NOMINATIONS FOR RHODES SCHOLARS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18575, 25 September 1928, Page 11

NOMINATIONS FOR RHODES SCHOLARS.

NO DECISION YET MADE BY CANTERBURY COLLEGE AUTHORITIES. It is possihle that no nomination will be sent from Canterbury University College for the two 1928 Rhodes Scholars from New Zealand. Five students were entered for the nomination from Canterbury, but no decision has yet been reached by either the Students’ Association or the Professorial Board. One candidate has since withdrawn, and the nominations have been left open for another week, closing on September 27. The Final consideration of nominations will be made by the Professorial Board on October 10. The delay in decision has been caused mainly by the fact that most of the candidates are too old. The trustees of the Rhodes Fund are now giving a decided preference for youth, and twenty-one is considered the maximum age for a Rhodes Scholar. It seems now that Canterbury College may be unable to find a candidate sufficiently suitable and youthful. Canterbury College has a splendid record in connection with Rhodes Scholars, three Canterbury students having been selected during the past three years. In 1925 Messrs C. E. Low and M. Barak were the Rhodes Scholars for New Zealand, and Mr A. L. liaslam was one of the 1926 selections. Last year Canterbury nominated Messrs R. G. Simmers, J. Nanson and W. Brvden. None were successful, but Mr Nanson is offering himself again as a candidate this year. The scholarship system founded by the will of Cecil Rhodes, provides in perpetuity for the support at Oxford for a term of- three years each, of about 175 selected scholars. Of these two are selected from New Zealand. Before 1925 only one New Zealand scholar was selected. The Canterbury College Students’ Association, which considers the athletic record and the qualities of manhood of the candidates, was unable to come to any decision concerning the five candidates offering this year. A motion that no nomination be approved on account of the unsuitability of the candidates was narrowly defeated.

A motion that Mr D. P. Lindsay, the Olympic swimmer, be the sole nomination from the students, was also defeated by a narrow margin. Mr Lindsay was, however, placed, first, in the vote on the merits of the candidates.. The-selection of the New Zealand Rhodes Scholars will be made in Wellington during the first week in November. ■