The Press SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1903. THE RHODES SCHOLARSHIPS.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11508, 14 February 1903, Page 6

The Press SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1903. THE RHODES SCHOLARSHIPS.

It is now almost a year since Cecil Rhodes died, and many people axe beginning to wonder when the great world-wide scholarship scheme which he propounded in hie will is to be brought into operation. But schemes so complex and so comprehensive demand organisation, and involve difficulties and delicate arrangements which cannot be settled up in a few days or even months. No time is being lost, and we may anticipate that in 1904 Rhodes'e scholars will be pouring to Oxford from all parts of the globe in time for the opening of the academic year. The working out of the scheme is in the hands of a very capable man, Dr. G. R. Parkin, well known, not only as the Principal of the best school in Canada, but as the pupil and biographer of that prince among schoolmasters, Edward Thring, of Uppingham. Dr. Parkin is at present towing the world on this business. Before Christmas he was working among the colleges of Oxford"; he is now, w« believe, in America, and within a few months we may expect him in Australia and New Zealand. There can be little doubt of the interest which his presence here will excite. Not only has this unique scheme of the great Empirebuilder appealed to the imaginations of the most distant parts of the Empire, but the actual prize offered is bo substantial as to arouse the keenest emulation. Probably Dr. Parkin feels that the most difficult pait of hia task has been accomplished in arranging matters satisfactorily with/ Oxford herself. That staid and venerable institution is proud of her great eon; but it is quite conceivable that she may have been a little embarrassed by a bequest which was to flood her halls with a strange and motley horde' of aspirants from every corner of the British (Empire, America, and Germany. But she has not shrunk from the prospect. Detailed arrangement* have been agreed on for the reception of the invading host, and ite distribution among the various Colleges, co tli&t when the selected one from lowa or Bavaria, or New Zealand, enters with trembling heart that unknown world, he will find himself expected end provided for, and friendly guidance awaiting him at every difficult corner. So much for Oxford; next as to the States and nationalities which are to contribute to this curious but • invigorating stream. Some people have professed to be vastly amused at the idea of the pushful or plutocratic American burying hie eon in an' effete medieval seminary, while he is surrounded by institutions in which the saving gospel oi "hustle" is preached every day. But the pushful American knows better than to regard Oxford as an effete medieval seminary. He knows that his son will come in contact there with forms of culture which are quite unknown to the heavily-endowed Universities of his own country. With all his "hustle" and hi* glaring modernness, there is at the back I of him a haunting thirst for the ineffable charm of old-worfd institutions and oldworld educational life. The reception of the will by the best American newspapers gave clear evidence of the feeling of the country on the subject. And so, too, with. Germany. One might well ask, what has a British University to offer to a German in the way of education? Here again the answer comes at once, that the German will find a'type of University life for which hie own country provides no parallel. There is no analogy at all between Oxford and any Univereity town in Germany. . It de very foolish to suppose thai, because Englishmen go to Germany for higher work in science or philosophy, Germans have nothing to learn-by coming to England. The principle of international exchange of commodities operates as freely in the intellectual as in the commercial world. We have good reason to believe tnat Germany will gladly participate in the Rhodes scholarship scheme. But even vtheee colonies of our* are not altogether free from a disposition to disparage the advantages of an English University education. The doctrine of working out our own salvation in educational matters is beginning to permeate certain portions of tie community. The Univereity of New Zealand fcas dene adSBxable work, and, with Urn 00-opwstion

of ite afflHeted Odlegee, is predoctog some eoimd scholans, and raising the intellectual ton* of the country. But with all our pride in our local institutions, we hope the day may be very far distant when a short-sighted patriotism shall Head us to regard the older institutions as extinct luminaries, and our own as centres of light and progress. In the Rhodes SchoJatfhips we have one check to the spread of insularity in our ideas of higher education. The far-reaching effects of the scheme, for Oxford and for the world, can be but dimly conceived. What the nations want above, all things now is to understand each other. Mutual ignorance is a fertile souipe of mutual suspicion and antagonism. It is not too much to expect tht the old eeot of learning by the leis will become a focus of world-wide interests, and a diffusing centre of international amity. And every State which is repregentert there by a son must feel a new affection for the land which, tlirough its University, has become his foster-mother. And then when each one of these eons returns to Lk own land, impregnated l with the ideas, hopes, and aspirations, not only of England but of all that is progressive in the world, can anyone over-estimate the influence which lie will exercise in his own country in breaking down prejudice, and opening up a wider and nobler homon? These things are not vague dreams. They must have been present, and many other such, as living realities to Ihe mind of Mr Rbwles when he conceived his vast scheme of international scholarships.