UNIVERSITY NEEDS

Otago Witness, Issue 3383, 15 January 1919, Page 21

UNIVERSITY NEEDS

DEPUTATION TO MINISTER OF EDUCATION.

' A deputation from the Otago University Qouncil waited ,on the Hon. J. A. Hf.nali (Minister of Education) at the City Hotel on the 9th and brought under hi 3 notice Several matters connected with the Otago University. The members of the council present were the Rev. A. Cameron (Chancellor), Mr John Roberts (Vice-chancellor), Dr Benham, Professor Hewitson, Dr H. Lindo Ferguson, Mr J. H. Walker, and Mr T. K Sidey, M.P. Mr C. E. Statham, M.P., and "Mr A. Walker, M.P., accompanied the deputation. Mr Statham introduced the deputation. The Chancellor brought under the notice Of the Minister the matter of the urgent necessity for additional funds in order to Complete the Home Science buildings, now in oourse of erection. He pointed cut the Importance of this branch of science, which bad been growingly recognised in the dominion and elsewhere. The recent iafluenza epidemic in this city had revealed the necessity for a scientific knowledge of dietetics, which had been greatly neglected In the past, but which must in the future receive attention. The Home Science School endeavoured to prepare teachers, not only for Becondary schools, to impart a knowledge of what was necessary to ensure healthy living in the home. . The Home Science Schoql had grown in a remarkable way. jLast year there were 60 students in attendance, and this year it was expected that there would be 80. That they had been

able to do much in the ramshackle building at present in use was a credit to Professor and her staff, who were working really at the risk' of their health and under considerable strain. An estimate had been obtained for a complete new building, and the council of the university had raised between £SOO and £4OO towards the cost. Grants of £4949 and £sll had been made. by the Government, but there still remained a' deficit' of some £I6OO. Then it was their intention to extend the hostel and to provide furnishings. The Government had grarited £SOO towards the first-named work, but to ask the university to provide the rest would simply mean crippling their - work. They had a debt of £5500 on the Medical School building, and, in addition,, the old debt of £7OOO on the university buildings. They now asked the Government for a further grant of £I6OO to enable them %o complete and furnish the Home Science School building. The second matter he wished to bring under the Minister's notice ■was in relation to the appointment of a lecturer in ethnology. In October last the Professorial Board brought xinder the notice pf the council the desirability of encouraging the study of anthropology and ethnology. A local gentleman had offered to provide £2OO for five years towards tho salary of a, lecturer, and a capable and enthusiastic Jnan had been secured for the post —Mr Skinner—who had graduated at Cambridge, and who would lecture in geography as well. Jilr Cameron dwelt on the importance of ethnological knowledge in view of our relations with the South Sea Islands and possible connection with other groups, and pointed out that the Minister's sanction to y the appointment of a lecturer was required before the Government grant could be made. This sanction the deputation now requested. 'A third question which the deputation wished to lay before the Minister was that of the salaries of their professors. This, said Mr Cameron, was a particularly important one. When in Sydney he had found that the salary of a professor there was £9OO, plus' £IOO house allowance and £IOO to enable him to provide superannuation. Not long ago the Otago University had been in peril of losing one of their professors, who had been offered by the university at the Cape a larger salary and much better conditions than prevailed here; As Minister Mr Hanan had been pressing for increases ill teachers' salaries, though perhaps with not so much success as he (the Minister) would desire or that the teachers deserved. The professors had had no increase in salaries since the war, and the cost of living affected them as it did others. Four received only £6OO each; seven £7OO each. These did not include two who received fees under tho . old arrangement. The head of the Home Science School received only £SOO. It was ielt that the miniipum should be £BOO, and considering the way prices had gone up even that would not be adequate. If 'all were raised to £BOO it would be'' so far good. Jn regard to medical professors, the ultimate aim should be to pay an even salary to all. - But the max'ket value of a doctor was at present greater than \ that of a man of science, though, no doubt, it would not be so. ' In Sydney four full-time professors received £IOOO a year each. Then the council had received quite a number of applications for increases from assistants whoso salaries were inadequate. At least £3OOO a year more was required to enable the minimum increases to be made. It was only fair to the University, the professors, and the community that the council should be in a position to pay a fair wage. The deputation asked further that the Government should grant £IOOO a year for, seven years to liquidate the old debts on tho University buildings, a debt which was costing £4OO a year in interest. It might be said, added Mr Cameron, that Sydney and Melbourne were large centres compared with Dunedin, but he contended that education was just as important, or more so, hero as there. The deputation therefore asked: (1) For a grant of £I6OO to complete the Home Science School building; (2) for the Minister's sanction to the appointment of a lecturer in ethnology; and (3) that the Minister do what ho could to see /that an additional grant was made of £3OOO a year for the purposes set forth. Mr Roberts said the position had been ably placed before the Minister, and there was no need for him to made nxiy additions to which the Chancellor had said. The members of the council recognised that the Minister had been sympathetic to their requests for financial grants in tho past, and he expressed the hope that he would extend the same sympathy towards the present requests. Dr Benham said that Otago supported threo schools of national importance—the Medical School, the Dental School, and the Homo Science School —all of which gathered students from tho whole dominion. The only other centre where there w<is a school of national importance was in Christchureh •jtyhere the school of engineering was conducted. As to the lectureships, it was thought that it would be a good thing if some of our missionaries and men to be appointed to official positions in these islands

were in a position to be abio to acquire somo knowledge of the nature of the natives amongst whom they were to work, and thus qualified themselves to gather scientific data which could be utilised. There was not another person in the dominion on the same footing as Mr Skinner with regard to Maori history. Mr Sidey said with regard to the debt of £7OOO, which it was now urged the Govvernment should liquidate at the rate of £IOOO per annum, that was part of an old debt on the original building, and if Mr Hanan looked up the official files ho would find something in the nature of a promise to pay that debt. The Minister: A promise by whom? Mr Sidey said ho thought the promise was made in Mr Fowld's time. One year's payment was actually made on that basis, and it was then discontinued. There was a clear understanding, if not a definite promise, that this debt would be liquidated by periodical payments. The community had been particularly generous in supporting the University, putting their hands into their pockets when they might reasonably have asked the Government to pay the whole cost,' seeing that it was a national institution. , Dr H. Lindo Ferguson emphasised the needs from the standpoint of the Medical School. The Chancellor, he said, had only placed before the Minister the present needs and had not touched upon the subject of further developments, which would have to be faced. For the Medical School alone more than an additional £3OOO a year would be needed. The national importance of these schools at Home had been recognised, and the Bi'itish Government there had. as a beginning, made a grant of £40,000 a year for their development. It was important that salaries here should be at least as big as those paid at Home, for the reason that the men who came to us were drawn from the ranks of professors' assistants, who, in coming so far away, were cutting themselves off from the opportunities for promotion when these arose. Then it ought to be possible—compulsory, in fact —for our professors to go Home at short intervals for the purpose of getting: in touch with the advance in science which was continually being made. Therefore understudies would be necessary to carry on during the absence of the professors. Research work should be encouraged. The man in charge of tho department should really be in the position of director, with assistants to do the routine work, and so enable him to give attention to research. We could not be expected to keep our men if their position, financial and otherwise, was not improved. At present wo were "sweating" them. They got no retiring allowance, and had to make provision for tho future from their The medical man should be looked upon as a national asset, and the burden of preparation borne by the State rather than by the University. , , Mr A. Walker, M.P.. supported the claims made by the deputation, more especially that . in regard to the Home Science * School. He thought, too, that there should be an increase in the salaries of the professors. Mr C. E. Statham, M.P., said he was prepared to give the claims of the deputation his wholehearted support. It was un'reasonable, he said, to expect a professor to educate a man to fit himself to earn a much larger salary than he (the professor) himself received.

In reply, the Minister referred first to what Dr Ferguson had said to the views of members of the Cabinet with regard to education and the expenditure thereon. Whilst his colleagues did not always see eye to eye with him as to the amounts to be voted, they generally agreed" with him with regard to his views on educational progress. Members of the Cabinet and of .the House held strong views as to the value of domestic science teaching, and with the exception of four or five members of the House, all agreed with him as to the importance of pushing that work on. What the Rev. Mr Cameron had said about the common want of knowledge as to hygiene was quite true. We had not paid the necessary attention to giving instruction in such subjects as physiology, _ first aid, home hygiene, and home nursing. They had been side iines in our educational work. Hereafter they would como into more prominence, and perhaps now that -we had learned our lesson we should pay more heed to these matters, which were to some extent safeguards against epidemic diseases, and generally in the direction of promoting public health. It was unfortunate that we should have required the recent lesson to wake us up. The epidemic had also brought home the necessity of improved housing conditions. He hoped that local bodies would take up this matter, and see the wisdom of promoting a general knowledge of such housecraft as would make for the health of the house-dwellers. He was today stronger than ever a believer in the necessity of teaching home science. Without it our education was lopsided. There were some houses in Wellington—homes of so-called educated persons—that were a disgrace because of the want of knowledge of that subject. He was happy to be able to say that he was in a position to approve of the grant of £I6OO to complete the home science building.—( c< Hear hear.") As to the chair, he wanted to see that work promoted, but he must hold over a definite reply till he went into the general question of the salaries of professors. He had been striving, as many of them knew, to secure a substantial vote for education, and he had succeeded to some extent; but he had not received the amount he was anxious to secure. Last session the increase in tho appropriation amounted to half a million, but that was not sufficient to met the primary, secondary, and university needs. Something had been said about increasing teachers' salaries, He had in this direction made the most of the amount at his disposal. He had given attention to the financial system, or, rather, systems, more particularly with regard to primary and secondary schools. Our systems so far had been loose, unbusinesslike, and uneconomical. Ho held that the Minister should have the control to enable him to exercise more supervision He wished to improve the salaries of tho professors. In Auckland the director of tho Technical School was granted an increaso which brought his salary up to £&00, and the Minister had no voice in tho making of that increaso. The Minister ought to have a voice in it. If eaoh body were to go on its own, and there was to be competition for teachers, tho result would not ho satisfactory. It would lead to variety of positions and of the rewards attaching thereto. Some comprehensive schemo ought to bo adopted by tho Government as to tile salaries in secondary schools and universities. There was a scheme in existence with respect to tho primary schools.

Generally speaking, the whole subject of university finances required to be looked into in order to put it on a good footing. Ho was anxious to givo this matter close study. When different agencies in control had differing methods tho result was not good. It may be necessary that the Minister —whoever is Minister—will require to have large bowers, In order that there may be assured finance The beet brains must be secured for tho chairs, and wo must be prepared to pay for the best brains. Tho whole question of the salaries paid and the naturo of the duties performed by the professors required to bo considered comprehensively. That subject would bo considered before next session. Legislation would be required. A much larger sum was required for education. Enlightened public ' opinion demanded it. The war had made it clear that thousands of pounds beyond what wo now spend could have been made available for educational and social reform. We had found millions of money to destroy. The money was there for that purpose. The money could also bo found to develop character and build up men and women, and we should patriotically resolve to use it for that purpose. It was for the people to say. If we are to keep pace with other countries the money must be found. He would do all he could to show tho Government and the people that it was the best national investment that could be made. He was much impressed by what had been said by tho various speakers. A strong case had been made out for better provision for the University. He was anxious to secure more money with which to m*omote primary, secondary, and technical education, and he was also anxious to be able to do something further in the interests of development work. This money must be voted if wo were to prosper, and he hoped it would be. Mr Sidey thanked the Minister for tho manner in which he had received the deputation. i_ Mr A. Walker said there was one matter outside of the subject the deputation hadintroduced, that he wished to bring under the notice of the Minister. There were cases where students who had been attending the University had been compelled to abandon their studies for want of means. Tho Minister said that such cases of hardship had come to his knowledge, and he had been instrumental in getting a vote put on the Estimates of £IOO to assist, among others, students of tho class mentioned by Mr Walker. It was an initial vote, and might have to be increased; but it was at any rate, a beginning.