AMERICA.

New Zealand Illustrated Magazine, Volume 1, Issue 2, 1 November 1899, Page 85

AMERICA.

r T" % HOSE New Zealanders who believe X that University education should he made accessible to the poorest resident of the colony, will regard with feelings of mingled pleasure and envy the good fortune which has befallen the State of California. In that State exists already a wonderful example of private munificence in the Stanford University which was founded by the late Lelaud Stanford, Senator and Railway King, and which received only last year the stupendous gift of about £7,000,000 from his widow. Now, through the generosity of Mrs. Phebe Elizabeth Hearst, widow of the late Senator Hirst, and at an expense of some £70,000, plans have been provided for what will certainly be one of the grandest, if not the grandest, group of buildings yet erected for educational purposes. An international jury consisting of H. Pascal, of Paris, Paul Wallot, of Dresden, R. Norman Shaw, of London, Walter Cook, of New York, and J. B. Reinstein, of San Francisco, was empanelled to decide upon the plan most suitable for the purposes desired, and after long deliberation E. Benard, 29, Boulevard Pereire, Paris, was adjudged the winner of the first prize. Over a million sterling has already been subscribed towards the erection of the buildings, which are on a magnificent scale, and news comes that other millionaires of the Golden State, such as Major James Phelan and Miss Jessie Hood, will each erect a building, while Mrs. Hearst, in addition to to her already princely gifts, will erect two,

one as a memorial of her husband, the other as a reminder of herself. The University has already, apart from privato gifts, a State income of some £77,000, and this, it is believed, will be largely increased. It is anticipated that in from twenty-live to thirty years, one person in every twenty-live in the State will bo college bred. The extension of University education is viewed by State and people as absolutely essential, in view of the popular character of the franchise. To our legislators and wealthy citizens we can only say, think ye ! and act ye in this respect like your compeers of the State of California !