CAPPING DAY

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2498, 26 June 1915, Page 2

CAPPING DAY

QUIET AFFAIR r —— 1 IN JUSTICE TO THE ABSENT ° FRIENDS f J r A ROLL OF HONOUR : Tho Victoria University College capD ceremony was held last night, and successful students received their degrees. Tho ceremony bore but a faint resemblance to the ceremonies of 1 other years. ! The changed atmosphere ] was, of course, occasioned by the fact that many students and ex-students I are away at the front, and some have fallen in the common cause. Even some of those who appeared to receive their degrees wore beneath their , robes tho khaki which proclaimed them j ° as soldiers of tho King. As these , * recruits walked off the platform they £ were each presented with a large cross, h branded "l'or Culture," and a toy gun, a tin 6word, or a flag. Mr. C. Watson, chairman of the Vic- I t toria College Council, presided. He 1 [- said that those present had come to r congratulate those who had gained their , r. degrees. This year the usual festir vities would not accompany the capping r ceromony. There would be no procesl" sion, no capping songs, no dances. The , reason was that those left here could J not enter with zest into such festivities e when their comrades were away fight- i ■. ing for their country. '(Applause.) o This was not the time for li"ht-heartea ' 0 jest. (Hear, hear.) Two liundrcd of e the past and present college students i- had already fjone to the front, and, if n the other universities had contributed *• in liko strength, New Zealand could P well feel proud of her college men. More of the students were going, and i r some who were present that evening l" had commenced tneir training. (Ap- ' plause.) He read the following list of names of those students of the col- - lego who had been reported in the casualty lists:— Killed in Action.—Captain John Hannington Goulding, 8.A., 1906; Cort poral John Edmund Hills, 8.A., 1913; , Lance-Corp. Philip Gardiner Tattle; ' Priyate Holgar Bro Randrup; Private '• Charles Ernest Phillips; Private Wilr liam Thomas Dundon. ' Died of Wounds.—Sergeant Ingelow ; Penrose Dunbar Stacker; Corporal Vincent John Baird Hall, M.A., 1913; . Trooper George Covell Jackson, 8.A., ! 1913. Missing.—Sergeant Donald Kellway Pallant; Lance-Corp. Lan Douglas 1 Jameson. ; Mr. Watson went on to say that he i hoped that by next year the college . would have a fully equipped Chair of Commerce and Economics. In conclusion he expressed vhe opinion that the college was doing good and quiet and faioliful work. Sir John Eindlay drew a picture of New Zealand embarked on a dark voyage in \vhich we were piloted by, among otiiers, some of those who had been students at Victoria College. On the result of that perilous voyage all our eyes were turnod. New Zealand had many educational privileges of which she was proud, and for wkioh she should be thankful. Not long ago the opinion had been expressed that the refinements of higher education Lad reduced the grit of Britain's men. But this war had proved that our educated 1 Inen of to-day had faced more than our 1 I forefathers Were ever asked to face. : People of old had beheld the soldier of ■ 1 their dav in the hired fighting man, and had spolsen of the bull-dog courage of this man whose primitive instinct led 1 him to follow war as an occupation. But it had sometimes been forgotten that there was a courage still higher than tho great courage of those men. < There was a spiritual courage. He i contrasted the kind of courage of Jack ; Johnson, tho pugilist, against that of ■ Captain Scott, the Antarctio hero, ] ■ whose dying hours were sustained by ■ , the spirit of England. Not only Scott, : , but many hundreds of frail women had ' died heroic deaths for great causes. ■ | Sir John Eindlay mentioned the case of ' a young English poet who had been i : killed lighting at the Dardanelles, > man gentle and _ apparently without fighting instincts. But somewhere tho call had stirred him, and , ho had gone; and before going to the ' l>ardanolles had fought resolutely through the awful carnage in Flanders, i That man had been drawn to the front 1 by that mysterious force which defies analysis, and which men call love of country. Such spirit must be native in the man, but might be vivified and intensified by higher education. Eden would not necessarily convert tho timorous into valiant fighting men, but it could aid every man to see his duty clearly before him. (Applause.) , Sir F. H. D. Bell declared that this would be a memorable night for those present. They had heard from Sir John Findlay the most stirring address delivered since the war began. The man who had spoken had three of his sons ill the danger line: he and his had practised what had preached. (Applause.) It had been a great pleasure to him that the audience 'had risen to Sir John Findlay's speech as they had done, and had approved his appeal for this conntry to be in spirit with those who were away in the fighting line. These capping ceremonies werfe, true enough, occasions for amusement, and not to be taken too seriously, but those who were .eft behind should not treat matters too lightly. He appealed to those who had to remain behind to take with sufficient seriousness the future which they had in their hands. They should look at it in the light that it was hardly fair to those who were away for those at home to do otherwise. They should so conduct themselves that when those who did return rejoined them there would be no occasion for shame. (Applause.)

At a meeting of the congreation of Knox Church, Masterton.' it was unanimously resolved to make a call t-o the Rev. G. T. Brown, M.A., of Gisborue, to fill the position' rendered vacant by the appointment of the Rev. \. T. Thompson, to the charge of St. Andrew's Church in Christchurch.