COLLEGE COUNCIL.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1549, 19 September 1912, Page 6

COLLEGE COUNCIL.

CHANGE OR NOT? PROFESSORS AS MEMBERS. Amendments to the Victoria College Act' were discussed recently by the. College Council and, at that lime,.a proposal to have tlid Professorial* Boafd represented on the Council by its own professors was negatived by five votes to four. Other proposed alterations that were carried wero embodied in n draft Bill and forwarded to the Minister for Education for consideration by the Government. Subsequently the Council received a reply from the Minister stating that he' agreed with the amendments proposed.but thought that the constitutiou should be altered so as to have two professors on the board. A special meeting was called for Wednesday, September 11, to deal with the matter.' Only seven members were present and tho suggestion was not then considered, but Sir . Robert Stout gave notice of th? following motion:— . That the only alteration in the present constitution of the Council that tho Council approves of is the following, viz.: That tho chairman of the • Council should be ex-offlcio a member of the Professorial Board and the chairman of the Professorial Board shall be cx-officio a member of tho. . Council. This motion came before the monthly meeting of the Council last,evening, when Sir Robert Stout staled that he did not agree with going any further than that in'.the matter of alteration. He could not see why the professors should necessarily be members of the Board any : more than that a headmaster should be a member of an Education Board, or an engineer a member of the local bod\- that j'.iiployed hiin. He brought the motion forward as-a fair compromise. Mr. AV. M'Callum seconded the motion, but thought that it was really going too far. Dr. Knight agreed with Mr. M'Callum that tho mutton was perhaps going top for, but would support it. He pointed out that,- while young and active-profes-sors might.be welcome on the council, the young and. active .professors. of to-dav would be-the "old fossils" of thirty years hence, and vjuld be a stumbling block to progress. ...... Mr. A. R.. Meek expressed himself as in agreement with. Sir . Robert . Stout's views. Mr. 11. H. Ostler had given notice to move as follows:— :" ■ . That. the. suggested amendments ..to.' the Victoria College Act, which were rejected at last -meeting: of the council by a majority of one, be adopted to meet the suggestion of the Hon. tho Minister for Education-that lv/o professors bo elecled as members of the '■ . council by the Professorial Board.. He now moved this as an amendment to Sir Robert Stout's, motion. Mr. Ostler stated that lie regretted that Mr. M'Nab was not-present as he was a graduate of the Otago University, and Was in favour of .the reform; .-The-speaker .then went on to refer to a decision recently come to. by the Auckland University to< have two professors in a-council of thirteen members. There was not a modern university in England where .provision had not been made for professorial representation, which was also/provided for in Australia and in Otago'. He maintained that ■ the professors-were not servants of (he council, but servants of the public. No member of the. council could have the • interest of I lie-college more' at heart than the.professors,, and.;jt was a fact that the council-iu the past had suffered from- want 'of-expert--knowledge. The council; in his opinion, would work'' better and more-smoothly-nvith two professors. ~.'.. The ,Hon.. H. 1). BelJ, K.C.. seconded the 'amendment. Sir . Robert'Stout'was sn much the-aiithoic-of 1 t.hß-pTcs'eiit ' con■stitution, giving (he professors outside representation, that he (th'j speaker) could not follow, his.objection lo giving them direct representation. The present representation was entirely unsatisfactory to them' because their nominee did uothring a professorial mind into the atmosphere of the council. Mr. J. G. \V. Aitken, Mr. C. 'Watson, and Mr. I'leining spoke in favour of tlw amendment, 'while/Mr.iHoggusaid that he would support (he motion. Sir Robert Stout, speaking to -the amendment, remarked that, in some of tho English universities Mr. Ostler had referred to, the professors were not membars', of the council as professors, but as Dean of the Faculty. When the amendment was put to the meeting the voting was equal (six.for and six ..against). Tho chairman (Mr. C. 'Wilson) gave his casting vote against the amendment. Sir Robert Stout's motion was. then'carrietl by seven votes to five. ..... N.Z. GOLF ASSOCIATION. - c —— ANNUAL MEETING. The annual meeting of delegates to' the New Zealand Golf Association was held last night. Mr. .T. Webster (captain Wellington Club) presided. Tho Bulls Club was admitted to the association. It .was resolved that the report and the balance-sheet should be adopted, subject to audit. ' The secretary was instructed .to, in future, send out the report and tho bal-ance-sheet within,H days of.the close of the financial year. It was resolved to amend' the rules so as to give the delegates the power to.fix the.date and tho place for the holding of the championship meeting any time during August, September, or October. It was decided:—"That, the entries, for the New Zealand amatenror open-cham-pionship be limited to 72, or such greater number as (he Council of the New Zealand Golf Association shall approve, and should, the entries exceeil such number tlie, competitors with the longest handicap ore to be rejected until such excess is eliminated. Should there be two.or m.ore competitors with the .same handicap subject to rejection, the entry or entries to" be-'rejected shall bei determined by ballot; and that those persons..who enter and .ire -rejected -shall-be. notified within'two days of. the closing of the: entries." . . • '. I It. was resolved thai if a member of a registered, club .was more than twelve months in orrear in subscription, the club should advise the secretary of the New Zealand Golf Association, who should notify ■ all registered clubs, and the offender should bo debarred from joining or playing at another club until such time as all arrears had been paid.. The meeting agreed that the next championship'meeting should be held ill Dunedin, commencing on September 8.