THE RHODES SCHOLAR.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 755, 2 March 1910, Page 6

THE RHODES SCHOLAR.

AUCKLAND MAN CHOSEN. HIS COMPREHENSIVE RECORD. The committee of selection for the Rhodes Scholarship met yesterday afternoon, his Excellency the Governor presiding, and in the unusually short time of (one hour decided that Mr. Kenneth Sisani, the Auckland candidate, had highest claims' to the award... . Judging by his record and. testimonials Mr. Sisam should do honour to the Dominion at Oxford and in, his subsequent career. He "was born of English parents at Opotiki, Bay of. Plenty, in 1887, and for the past twenty years his home has been at Whakatane, Bay of.Plenty. His scholastic career was given in The Dominion yesterday. He is a master of

arts, having passed, according. :.to' cable advice,:. with ' first-class honours. in the recent examination'. His : B.A.-degree'.was taken in. 1908 ,in' English, Latin;.' French, mathematics, jurisprudence, .and constitutional history. In the same year he obtained a senior scholarship.in history. He has taken an active interest in. many forms of sport, and has' .been foremost in the executive work of: students'- clubs and societies. His athletic record at' the University is as follows:—Cricket, 1906, Grafton first eleven, drawing'for senior district championship,, member of University Club from its foundation in 1908, member of senior eleven .1908, ,1909, and 1910. Football, member of University first fifteen, winners of Secondary Schools'. Old Boys' Union competition'l9o7.' Hockey; mein. ber of second-eleven-1908, and first eleven 1909 ih l ''senior'.'grade' competition); member of, winning team in Hockey Association's Wednesday competition, and. selected as' 'a representative of Wednesday teams 1909. Tennis,- playing member of- tennis club since its foundation in 1907. Bunning, etc., delegate to University Tournament Committee,' 1909. . Shooting, delegate to conference on Haslam Shield Regulation's and for-' mation of Officers' Corps, 1909. He is also thoroughly used to swimming, rowing, and the management of boats, at sea. During the present year Mr. Sisam holds the following positions at tho college":—President of the Students'- Association, editor of the College Magazine, vicepresident of the Common Boom Club, vice-president of the ' Literary Society, delegate to the University. Tournament Committee, member of committees of,the Tennis Clnb and Debating Society. Professor Egerton, English professor at Auckland University College, writes that he believes Mr. Sisam l to be in many respects the best and ' most. promising student; that he. has ever hadA . He possesses, to a remarkable, degree, those qualities which contribute to successful.'research. .... Of his per-, sonal character no one who knows him can .speak but in the highest terms; his departure from this college will be felt as a real, loss, for he; has taken a leading part in every branch of college life. He is a born leader and organiser, and by his example and his work has done much to improve, the tone of the college.. In the event of. his election to. the Rhodes Scholarship he expects' for him a distinguished • career. ■ Other professors and teachers speak of Mr. Sisam with hardly loss enthusiasm. The Auckland University College Students' Association says of him: "During the whole of his course Mr. Sisam has shown himself to be a man ".of untiring energy, not only in his studies, but in furthering' any scheme for ' the ; benefit of the college. He is a student in the finest sense, combining unusual acouracy and sense of detail with great breadth of view, a wise caution with high originality. He has never sought a momentary specious.- success,... but always aims solely at the ■ acquisition and .increase of knowledge. In, social .life, he reveals a peculiarly attractive personality."