Heavy Salary Cut

Timaru Herald, Volume CLV, Issue 22791, 15 January 1944, Page 4

Heavy Salary Cut

(N.Z.P.A.) WELLINGTON, Jan. 14. Dr Harrop tendered his resignation conditionally in May, 1943. “As a graduate of the University of New Zealand, to which I have a strong attachment,” wrote Dr Harrop, “I wish to say that my conditional resignation was tendered in the following circumstances: On May 19 last I was informed of a heavy cut in the salary of the office which was to operate from the previous January 1. As I was then immersed in important and exacting work for prisoners of war wishing to sit New Zealand examinations or their London equivalents, I naturally declined to accept this five-months late ultimatum. “In a report to the Senate through the Chancellor I wrote: ‘The considerations which led the committee to its action are of public interest at a time when the war is probably nearing its end in Europe, and there will be many of our students seeking entry before long into the Universities of Britain— Universities which will be crowded by students from this country. That the committee should so lightly make a change in the English agency at this stage can easily be explained only on the assumption that it is indifferent to everything but short term financial consideration.’ “I regret that the experience I have acquired in more than 12 years of office will not be available to students in a post-war period, unless I am able to do something unofficially through the Students’ Associations. I have no regrets at refusing to accept the committee’s estimate of the value and extent of the work done for prisoners of war —an estimate based, I hope, on ignorance rather than on indifference. "I should like the public, and especially the relatives of prisoners of war, to understand the reasons for the change in the agency. At a time when tl.e Government is showing signs of recognition of the value of University training, the University goes out of its way for the sake of less than £5O a year to depreciate it. When every possible link with Britain is necessary now that the external examination system has lapsed, the Senate dissipates experience and goodwill built up over years. This is a matter of more than academic interest. That is why I make this statement.” A successor to Dr Harrop has been appointed.