STUDY AT OXFORD UNIVERSITY

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22510, 19 September 1938, Page 8

STUDY AT OXFORD UNIVERSITY

PRAISE FOR TUTORIAL SYSTEM

EMPHASIS. ON SPORTING RECREATION

The tutorial system adopted in the English universities, “under which there is no harsh dividing line between the teachers and *the taught,” was praised by Mr Lester F. Moller, a 1935 Rhodes Scholar, in an interview with ‘-'The Press” yesterday. While at Oxford, Mr Moller passed the .law degree of 8.C.L., arid he is now awaiting the results of the B. Litt examination for which he wrote a thesis on public policy with special reference to private international law. A brilliant graduate of Otago University, Mr Moller has returned to the Dominion to visit his parents, Mr and Mrs E. T. Moller, and if he finds an attractive position, he will remain here. '

Even, students whose homes were at Oxford were required to live in the colleges, said .Mr Holler. The result was that there was ho great university allegiance, except in things against Cambridge, but the college allegiance was very strong. The colleges comprised fellows, who were the 'tutors-and lecturers, and the undergraduates. The college arrangement was responsible for the students reaching grand terms with their tutors; they became one of the small democracy in the college. For practically the whole of the three years he was at Brasenose College, Mr Mpller worked under the principal of Brasenose, Dr. W. T. S. Stallybrass, a world famous authority on torts.

Compared with the New Zealand University, a huge amount of time was given to sport at Oxford. The students took lectures in the morning or worked in the library. Every afternoon was-free for sport; each college had its own grounds, pavilions, and equipment. “If you do not take the afternoons off for some kind of exercise or sport, you are looked upon as a very surprising sort of person,” said Mr Moller. Tea was taken at college and students worked from 5: p.m. to 7 p.m. and perhaps in the evening. Overseas Students Speaking of Rhodes Scholars at Oxford, Mr Moller said the Americans kept rather to themselves. The Rhodesians and South Africans were “terribly cliquey” and seldom mixed with others. The Australians moved together yet they also took a great interest in general university activities. On the other hand, the New Zealand students at Oxford seldom saw anything of each, other, being completely submerged in |

general university life. The New Zealand Hongi Club had simply died a natural death, because New Zealanders were not interested in it.

The English division in the profession of law, under which barristers were ' separated from solicitors in practice, was supported by Mr Moller, who said he had a tremendous admiration for the ability ,of the English bar. The conduct of the English Courts was rigid, while they also had a little more pomp and ceremony than wias seen in the New Zealand Courts. Mr Moller was a hooker in the Brasenose Rugby team, and he made three tours of Surrey and Sussex with the. Brasenose Wanderers, a cricket team formed by Dr. Stallybrass,. and more recently taken on tour by Mr C. H. M. Waldock, the junior law tutor. An enthusiastic amateur actor and producer before he left New Zealand, Mr Moller founded the Brasenose Dramatic Society, which now produces plays regularly. He was admitted to the New Zealand bar before going to Oxford,