TWENTY YEARS AFTER.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14836, 29 November 1913, Page 15

TWENTY YEARS AFTER.

CANTERBURY COLLEGE, THEN AND NOW.

(BT A TISLXNE SCHOLAB.)

(SPEGUIiT mUI-IEK FOR ''TUB TOESS.")

rv. THE PRESENT DAY. Entering the quadrangle of Canterbury College after a too long absence, I found fewer changes than I had anticipated. Tho office on the right looked as cramped and crowded as ever, and out of it came Edward Evans, who used to sign tho receipts for our fees, smiling, as always, in spito of the fact that he had the Registrar's cares on his shoulders. Alexander Cracroft Wilson, the one-time Registrar, had departed. G. H. Mason, who used io bo accountant, and who succeeded Air Wilson, is,, I understand, touring tho Pacific Coast of America with a footbail team. Shy, obliging James Crummy they told mc, was dead. Through the second door of the entrance hail the old iron science building stood squarely across the line of signt, surely as uninspiring a first view of the College interior -as could well be imagined. The quadrangle itself, somehow, locked too fonuai, with its grass plots ienced about with shiny earthenware. The venerable cabbage tiee in front of the Great Hall was a sad eight to oue who remembered it iv its prime, choked now by unnecessary, uninteresting ivy, one branch dead, and tne other making a weak effort to get its head above the reach of the murderous parasite. In the other direction a biatant wall of red brick assorted itseif vulgarly, proclaiming its modernity; and I wondered idiy whether the electrical engineers who worked behind it couid ever regard themselves as truo members of tho Coliego.

Then came undergraduates, two girl students, one with hair unbound, and tiiey caiied to mind tbo "painful impression , : created twenty years ago by a slip, of a giri in short skirts, who wore her hair in a pigtail, tied with a bow. Our sense of dignity, was shocked* by tho incongruity of pigtail and academic gown, and it was rumoured tiiat oao of the professors had asked, privately, what the College was coming to. Then, of course, wo all of us asked the same question. In a year or two, juvenility threatened to enter into possession, and the College was liko to come to a pretty pass. 13ut that was atter my time, iiappily. The juvenile olpnient is still there, it seems, but well in check, and on this dny, when the students came trooping to lectures, they were.all earnest young men and young women, good types of raw material for tho machine of education. Good types they were, but not of ono type. Tiic Collego has never turned out its scholars in a recognisable mould, and never will, under existing and although one must not quarrel with it on that score in jhis democratic country, I reflect that no institution can bo the worse for the fixation of good habits and good manners. We used to think ourselves progressive twenty years ago, but in truth wo had many conservative ideas, and tho younger generation, I am afraid, would have small patience with some of our notions. Particularly, I think, they would have counted us very formal and precise in speech. In these days aspirates and final consonants are, shockingly neglected, and in a University College, if anywhere, linguistic laziness ought sternly, to be discouraged. It is no part, of my purpose, however, even if I had the spree, to framo/anything like a criticism of the College or its Ftudents. The mosfe,l can attempt to do ia to indicato broad differences br-fm-een the College of to-day and the Collego of twenty years ago. The institution has its good years and its ba' years, its seasons of abundance and its seasons of famine, and they come, roughly, in cycles. I asked an old graduate, who has had tho College under fairly close observation for moro than a generation, whether he had noticed any marked improvement or deterioraticn, and ho replied that while tho work done on tho Arts side did not appear to be as sound as it used to be. the Science side had developed out of knowle-'ge. That was obvious. I had only to look about to realise that the authorities had been spending money freely. Well over £20,000 has been put into now buildings sirco the dny I joined. The Biologxal Laboratory was opened in IS96T the Electrical building in 1902, the Hydraulic rooms were added to the Engineering School in 1905, and tho great Chemioal Laboratory was built in 1910. At tho present time the Board ia spending three or four thousand pounds in extending tho Scho-i! of E"ginnering. All this money has gone into tho modern eide of the Co.lege, and I suppose that it is bound to produce satisfactory results. If tho (Science and Engineering sections were not doing far better work now than they were doing in 1892,' the autho-itics would have to ask themselves some very serious questions; And while the building 3 have been growing, the professorial and lecturing staff has also been expanding. In part this is due to the newer demands of the University, but in my own opinion the whole conception of tho functions of the College has undergone a change. Twenty rears ago tho work •was concentrated. The Collego was j largely concerning itself with what may bo called tho fundamentals of education, and although a man's bent was necessarily indicated in his choice of a course, actual specialisation was re-farde-'J as a post-graduate process. Nowadays the student wants to spec T alise before he acnuirrs the broader culture, .and tho College provides vhim with every possible opportunity for go dcin.Jr. It is certainly not my function to discuss the wisdom of that policy, but the difforenca exists, and it is a< marked difference. " Here is n comparison of the staffs of 180? and 1913 :—■•.., Classics.—lß92, professor; 1913, professor and aseis+.iTJt. _iR92. nrofessor; 1913, proand as?irtfmt. Math?Tnat : cs —1592. "professor; 1913, and s. e *-Vanfc. Chwi&ry.— TSftf. nro f o?r;oT . Trans'ratflr; 1913, profrssor and demonstrator. Physics.—-1892. with Chemistry; 1913. pjvvfer'or. BiolcfTv.—lß92, professor; 1913, profe?."or. Ffvmonncc A? >rl H«?tory.—lß92, with P>«?l!PTi; 1<513. profppscr aM assistant--I MI° j. 1892, lecturer; 191 **. -professor. IsnS>iJ£v?r r i»T.—1592, lecturer and assistant: ir>T3" nrofwor assistants. 1aw.—1592, lecturer: 1913, lec.^uwr. Mortal Science.—lß92, none; 1913 lecturer. ' Education.—lß92, none: 1913, lecturer. Accounting.—lß92, none; 1913, leotnrrr. I daresay I have overlooked some members of the present staff. Music lectures were m , ?tiiut<Hl in 1893. and are still continued. The salaries paid at the College, not including tbe of Engineering, were £5775 in 1892: last year they were £10.233. The Ettjrifipering pnlaries have gone up from £725 to £2917. ' Now, "with all this expansion of ■buildings and staff, there ought to have been a corresponding increase in the numbers of tne" studnnts, but in the College tsroner there were last year not twenty students more than there were attending lectures twenty years earlier.

I make -duo allowance for the fact that the opening of Victoria College in 1899. cut the Coliego district in half, but it must not be imagined that all the students attending Victoria College ■would be attending Canterbury College "f the Middle District had not been separately constituted. Canterbury used to attract many of the leading scholars of the secondary schools at Nelson, Wellington and Wanganui, but some of those went to Auckland or to the Medical School at Dunedin, and as for the. rank and file, they stayed at home, perhaps studying at "exempted" students. v -

Between 300 and 400 students attended lectures in 1912, and approximately the same number 1592. But whereas the energies of the students twenty years ago wcro more concentrated, to-day they are diffused, and I am quite euro that "the modern conditions produce nnything like the solidarity that used to characterise the body of tho students. lam quite sure, also, that there is not to-day the saioe close* understanding between professors and students that used to exist in my day. There beve been many staff ehan/rrs of late years, antl they have disturbed the life of tho College, but staff changes do not wholly acenunt for the disaprearnnce of the old morale, of the old intimacy of professor and student, with its spirit of generous judgment °" n ono side, and Hs spirit of unquestioning loynltv on xhe other. . Prnbnbly the authorities themselves nnnreoiate tho fact of tho altered conditions, for I rtotieo that the College refutations to brought into force next year provide for tlie introduction of a tutorial system, under which every student will be "nttnobed" to a tutor. That is to say. he will be xiudcr tho immediate girdnnee arid control of a pressor, nv.A without thnt professor's authority it will not be competent for him to vary his course of study. Properly administered, .this system ought to be productive of great good, because it ought to stiirulnfo tho revival of tho spirit that appeared to have been irrevocably lost.

On the soc : nl side; the has made very substantial progress during tho past two decades. Just abnnt the close of the period I have been discussing, in tho year 1893, there entered the College a very vigorous group of student?;, some of thorn brilliant intello?tuallv, and all of them interested in extra-University activities. They included men. like Arthur Flower, now of Christ's College, the President of the Students' .Association for many years past; Frank Milner, now Rector of tho Waitaki f Ji.ih School; Andrew Muir, who, under extraordinary difficulties, couplod a, full Science course -with a, full Enpnocrins course, and -who was subsequently Municipal Engineer in Pretoria: Harold Williams,, who shortly transferred to Auckland and then went to Europe to make a Great namo for himself as a linguist; T. A. Murphy, now lecturer in Lav.- at tho Collego; the two Atkinsons, S. A. and E. G.. generous, manly fellows, who persistently practised an impressive patriotism : Alexander Bell, afterwards one of the School Inspectors in South Canterbury. " When* I say that in 1895 the College captured six Senior Scholarships and the Tinlino Scholarship, it will bo understood by those who know tho University that the student group of 1893 Was not deficient in intellect.

On tho social side tho moving was S. A. Atkinson,-and it was largely due to his activity'that, in 1894, the Students' Association was brought into being. To-day that Association is the controlling influence in tho lifo of tho Collego outside the It is responsible for the conduct of the students as a body, and it is.thechan-' nel of communication between the authorities and the students. From its institution it has had the advantage of the guidance of a man of raro qualities, for A. E. Flower ; who was a member of its committee in the early days, has been its president for about fifteen yoars. "To,the Association's work tho undergraduates owe the generous provision that has. been nindo, for their comfort, and in addition to organising the general soqial functions, such as the Degree Day concerts, it supports thq Athletic Club, the Tennis Club, and the. Football Club in times of stress.. It was Atkinson, by tho• way, who set on foot the "College Magazine," which the 'Association still maintains as a recor3 of the activities of the students. What the Association can do in the way of promoting social organisation is done energetically, but the students themselves realise that they lack the cohesion and the continuity of tradition that only a residential institution can impart, and on occasion they have been anxious to promote on'their own account a movement for the establishment of a College residence. I believe tliat once tho Association applied to the Board of Governors to authorise an agitation, but some* other important • movement was occupying attention, and tho idea was dropped. I hope that the tone of this article will not appear pessimistic. "What I have written down is intended to be. suggestive rather than depreciative.. The College is as thoroughly alive as ever it was, and it is assuredly offering attractions that were scarcely dreamt of twenty years ago. Its work has broadened amazingly, and its administrators have interpreted their duty very generously. They are planning now additions fhat will complete the College block of buildings on an impressive scale, opening out a great double quadrangle compared with which the present enclosure is a mere'cottage plot.* Yet, with all its progress,- the College is not receiving the support to which it is entitled from the public. Comparatively, it' is not as well supported now as it was twenty years ago, and even tho School of Engineering, which has prospered in a is , far from being appreciated at its full worth. Others must say what steps should be taken to improve the position, but that it ought to be improved admits of "no question.