1.—13 a.

4

G. W. VOX ZEDLITZ

of three colleges separated by considerable distances, and which is now the chief federal university left. In many ways wo are like Wales- t lesi oi resources, character and size of staff, numbers, and general type of students. In Wales, the Professoi ial Board for each college in the first instance draws up its own syllabus. This is then subject to confirmation by the professors of all three colleges sitting conjointly, and ultimately the confirmation of a supreme body of the type of our Senate. Ihere you have the following advantages : The proper body is responsible for being up to date and for initiating changes of detail; the control exercised by his colleagues over each professor's proposals is very thorough; the body that has to revise the syllabus meets frequently, and its members are in constant touch with one another; the bodies that have to be brought together from a distance, and 01 nly nun a( Longish intervals, are relieved of the heavy mass of detail work; the supreme body in particular deals only with broad questions of policy, and is so better calculated to attract representative public men; in the matter of new appointments the ruling body has at its disposal organization and advice such as are ai present missing altogether in New Zealand. 11. The Colleges : 'Die constitution of the individual colleges seems to have been influenced by the form given to the University. Otago, which is anterior to the University Act, has a normal constitution. The other three colleges contain a curious anomaly which, so far as we know, does not exist in any other similar institution : the members of the Professorial Board are directly excluded from holding seats on the governing body of (heir college. The reason for this departure from precedent seems to have been that since the College Councils have mainly financial duties, and in particular do not deal in any form with the syllabus or the examination, there was not the same need as in other university colleges to have a leaven of academic representation on the governing body. Probably there were also people who thought that salaried persons should not sit on a body whose duty it is to fix their salaries. The only reply to this suggestion is that there are many universities in the world, and that this objection is not felt —indeed, can hardly be said to be understood—outside New Zealand. The Hill dealing with Auckland College now before the House provides for direct representation of the Professorial Board on the Council, and the same arrangement should be exiomlc.l t>. the Canterbury and Victoria Colleges. In Otago it has always existed. Parliament does not realize, probably, that the net outcome of the whole of our arrangements is that the body of professors, having little say in the academic government of the University, and little Bay in shaping the policy of the colleges, and little say in the appointments made to their own body, are to all intents and purposes precluded from rendering to the State and the community a large part of the services in return for which professors in other countries draw their salaries; that this makes New Zealand a very comfortable place for a lazy or dishonest professor, but is not conducive t" the besi Interests of the University or to an economical use of the money provided by Parliament for higher education. We are not without a scheme of constructive policy, and we place it before the Committee in the pamphlet which has been put in; but we want to make it as clear as possible in what spirit we place it before you. We do not want to thrust it upon you and say " That is the only scheme." There are other schemes which may be formulated, one of which may be particularly suited to meet the requirements. A. 1 , . WEBSTEB examined. (No. 4.) 1. The Chairman.} What is your occupation?—An Inspector of the Bank of Australasia. Might 1 just in a word state that my position in connection >.\ith this matter is substantially that of Mr. Atkinson —namely, one of interest in the subject as a more or less intelligent layman. I have taken an interest for many years, as a matter of fact, in educational movements, and in this matter I have been for the last ten years or so more or less in touch with university professors, and in that way I have come to look on this subject with an amount of detail which an outsider without that privilege might not have done. However, 1 am not here to-day to talk in any sense at all as an expert. My duty is to put, in a brief and compact fashion, the present financial position of the University Colleges, and to indicate one or two directions in which, it appears to the association, those aspects of the matter certainly call for the serious consideration of the Dominion authorities. When considering tin- cosi of university education in New Zealand it has to be borne in mind that, although the aggregate annual expenditure—viz., 16d. per capita — compares not unfavourably with such centralized universities as those of Ontario (15d. per capita), New South Wales (Bd. per capita), and South Australia (13d. per capita), yet New Zealand obtains a greatly impaired result because there are four decentralized University Colleges to maintain. On pages 57 to 59 of the pamphlet the wastefulness of our system is shown, but, as the policy of the Dominion seems to be to render university education as accessible as possible, it only remains to emphasize the fact that the present system inevitably involves a much greater relative expenditure if thoroughly efficient results are to be obtained, and this extra expenditure must be faced by the Dominion if true university ideals are to be attained. In this connection the following proportions as to sources of income are significant. Out of every £100 of revenue, State grants and provincial endowments equal 67 per cent., private benefactions 4 per cent., and fees 29 per cent.; and if from fees is deducted the amount which represents scholarships, then only some 19 per cent, of university income in New Zealand is found by students. On page 57 of the pamphlet I think there is necessity for a slight revision in the figures. The alteration is only as to the amount found by the student after deducting fees. I think the figures should be 19. I might say that Professor Laby and myself are responsible for some of the tables in that particular portion of the pamphlet. We did not check the percentages, and that is probably responsible for the difference. The Dominion therefore is already carrying nearly the whole burden, and there is no indication that the position is likely to change; on the contrary, there is urgent need for increased expenditure both on buildings and equipment, especially in the North Island. The following analysis of income and expenditure of the University and the four colleges for 1910 carries some obvious conclusions on its Pace