The Waikato Times. "OMNE SOLUM FORTI PATRIA." TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1872.

Waikato Times, Volume I, Issue 75, 22 October 1872, Page 2

The Waikato Times. "OMNE SOLUM FORTI PATRIA." TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1872.

Tub petty jealousies which exist between one portion of this colony and all others are likely to have an injurious effect on au institution which was calculated to confer a lasting, benefit on New Zealand, by giving our youths an opportunity of receiving a high-class education in the country of their birth. In 1870 a Bill passed through Parliament by which £3,000 per annum was granted for the establishment, of a New Zealand University, and it was decided after a long and tedious debate that the head-quarters of that University should be in Dunedin. Mr O'Rorke has now succeeded in getting a Bill read a second time in the Hoiise of Representatives, for the division of the £3,000 into two equal parts,-one half to remain at the disposal of the institution to which the whole mim was originally granted,, and the 1 other to be applied to the endowment of aa Auckland University-

The majority of the members who spoke on the question displayed, a lamentable ignorance as to the work the machinery of a University is supposed to perform. The general impression appeared, to be that its principal work was the instruction of undergraduates. This is not the case. The duty of impufUug by lecture or otherwise devolves upon the Professors of the different Colleges, the University, as such, only examining and granting degrees. The principle upon which those who agitated for the establishment of the University intended it should work was, that the affiliated schools throughout the colony should hold the same relative position to our University that the different Colleges of Oxford and Cambridge hold to theirs. It mutters little in winch of our towns the University is situated, so long as its resources arc not alienated. If Mr O'Rorke's Hill becomes law, the usefulness of both- Universities will be reduced to a minimum. It will then be impossible that high-class examiners can be paid by either institution, and the value of the degrees granted by men of mediocre ability -will be of little or no advantage. Parents will of course send their sons home to be educated, or at any rate to one of the sister colonies, as to graduate in their Universities is at least a guarantee that a man has received a liberal education. Although the Bill has passed its second reading in the Assembly, we sincerely trust that it will fail to pass the Council. We should like in common with every settler in the province to see a University established in Auckland, but rather than the cause of education should sutler, which,.if the Bill now before the House passes, it undoubtedly must, we should prefer to have a highclass School or College affiliated with the New Zealand University.