E.—'7a

6

The University of New Zealand and the University of Otago had each made application to the Crown for a charter to grant degrees, since degrees awarded under local legislation could not without a special charter command recognition throughout the British dominions. The reply (in 1873) from the Secretary of State for the Colony was that the circumstances did not justify the granting of a charter to more than one University in New Zealand. This reply undoubtedly helped towards amalgamation. It is interesting to note that even after amalgamation the same reply was received in 1879 and again in 1887, when the petition was renewed by the University of Otago. The substance of an agreement arrived at between the University of Otago and the University of New Zealand in 1874 was that the former body should hold in abeyance its power of granting degrees, should waive its claim to a Royal charter, keep its own endowments, and receive as an additional endowment 10,000 acres of land in the Southland Province. The University of New Zealand for its part was to be restricted to the examination of candidates for matriculation, for scholarships, and for degrees : it was to be a non-teaching body. The University of Otago was also to retain its title of " University." Clause 4of the 1874 Act reads, "It is hereby expressly declared and enacted that the University hereby established is so established not for the purpose of teaching, but for the purpose of encouraging, in the manner hereinbefore provided, the pursuit of a liberal education, and ascertaining, by means of examination, the persons who have acquired proficiency in literature, science, or art, by the pursuit of a liberal course of education, and of rewarding them by academic degrees and certificates of proficiency as evidence of their respective attainments, and marks of honour proportioned thereto." It is interesting to note that one of the claims of the Otago University was that it should, in addition to retaining its existing buildings and endowments, participate in the grant from the consolidated revenue in proportion to the population of the province.* It was in this manner that the University of New Zealand started upon its initial career as a purely examining body and it may fairly be claimed that this unfortunate limitation of function was largely due to provincial jealousies and to fear of denominational ascendancy. It is worthy of note that the New Zealand University was the first academic institution to admit women to its degrees, the first woman graduate obtaining her degree in 1877. The Otago University Council had also in 1871 decided that women should be admitted to all classes and allowed to compete for all certificates equivalent to degrees. In the original agitation for a University of Otago the Superintendent of the province emphasized the necessity for university teaching in mining and agriculture. This view was again expressed at a later date when an endeavour was made to found a Chair of Natural Science, the Council giving preference, ceteris paribus, to the candidate who should produce the most satisfactory evidence of ability to teach chemistry and mineralogy and the application of these sciences to agriculture and mining. Moreover, 100,950 acres were set aside in 1873 for the endowment of an agricultural college in Canterbury at thejtime when Canterbury College was founded. It is apparent, therefore, that the original founders were fully alive to the importance of linking up the University with the prominent industries of the country. Unfortunately, this sound principle was subsequently lost sight of, and it is only now that New-Zealanders are once more awaking to the absolute necessity of providing for their main industry by establishing facilities for University teaching in agriculture. The Act of 1874 authorized the New Zealand University to confer degrees of Bachelor, Master, and Doctor in Arts, Law, Science, Medicine, and Music, and in September, 1874, an application for a Royal Charter was made accordingly. The Colonial Secretary, however, replied that Her Majesty was quite ready to grant the request for a charter so far as it related to Arts, Law, Medicine, and Music only, as had been granted in the case of Melbourne and Sydney. Accordingly a New Zealand University Amendment Act was passed in 1875 imposing this limitation, and the Royal Charter of 1876 gave authority for the degrees of Bachelor and Master of Arts, Bachelor and Doctor of Law, Medicine, and Music.

New Zealand University Act, 1874, sec. 4.

New Zealand University first to admit women to degrees.

Original provision for agriculture and mining.

* See Thompson, " History of Otago University," p. 42.