RHODES SCHOLARSHIPS.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13337, 1 February 1909, Page 2

RHODES SCHOLARSHIPS.

MOTION TO LOWER THE AGE

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(fkess association telegram.) AUCKLAND, January .30. This morning 3lr F. K. Bf.umc, >T.P., moved a.t t3io University Sv?nate : — "That the Sonaito of the Univoi-sity of Now Zoaland is of opinion tl-.-at- it wouild be in accordance with the views hold and ox.prfssod by ihc late Bight [ Hon. Cocil Abodes, if tho ages wore J altered-to twenty-one years maximum, and eighteen ininimnm." I Air liaume said that there Iliad been great nvimbc-r oi dilTercnt- oiiinione oxpressed as to the value of the Rhodes Scho!ars3iip and tlhe effect upon tiho people who wou t-hem and w_n.t> to Oxford. The ageis at presenrt were nineteen and twen.tj'-five, and tlio average age was twenty-one or twenty-two. It .seemed to him that, the age limit were tof> kisli. Tho object of t_e 6ohoilarfihips was not tlia-fc stiideuls should go to Oxford to pursue post-graduate work, but vrith a wider, an Imperial object. The roa.l object would bo more readily obtained if younger studente were sent. Professor SaLniond seconded the motion. The advantages attached to Ifrip scholarships wer< , great—"three years at Oxford and in Europe, and plenty of money. Tiiou ih<»sp. yoiiiif; men fou.nd themselves stranded. Tho three years lod to nothing, and the students had not learnt- n. profession. Sir Uobert Stout enid that he would not ask Mr Bauine to withdraw the motion, but it. savoured of impudence for the. Senate .to tell the Trustees of Oxford how to interpret Mr lUiodes's will. Was it a proper thing to come from "the Senate •when they had not been asked ? They, had taken up an attitude which no other university in the world Itad taken up. It had been recognised, as a benefit to have the older students and the poet-graduato work. Wjiy should the Senate volunteer an interpretation -when they had not been asked ? Why eihould they want to Bend grammar-school boys who had not had any university training? Professor J. Mncmillnn Brown, hoped tnat the motion would be withdrawn. Replying to the oharge of impudo-nce •Mr Bauxno said that he was not aotnns; on hiis own initiative, but on a recommendation of tie Secondar— SohooJs Con fere nc e>. Tlie mot-ion was lost by thirteen to seven.