5

I.— 13a.

A. r. WEBSTER.]

Income and Expenditure of University and Colleges.

North Island, total, £20,500; South Island, total, £32,000. * Includes £1,U09 of interest on accumulated surplus. f Of this, £100 is interest on accumulation, wliich will be used in a year or so. J Includes £1,800 Presbyterian Church grant. § i'ees to examiners. || Includes an exceptional outlay of £2,666 on apparatus. No library expenditure recorded in accounts. (l.) The meagre endowment in the past of higher education in the North Island when compared with the South Island : This is evidenced by the fact that income from endowments in the South Island is ,£16,400, while in the North Island it is only =£530. The significance of this disparity becomes even more patent when the relative growth of population in the South and North Island is compared. In 1879, the year of the ltoyal Commission's report, the total population of the Dominion was 414,412 : in the North Island, 155,4:07, equal to 38 per cent.; in the South Island, 256,644, equal to 62 per cent. In 1911 the population was 1,098,407 : in the North Island, 568,729, equal to 56 per cent.; in the South Island, 444,678, equal to 4-1 per cent. Deducting from the South Island the population of Marlborough, the West Coast, and Nelson, which are part of Middle University District, the percentages are 63 per cent, and 37 per cent.; and while the population served Middle University District is 379,371, equal to 37 per cent, of the whole Dominion, the Victoria College revenue was only 20 per cent, of the total revenue of the four University Colleges, exclusive of the University revenue, the latter being 20 per cent, of the whole. (2.) A quite inadequate amount is being spent on libraries by all tiie colleges, and equipments by all the colleges, except possibly by Christchurch on its Engineering School. (3.) There is no margin between revenue and expenditure to meet normal expansion. The financial aspect of specialization calls for attention. It has been generally recognized that the four colleges should not all attempt to teach every subject, and special Government grants have in the past been made on this supposition; but there is unfortunately a tendency to depart from this sound understanding, and, as adequate funds are not available to maintain a university standard of teaching at the four colleges in every subject, the result is the lowering of the standards, it is essential, if co-ordination is to be secured, that the governing bodies of the University and its colleges should be in close touch with one another. How this may i., attained falls to be dealt with under organization. From the point of view of economical finance the need is urgent. Salaries and Pensions : The information obtainable as to the former in New Zealand is meagre, but as far as it goes it appears the average is £225 per annum less than the average of the four Australian universities, including the proposed university for West Australia. Not only is the average salary substantially less, but also there is no pension scheme in New Zealand for University teachers. Both of these defects operate in directions detrimental to the best results. I'o the extent to which salaries suffer by comparison the Chairs arc less attractive, and without proper provision for retirement and pensions the occupants of the Chairs may continue to teach after they have ceased to be e-nicient. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in America aims directly ai establishing in higher institutions of Learning an efficient system of retiringrallowances for (aofessois. and the administrators of the fund have affirmed that it is as importani to provide pensions as to increase laboratories and lecture-rooms. There is great need that the State—which contributes directly and by endowment, as has been stated, some 80 per cent, of University income in New Zealand —should require the adoption of uniform returns from all the colleges, covering the whole subject of their administration. The numerous items of expenditure should be so grouped as to give some fair estimate of the colleges' methods of spending their money. There is no gain to be had by presenting a series of statistics unless they enable sound conclusions to be come to concerning the operations which the expenditure represents: e.g., the returns should S | II)W —Amount paid for salaries, distinguishing salaries paid for various grades of teachers; expense of each department, viz., salaries, laboratories, library; how much is spent on teaching; how much is spent on research. It is a fact that all the British universities which accept Government aid (except Oxford and Cambridge) now have to furnish annual returns of revenue and expenditure in conformity with Government requirements. The work of the university is unending, and its wants indefinitely large. An institution professing to conduct the work of a university with manifestly inadequate resources both harms the cause of education and misleads the students, for the latter fail to get the needed stimulus. The aim must be to secure an adequate income and efficient administration. \

Auckland University. University College. Victoria College. Canterbury College. ' Otago University. Totals. Income. From— Governmenl Private foundations Provincial endowments Fees Total .. £ £ 0,100 7,250 1,100* 300 Nil 460 6,300 1,840 13,500 10,000 £ 8,300 290| 70 1,860 10,500 £ 8,300 290t 70 1,860 £ 3,260 t » 9,300 3,790 16,400 £ 3,260 8 9,300 3,790 £ 2,550 740 7,100} 5,200 £ 27,400 2,400 17,000 19,000 10,000 10,500 16,400 15,600 00,000 Expenditure. lENDlTURE. 43,500 _j 17,600 0,000 520 J» Salaries Administration and maintenance Scholarships Library 3,070$ 7,300 i 5,150 1,150 ! 4,980 140 NU 130 7,300 1,150 140 130 8,000 3,300 980 270 8,000 3,300 980 270 11,400 5,660) 400 110 11,400 5,eeO|| 400 110 13,800 2,320 100 1 Total 13,200 8,700 8,700 12,600 12,600 17,600 17,600 16,200 68,000