CAPPING OF STUDENTS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 18975, 27 March 1936, Page 5

CAPPING OF STUDENTS

CHANGE AT WELLINGTON BOARD INSISTS ON MOVE (Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, this day. The Victoria College professorial hoard, following incidents at last year's capping ceremony, decided that this year the. capping would be held in the afternoon instead of the evening and in the concert chamber instead of the Town Hall and that admission would be by ticket only. Last year there were periodic disturbances in which a considerable section of the student audience conducted a series"of Hour and bomb battles, during which the proceedings .were completely interrupted. The students sent a deputation to the college council to appeal against the professorial board's decision. The discussion was taken in committee. The council received a letter from the professorial board stating that the students' representations had been fully considered and that the board had adhered to its previous resolution. The students journal, The Sriiad, makes the following comment: "It appears that the badinage and the raillery, that indefcasibly infectious accompaniment of all student activity, has year after year 'been the secret shame of the professorial board. Year after year they have seen it as a devouring flame, playing destructive havoc with dignity and the moment of ritual called capping, and this time the board has determined it shall be conducted with solemnity and faultless regulation and perhaps the grace of which professorial boards have dreamed for decades past. Student drollery is so regular as to be traditional. It has always* been received by the interested public with good-humoured understanding and tolerance."