he was unknown, and there j find in sr recreation according- to his taste. T.hf> generation of the goldfleldn days which had known him in busines« had largely passed away, and he displayed no desire to become acquainted with a new one. At the same time, visitors to his house were always welcome. He had a small circle of warm friends, to which a nsrw member was seldom added. 2b the rtault there

1 ! were but few of these living at the end of , his days, and of these few five or six at i least, lived at a distance. With some of { his friends Mr Beverly associated in the discussion of scientific matters ; with others out of old-time friendship. His placid smile and gentle humour were the common property of all. Mr Beverly was first and | foremost a mathematician, an astronomer, and a practical mechanician. He had j learned his trade as a watchmaker in Scotland, and had come in early days first to Melbourne and then to Dunedin. After a successful career, in whioh he showed little capacity for business, for 1 which he had an avowed dislike, he sold out, and thenceforth lived at his home in j Heriot row. His tastes were of the , simplest, and his ambition of the smallest.. "The best thing you can do with a boy,"*' he remarked to me, "is to teach him a trade, jjive him a hundred pounds, and i leave him to look out for himself." At the same time he fully realised that a: great deal more than this should be available for those who had £he> ability and ambition to go further ; hence his desire to advance the future generation through the University. It was * only necessary to know and converse with Mr Beverly to recognise that mathematics and mechanics, and all things connected with these kindred subjects, really possessed his mind. Inventors and mechanical inventions and speculative philosophy in the same extended sphere were the things whioh charmed him and engrossed the greater part of his attention. Bo far as <hie own achievements were concerned he scarcely had in his latter years the ambition to publish them, remarking on one occasion when urged to do so that somebody would sooner or later make the same observation or discovery. Among his own inventions and contrivances to which he had devoted much time and attention in hie younger days may be mentioned : — • (1) A clock which was wound up by the expansion and contraction of air, and whioh never had to be touched, save to clean and regulate it. This had been going since 186*. (2) A dividing maohine, which divides scales to l-200th of an inch on ivory, and 1-+OOO of ifn inch on glass. (3) A platometer, or planimeter, for calculating' areas on maps, which, I understand, is really the parent of existing machines (superseding Swan's), though greatly improved by Amsler. of Sojjaff'lausen. who added the radial arm, and by others. This gained Mr Beverly the medal of the Scottish. Sooiety of ATts and other honours, inoluding, t think, the Makdougal Brisbane priae. The description was read and the drawings were exhibited November 27, 1865. (4) An apparatus for measuring steel wires to ascertain their expansibility. The apparatus measures to 1/1000 of an inch. This is to facilitate adopting steel wires as an improvement on surveyors' chains. (5) Other inventions, contrivances, and researches of interest to mathematicians, etc. In addition to theae Mr Beverly was associated as a very young man with Berry in the improvement of the mariner's compass, ,atid urged Berry to go on with the subject, whioh he was inolined to drop. In New Zealand Mr Beverly Was long regarded as the leading authority on the rating of ships' chronometers, and continued to rate them for a JDunedin firm until not many years since. He calculated, I think, for Sir James Hector the paths of suph ©ometa as were observed- He eonatruoted the tables by which the tides at Dunedin (dependent not on fyll and change, but upon perihelion and aphelion) are computed for publication in Stone's Directory. He was, in addition, devoted to trigonometry, ana dovi&ed and solved some 600 or 700 rectangle problems the nature of which must be described by a competent mathematician. These are in the nands of Mr C. W. Adamfl, of Lower Hutt. formerly Chief Surveyor of Otago, and paragraph 7 of the will is intended to I apply to them. I These notes give an idea, though maniI feetly an imperfect dne, of the primary I bent of Mr Beverly's mind; but it had a I -wider soope He was, with refdrencd \<> ; the low and mid-level fields of the South j Island, a first-class botanist, and wj^s. in addition, in a wide sense possessed of an extensive knowledge of systematic botany. He was one of the first to experiment . extensively in the cultivation of natiye planl«. evidence of wljioh is still to be found in his garden in Heriot row. A general interest in natural history was also apparent in his conversation. He also !n- ' eluded amongst the subjects with whioh , he was acquainted a general knowledge . of the principles of chemistry, electricity, [ magnetism, etc. } Now, it is to be observed that this description of Mr Beverly'f taste* and pojr- I suits involves no reference to political history, polltloAl economy, economic legiela-

tion, or anything lying within the wide field of history and politics, legislative and administrative. He was content to leave these and other matters entirely to others and pursue his own tastes. Nor have I made any reference to literature in the sense of belle letters, languages, classical or modern, or kindred subjects. I never saw in his house a book in any way touching this group of subjects or embraced within its scope. Science and applied sciences express the limits of his affections as well as I can in one short sentence express them. I once remarked : " Your scheme does nothing for medicine, which is a leading subject at the University." He assented to this, and remarked that " there are two schools of medicine." He did not express much sympathy with either, whatever he meant by the expression. Until he became seriously' ill he used to doctor his a.ilmfints with nranarationfi fit his own. '

though he was a docile and appreciative patient in the hands of a regular medical man. He did not fail to teoognise that such subjects as physics and chemistry aided a medical school, and I should- add that his extended sympathies did not ignore such a subject as physiology. The teaching of such subjects as medicine and surgery he evidently considered should be left to be aided by other benefactors. He had in his latter years left to drift out of sight his fantastic opinions on the existence of a spirit-inhabited world whioh had the merit, or demerit, of being entirely, ttnd perhaps refreshingly, at variance with those of Crokes and Wallace. Now, with this very imperfect, but, 1 should say, generally correct, description of Mr Beverly and his tastes and pursuits in view, the actual text of the will may be considered. The trust expressed in paragraph 8, "for the advancement of education in Otago," is subject to lie administered by the council as the only body having administrative authority over the fund, and in terms of the will the council ie constituted the proper tribunal to decide matters connected with the scope of the trust. Clause 10, for instance, gives & direction which is not enforceable against the council, but is capable of being enforced by it by means of the power to capitalise income contained in clause 15. The true scope of clause 12 is beet understood by realising the kind of. man the testator was and the nature of his tastes and pursuits. There is not much reason to fear that the fund will be found too large, looking at the wide field opened up by this clause. It will be observed that the first part treats preferably the teaching of mathematical, mechanical, and physical sciences and subjects akin thereto, and then directs that natural science be considered. It must be observed that these last words are very wide indeed. I need not attempt_ to enumerate the subjects which would fall within the description. Clause 13 received the greatest attention from Mr Beverly and myeelf. It must be borne in mind'that it is more, than 15 years since the clause was framed. There was then no other scheme of scholarships in existence in Otago. It was seen that the founding of scholarships was a proper destination for a portion of the- income of such a fund, but at the came time it was foreseen that something might happen which might render it Very embarrassing to give a binding direction on the 6tibject as some future donor might do something which would have the effect of duplicating the forces and neutralising their beneficial character. To keep clear of such difficulties the measure of elasticity apparent in the clause was introduced. It /night quite well happen that another benefactor of the State might render a strict pr9visioh on the «übj<»ct wholly unnecessary. This, in such a case, leaves tho counoil free to divert the income to be applied in other ways. Even apart from such contingencies, if tlie council saw a better way of securing the first object — viz., " the j advancement of education in Otago " in some other way, »ueh as subsidising Jeetiirera and tutors, this olause does not impose the "preference" in such a way as to fetter the discretion of the counoil. Then by the I+th olause, when and so far ac the income i 5 to be devoted to scholarships, a rule is set with the object of secur- ! ing- that the grant of a scholarship shall not be co much a benefit to those who can afford tho time and tuition required to ! secure a result but to ' those students of promise who actually require this kind of aid to mate them useful citizens. Compensatory recognition is provided for those not within this close. Mr Justice Denniston has already declared the sense in which these trusts are binding on the council. The refutations under which tie council proposes to dispose of the income are matters wjthln the scope of its own legislative authority, to be propounded from time to time in pursuance of clause 16. I do not know that I can give any further assistance to the counoil. It is evident tbAt while relying fully on its

loyalty to observe the scope of his projects Mr Beverly carefully abstained- from impoB?" ing on it embarrassing restriction^. What! I havj written respecting the man and* hi* ideas may prove of some assistance f . working wibhin these lines. F. R. ChapmaW-. - December 4, 1908.