WHAT IS TO BE THE FUTURE OF NELSON COLLEGE ?

Colonist, Issue 795, 9 June 1865, Page 7

WHAT IS TO BE THE FUTURE OF NELSON COLLEGE ?

(From The Colonist, May 30.)

"When things are at their worst they'll mend," is a maxim which experience has made a proverb ; the only exception to ita truth being that things may be so bad as to be past the power of mending, and in that case they suffer total collapse. We sincerely hope that this last fatal alternative is still tar distant from Nelson College; although the prospect is sufficiently gloomy when we consider the all worse and no better condition to which, by years of mismanagement, extravagance, nepotism, and incapacity, the body of Governors who have so long held indisputed sway, have succeeded in reducing that establishment. We uad certainly entertained hopes that a strict economy would follow the exposure of the annual deficits which a proper examination and simplification of the accounts of the last few years display. * Instead of that economy being followed, instead of making both ends meet by pursuing the course which men of ordinary prudence would adopt, that is, cutting down the expenditure to the income, we are astonished to learn that it is proposed among a section of the Governors to sell a portion of the College property; to live, in fact, on the capital. The property to be disposed of is the house and grounds at present in the occupation of the Principal of the College, grounds which we believe contain three or four acres, and which are valued at something approaching £1800, and on ( which a mortgage of £600 already exists. ( How long can this last? Is it possible that , it can last with a diminishing revenue, and | with an annual loss upon each boarder in the < College? ! Possibly his Honor the Visitor of Nelson \ College may now be apprised of the fact, which will somewhat startle the people of ( Nelson, that at present there are only n i ne , pupil boarders in that spacious and costly , establishment; and that each boarder costs | ' for his board alone during the nine months and a half which constitute the scholastic year, considerably over £90. The rate paid by boarders who come from provinces other than Nelson and Marlborough is £65 a year; while, if they belong to either of these provinces the charge is only £50 per head. A college boy will have little difficulty in calculating the amount of loss, and on whose side, —that is to say, in a monetary light,—it will accrue. But this is only a portion of the lose. Nothing is allowed in this calculation for the percentage, the heavy percentage, which should be added on account of rent. Nine boarders in a building which cost about £12,000, and an average of £150 a year for repairs and furniture! Here is another sum in addition for the calculating college boy, who will find as the result that it becomes a " division " of funds, with a quotient representing a loss of nearly £160 per annum for each of the nine boarders. Some twelve or eighteen months ago, a florid account of the College, from the pen, ive believe, of the present Principal, was published, and it wound up by the following rotund lines: — " If the work which has been so well begun is carried forward wisely, Nelson College wi)l hereafter be venerated as a mother of learning, and raise a monument of fame, are perennius, and one that shall live ■when ' pyramids decay.' " One is tempted to raise nonchalant eyebrows, and murmur, " Heaw ! heaw !'■' as the willing tribute to this sonorous sentence. But alas, for the predictions of the prophet, and the hopes of gain and glory ! In his last annual report, dated 31st December 1864, the Principal of Nelson College mourns over the decrease of pupils at a time when the boarders were 24, or just 260 per cent, above their present number. He attributes this to two causes, or at least he names only two: — " Partly to the opening of a High School at Otugo, from which place many of our boarders came, and partly to the unqualified strictures which have been published on the management of the College, as well as on its instruction. Attacks of this kind, whether •well or ill founded, generally produce some effect, and do harm for the time; their permanent influence must depend upon their justice, impartiality, and truth." We have been told that his Honor the Yißitor iB exceedingly desirous that the Governors should take steps to allay the outcry which has been raised against the management of the College, and which we are in no way ashamed to admit was originated through the instrumentality of this journal after a very simple process —an examination of the accounts of the College. It ia to these " attacks " the Principal alludes in the sentence we have quoted? We accept his dogma. The "permanent influence" of criticism, whether in praise or blame, is nothing if unjust and untrue. This appears to be proved in this case by the result ■which has followed the above quoted " pyramids decay " parallel, and the effort at an impartial audit of the College accounts made in our columns last year. Present events, the facts we have stated above, and otherß yet to appear, bear their undeniable testimony to the "justice, impartiality, and truth" of those criticisms which we were impelled to write in the. interests of the public, whose educational resources in connection with this College have been squandered in a manner which, to use the mildest language, is excessively unbusinesslike. It is not the outcry, it is not the " attacks ". which the Visitor and the Gpvernors should set themselves to put down; a work in which they would decidedly fail, while the mismanagement lasts. These "attacks" are but an effect. To besuccesful they must remove the cause. That done, all hostile criticism, all attack, would cease. But the accounts and financial condition of the College, the status of its education, as shown by results, demanded public notice, and still require it. Moreover, those who so shortsightedly, and with a view to prevent the possibility of others having control of the educational part of the Nelson Trust Funds, apportioned so large a Bum for the College building, ought to share the disgrace of failure which such appropriation, linked with subsequent extravagance, has helped to produce. It is, however, satisfactory to know that all; the Governors are not favorable to a con- j tinuance of the present Bystein of economy W'lich has reduced the funds and the status of the College to their present low ebb. A i series of resolutions has been tabled in the • Governors' Council —and a copy of th jahas \>eea Bejit to each of the Governors— by his

Honor the Superintendent, who is one of governing body, and which runs as follows : — " 1. That the great decrease which has for some time past been evident in the number of scholars attending College clearly points to the desirability of sonic change that will make the teaching and general management of the establishment more acceptable and attractive to parents and qutirdians. "2. That the expenses of the College are greater than are justified by the number of pupils taught, and, being iv excess of the probable income, should be reduced with as little delay n« nmy be consistent with existing engagements. "3. That on both these grounds, it. is desirable that the present Principal should not be couturned in offuw after the expiration of his existing agreement with the Q-overuors." In the report of the Directors for the year •1862, issued immediately after the retire- { ment, ordisraiss<al,of Mr.Eeginald Broughtoo and the appointment of Dr. Greenwood as Principal in his room, it is stated : — " Experience has demonstrated that, for a successful temcher, not only knowledge, but the faculty of imparting it is wanted; that it is not a sufficient qualification that a man shall be able to write himself Master of Arts, or Fellow of such and such a College, but that what is of equal if not greater importance is an interest in youth, a love of teaching, the power of arousing and sustaining the attention of young people, and the ability to develope in them independent thought and the habit of instructing themselves." This sentence, which contains a hopeless grammatical muddle far from collegiately correct, is followed by another expressing the belief of the Governors that under the hands of the present Principal, "The College will advance," and that from him " it will receive an intellectual stimulus and be subject to an amount of wholesome discipline superior to what it has yet enjoyed. . . To him, as Principal, the general management, control, and superintendence of the College, both in and out of school hours, will be entrusted; and to him the Governors will look as primarily responsible for its efficiency and good conduct." It will be well to compare the condition of the College as respects attendance then with its state now. The same report for the year 1862 says:— "For the quarter ending 31st December, 1861, there were thirty-three day scholars and/our boarders, or in all 37 pupils ; while for the quarter ending 31st December, 1862, the numbers had increased to twenty-six day scholars and twenty-seven boarders, or in all 53 pupils." The present number of day scholars is twenty-three; but the number of the boarders is only nine, and the cost of the latter we have already indicated. This makes a total of thirty-three pupils, and shows a decrease of fully forty per cent, on the whole since 1862. Of the " efficiency and good conduct" of the establishment, its financial embarrassments and its list of pupils are among the best, or the worst vouchers. Whether Dr. Greenwood is the sole responsible person, and if not, how far the responsibility extends to the members»of thegoverning body, are questions as to which it is the duty of the Governors themselves to give their constituents, the public, lull information. On the whole, we confess our inability to venture a reply to the question which heads this article, and must leave that to the Governors, for on their conduct and management will depend —What shall be the future of Nelson College.