OTAGO UNIVERSITY

Otago Witness, Issue 3196, 16 June 1915, Page 81

OTAGO UNIVERSITY

GRADUATES FOR 1915.

PUBLIC CONGRATULATIONS. Time was when the annual of diplomas to successful students of the University was a solemn function of pon-' herons weight and dignity; when learned professors and gownsmen occupied the platform clad in' the trappings of erudition; when the Chancellor’s oration was a marvel of eloquent language and lengthy periods; when the successful alumni were publicly presented with the visible and tangible tokens of their new estate in the shape of large parchment scrolls; and the undergraduates whose time was yet to come, provided the light relief humorously or otherwise as the case might be, but always noisily. The light relief, however, gradually encroached on the classical dignity of the proceedings until it threatened to swallow it up altogether. Then did the Senate decree that the time-honoured custom should no longer bo observed, and that the too-effusive congratulations and the effervescent humour of the undergraduates should be toned down in the most effective way —namely, by their, abolition. The solemn ceremonial of former days has now given place to a quiet congratulatory function, and the scrolls are presented to the graduates privately. The modified ceremony took place in the Allen Hall on-Friday afternoon at half-past 2 o’clock. The hall"was filled, chiefly with the friends of students. A party of undergraduates, woefully diminished from its strength of former years, occupied the back of the'hall, but displayed a chastened spirit, and was noticeable only by its vigorous choruses of applause, rendwed scrupulously at the appropriate times. The graduates of the year —what there were left of them —took possession of the front seats. Hero, as everywhere, the effect of the Empire’s call was very apparent, and few were present to answer the roll and receive .the personal congratulation of the Vice-chancellor. There were many gaps in the ranks, caused by the absence of students on active service, and in the faculty of medicine not one of the 26 graduates was present to answer to his name, the majority being at the front or in the medical service of the country. Both the dental graduates were at the Dardanelles, and the same was true in a lesser degree in the case of the other faculties. The ceremony was very short and very simple. Mr John Roberts, C.M.G._ (Vicechancellor of the University) occupied the chair, and was accompanied on the platform by the- following deans of faculties and members of council: —Mies BoysSmith, Messrs T. K. Sidey, M.P., John Ross, W. J. Morrell, H. D. Bedford, W. Eudey, the Hon. T. Mac Gibbon, Professors Gilray, Hewitson, Benham, Malcolm, and Picborill. A short address by the Vicechancellor and the presentation of the diplomas completed the proceedings. Mr Roberts said he regretted very much that the Chancellor (the Rev. A. Cameron) was quite unable to be present. Ho was suffering from a somewhat severe indisposition, and ho had rung the speaker up only about half an hour before to say that he would have to occupy the chair. He, therefore, craved their indulgence, as he had had no opportunity to prepare a speech. Ho held in his hand apologies from Dr Undo Ferguson, Dr Champtaloup, Messrs J. H. Walker and G. O. Israel. Ho believed that all this year’s medical graduates were either at the front or doing the work of those who were.—(Applause.) They had to lament the loss during the year of Drs Shand and Black, two of the original professors of the University. Ho voiced the sentiments, not only of that meeting, but of all interested in University education in saying that their loss was deeply deplored. They had during the year had the pleasure of welcoming Dr Gowland —(applause)—who bad now started his work, and at his hands they could look for very perfect and excellent teaching. During the past year they had gone through a somewhat peculiar experience. War developed in August, and since then they had sent to the front 107 students who were on their books at the time of enlistment. That had been a somewhat heavy drain on the University, but they had the satisfaction of knowing that to a very large extent these places had been filled by other new students, so that they had quite a satisfactory number of medical students on their books now.— (Applause.) As they knew, the Senate had made arrangements by which the examinations were expedited, and thus many students were enabled to complete their course and go away with their degrees. The Senate, in making that relaxation of the usual rule, had furthered the interests of our students. —(Applause.) _ They had now at the front one of their lecturers—the lecturer in clinical surgery, Dr O’Neill. —(Cheers and applause.) It was very gratifying to them that they had sent such a splendid soldier to the front; and they ■would all he pleased to notice a day or two ago that he had been a,warded the D.S.O.. —(Renewed applause.) When he returned, as they all profoundly hoped ho would, they would heartily congratulate him, and the students would receive him with open arms for having distinguished himself so prominently. They had during these war times to record the loss of several somewhat distinguished students, and men who had passed through the University in previous years. He referred to those'who had fallen, and mentioned Captain Spcdding, Lieutenants Reid, Duthie, and Bernard, and Dr C. 0. lies. He would also specially mention Mr Justice Chapman’s son, 'whoso wonderful bravery was so much to be commended. There wore also Dr Webb, who died on board a troopship, and Dr M‘Nab. The old capping _ ceremony had, as they knew, been discontinued, and that meeting was not for the purpose of giving degrees to those who had earned them, but was purely a congratulatory meeting to congratulate the year’s graduates on their success. Ho would now call on the deans of the various faculties to pre-. sent for congratulation the graduates of their faculty. . The calling of the roll of graduates fertile year was then proceeded with, by the deans of the various faculties or their substitutes, as follows i—Arts and Science, Professor Gilray; Law and Commerce, Mr Bedford; Medicine, Professor Malcolm; Dentistry, profoocor Piokerill; Home

Science, Professor Boys Smith. Each graduate was congratulated- by the ViceChancellor, and the ladies were presented with floral tributes by their friends. The subdued undergraduates made their solo emergence from their corner by presenting one of the male graduates with ft bunch of carrots, retiring after this feat and seem* ing rather abashed at their own temerity. With regard to one of the successful stu* dents —Dr J. T. Bowie, who received the diploma of Public Health Dr Malcolm remarked that this gentleman was tnd first to obtain the distinction from the Uni* versity of New Zealand. The singing of a verse of the National Anthem concluded the proceedings.

THE ROLL. The graduates for the year were as follow :

DOCTOR OP SCIENCE. Charles Andrew Cotton. HONOURS? IN ARTS AND M.A. *Jas. M'Cullock Boyne. Patricia M. P. Clark. Dorothy O. Farnio. Phoebe Ann Harrington, *John Patterson Hevvat. Catherine Hogg. Archibald G. Irvine. John Johnson, Cecil John Morkane. Margaret Ann Quilter. James Stobo. Henry Jas. Thompson. HONOURS IN SCIENCE AND M.So, Gerald Craig Beattie. Walter Thomas Cody. Cedric Stanton Hicks. “Herbert Victor Scarle. Robert A. W. Sutherland. MASTER OF ARTS. Richard Patrick Connell. Ernest Partridge. BACHELOR OF ARTS. Allen Hector Abernethy. Janet Winifred Aitken. Alexander Knox Anderson, Peter Stewart Anderson. John Alexander Asher-. Oliver Duff. * Haro Id Gowdy. James Lundy Grey. > Lily Gertrude Hale. “Harold Gordon Hill. Thomas James Morrow. Elizabeth Oliver M'Cullock. Morrell Gordon MTnnee. Rachel Margaret Naylor. Arnold James Petrie. Duncan M'Fadycn Rae. Maurice John Spillane. Leslie Forbes (Miss) Stewart. Harold Douglas Tait. Edmund John Tipler. Muriel Hamilton Treadwell. Rose Annie White. George David Wilson. William Young Youngson. BACHELOR OF SCIENCE. James Garfield Anderson. A gnes Borrie. Thomas Beveridge Davis. BACHELOR OF LAWS. Henry Havelock Cornish. Win. Bruce Johnston. Ernest William White. TINLINE SCHOLARSHIP. . Janet Winifred Aitken (Latin aiu|( English). DOCTOR OF MEDICINE. Wm. Philip Johnston. BACHELOR OF MEDICINE AND BACHELOR 09, SURGERY. William Aitken. Ivan Blaubaum. *John Connor. Edward Kerr Edie. Henry Bayklon Ewcn. John Graham Gow. Selwyn Langstaff Haslctt. Ronald George Keith Hodgson, ■ * Philip John Jory. Kenneth M'Cormick. Gordon Napier M'Diarmid. Donald Mackay. A. M‘Phee Marshall. James Ayson Marshall. * Donald Stewart Milne. George Redpath. “Thomas Russel Ritchie. *Wm. Gladstone Scanncll. Samuel Llewellyn Serpell. “George Stanley Sharp. “Aubrey Vincent Short. Wilfred Stanley Wallis. William Watt. “Ernest James Herbert Webb (deceased). Noel Stewart Whitton. *Robert Langtree Withers. BACHELOR OF DENTAL SURGERY. “John Hallam Don. * Donald Benjamin Green. DOCTOR OF PUBLIC HEALTH. Dr John Tait Bowie. BACHELOR OF COMMERCE. Owen Wilkinson Alfred. BACHELOR OP SCIENCE LN HOME SCIENCE. G. C. N. Cameron. Names marked with an asterisk are those of men cn active service.