GIFT TO CAMBRIDGE.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 237, 6 October 1928, Page 8

GIFT TO CAMBRIDGE.

The gift of £700,000 from the International Education Board of the Rockefeller Foundation to Cambridge University will enable the new university library to be built, and the physical and biological studies of tho university to be carried on under much better conditions than at present prevail. Contrary to general opinion Cambridge is not wealthy as a university. Many of tho colleges have valuable endowments, and most of' the undergraduates are possessed of considerable means. Thus there is a general air of prosperity, which is apt to create the idea that tho university itself ought to bo rich enough to provide everything wanted. But for a long time tho scientific studies of the university have suffered from inadequate equipment, while the library building has been far too small for the ever-increasing number of books to be housed. Tho same difficulty in regard to library accommodation has been experienced at Oxford, where the famous Bodleian has proved inadequate for present needs. A copy of every new book has to be presented to the British Museum, the Bodleian at Oxford and the library at Cambridge, and thus there is a constant pressure on the available space. The authorities at tho two great English universities have never looked very favourably on systems of State grants, because they feel that onco the State gives money the independence of tho universities is liable to be endangered. The library at Cambridge will probably cost £500,000. Tho gift from the Rockefeller foundation will provide half this sum, and the balance will have to bo raised from outside sources. Gifts from America to educational'and health institutions in other countries tend to promote an international spirit. Recently a gift was made • from the Carnegie Trust to help the South African ivniversitios, and perhaps in time education, research and medicine will come to" be looked upon as international in character, and wealthy men will give money to help where help is most needed, irrespective of any considerations of nationality. The money that went to make the Rockefeller millions came from all over the world, and it is therefore fitting that some of it should be returned to the world at large. Universities and other institutions which are independent of State aid have a special claim on the generosity of the public, since they can "only maintain their complete independence by the support of private benefactions. —W.M.