UNIVERSITY FINANCE.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 239, 9 October 1928, Page 5

UNIVERSITY FINANCE.

ADDITIONAL GRANTS.

AUCKLAND INCREASED BT £2260. £5350 MORE FOR DUNEDIN. (By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, Monday. The New Zealand Universities Amendment Bill was passed by the House this evening. The Minister of Education, Hon. R. A. Wright, said a contentious clause was that giving the Minister the right to veto the establishment of new chairs, but he was prepared to include provision in the bill that where the State was not called on to pay any part of the salary connected with a new chair, the right of veto would nofc exist. Subsequently a clause to this effect was introduced. By Governor-General's message further amendments to the bill were introduced. The Minister said the amendments provided for an increase in the financial assistance to universities. The finance of universities had been examined by an expert, and there was no duubt they were in need of assistance. Students had greatly increased in numbers, but the staffs had not been increased, and this must be done, while assistance must be given to special schools. The addition to the grants amounted to between £9000 and £10,000.

Introduction Posted. The amending clause provides tliat the Auckland University College shall receive annually from the Consolidated Fund £9750 in addition to £4000 under the Act of 1882, which is effect is an increased annual grant of £2250. Of the total £1250 is for the School of Architecture. The Victoria University College (Wellington) is to be paid £7750 in addition to £4000 under the Act of 1905, which means an extra annual grant of £250. Canterbury College is to receive an additional £1500 from the Consolidated Fund, making their total annual grant £6000, of which £4500 is for the School of Engineering. Otago University has received the most generous treatment, with an additional i annual grant of £5350, making their ' total annual payment from the Consolidated Fund £15,350, of which £6000 is for the Medical School, £1500 for the Dental School, £3000 for the Home Science School, and £350 for the Mining School. The amendment is retrospective, the increased grants being payable as from the beginning of the current financial year. Mr. M. J. Savage (Auckland West) said the tendency of the bill was to bring the university under the control of the This was not altogether new, but in this measure it was most pronounced. He was seeking to control chairs, and instead of giving the university a statutory grant of money, it was now to have an annual appropriation. which meant that the university would be at the mercy of the Minister. Mr. T. K. Sidey (Dunedin South) thought even with the proviso suggested by the Minister the proposal to veto new chairs should be dropped. It was a new principle and should not be presesd at this time, but the Minister _ should trust to the discretion of the University Council not to do the wrong thing. The Minister had mentioned the duplication o fthe chairs of forestry, but that duplication was due entirely to the Government. The Minister said it was not proposed to interfere with the teaching of the university. All he said was that if a university wanted to establish a new chair and asked the Government to pay for it, the Government should at least have a voice in the matter. There were two chairs of forestry in New Zealand, and the country could not afford to keep them going because the country could not absorb more than one forestry expert a year. The subsidy of local bodies to the Workers' Educational Association was not affected by the bill, but the association would as a result get an additional subsidy of about £600 a year. The bill, with amendments, was passed.