The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. "Luceo Non Uro." TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 1935. ASSISTING GENIUS

Southland Times, Issue 22486, 22 January 1935, Page 4

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. "Luceo Non Uro." TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 1935. ASSISTING GENIUS

It is gratifying to learn that the Senate of the University of NewZealand is to take such steps as will enable it to make special grants to permit exceptional students to continue their studies abroad. There are already in existence a number of scholarships which bestow such a privilege upon gifted students, but these are awarded largely along stereotyped lines and without regard to the financial or other special circumstances of the recipients. It is to be presumed that under the new scheme the Senate will have discretionary power to make grants to brilliant students whose position is such that they could not, without financial assistance, pursue their studies overseas. There may be some people who question the need for study abroad, but it will be generally recognized that the educational institutions of New Zealand, excellent as they are up to a point, do not provide the facilities for advanced study which the universitites in the Old World possess. Members of professorial staffs coming to New Zealand from abroad have expressed surprise that in the Dominion a professor has to devote almost the whole of his time to teaching, whereas in Britain a great part of the time is given to research work and to helping students who are pursuing their studies along lines of original thought. Only thus can specially gifted students get out of the rut. The greatest authority on radio-activity is Lord Rutherford, of Nelson. Who can believe that he would have outstripped all others in this branch of science had he remained in New Zealand? It was his winning an Exhibition Science Scholarship, whereby he was able to proceed to Cambridge, that was the turning point in his carrer. In a different sphere, that of plastic surgery, a New Zealander, Sir Harold Gillies, holds a pre-eminent place. Would his exceptional talents have been fully developed had his parents not been in the position to send him abroad to complete his studies? It is a mistake to suppose that New Zealand produces fewer

brilliant men than other countries; it is quite possible that on a per capita basis the Dominion leads the world in this respect. But it has in almost every case been through study abroad that fame has been won. It is no exaggeration to say that there have been in New Zealand many brilliant men and women who, through inability to pursue their studies in the Old World, have not been able to make full use of their talents. Gray’s oft-quoted words come to mind: But Knowledge to their minds her ample page, Rich with the spoils of time, did ne’er unroll; Chill penury repress’d their noble rage.

It is conceivable that the action of the Senate may give to the world a musician, a scientist, or a mathematician of transcendent ability who otherwise would have filled an honourable but humble post in New Zealand. Possibly the scheme may also be utilized to commemorate in a fitting way the late Chancellor of the University, Professor Macmillan Brown, who was not only a highly successful teacher and the man who shaped the destinies of Canterbury College, but a research student who contributed much valuable information on the ethnology of the people of the Pacific Isles.