THE CAPPING FRIVOL.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1784, 24 June 1913, Page 6

THE CAPPING FRIVOL.

UNUSUAL POSITION, GENERAL STUDENTS' MEETING. i PROFESSORS' APPEAL, Oil Thursday afternoon the degrees for which Victoria College students havo qualified during the year will bo conferred by the Chancellor of the New Zealand University (Sir Kobort Stout), in the ordinary way, i.e., that each graduate who lias qualified (and paid tho necessary fees) will be personally called, presented to the Chancellor, and rcccive his degreo and the Chancellor's congratulations and liand-ghake. A new departure—and one which"constitutes a precedent in iNew Zealand—will bo tlio conferring of degrees on Graduates of the Auckland University during the course of thesamo afternoon, as a penalty for the improper conduct of irraduntes and undergraduates at tho last capping in the northern centre. Tho Cfianccllor intends to simply read over the names of the Auckland graduates, after which tho diplomas will be posted. There are twenty-six Auckland graduates who are entitled to degress, and in each case the Registrar of the New Zeala <1 University has received notice to post the diplomas—a clcar intimation that none of thorn anticipate being present at Thursday's function. i What attitude tho local students intend to take with respect to the conferring of tho Auckland degrees in Wellington lsnot cxactlv known, but. tlio Students' Association is believed to havo considered tho matter. The situation seems to be full of Gilbertian possibilities.

THE MEETING. AND THE TEXT OF THE APPEAL. At a general meeting of tho students of Victoria College, summoned by the chairman of tho Professorial Board and tho president of the Students Association, the following statement was made by Professor Picken, chairman of the board:— "We have aslted you to meet us tonight because of the peculiar circumstances that have arisen around tho year s graduation ceremony, particularly because tho matter has been ■so freely discussed in the daily papers. The occasion seems to be one on which it is proper that the Professorial .Bcxvrd should express an opinion to the general body of students, in order to leave them in no doubt about what it considers to bo tho right attitude towards the situation. This may bo a superfluous precaution, but it seems much better to risk the superfluous than to leave to speculation and conjecture what can be stated clearly in . a few minutes. It is known that tlio Council acting in conjunction with the board, took exception to there being even tho faintest suggestion of i involving this colicgo in a matter of discipline relating to students of another college. It is further known that this view was taken because those who are responsible for tho wel 7 faro of the college, knew something of tlio general problem of maintaining order on occasions of the kind, and recognise the importance of eliminating potential ex-, plosives. The Council did all it could