UNIVERSITY SENATE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2686, 4 February 1916, Page 9

UNIVERSITY SENATE

CONSTITUTION OF BOARD OF STUDIES STUDY OF MAORI CUSTOMS

The sittings of the Senate of the University of New Zealand were resumed yesterday, the Chancellor, Sir Robert Stout, presiding. The Medical Committee rccommendcd that the New Zealand University Act be amended so that the Senate may have the power to deal with matters concerning medical and dental professional education without receiving recommendations on such matters from the Board of Studies. There had been some discussion regarding tile recommendation on the previous day. 'Professor Marshall thought that the Board of Studies should be confined to tbo Faculties of Arts and Science. Even if, as had been proposed by. the Victoria College, all professors were members of the Board of Studies, members of the medical faculty who wero in practice could not afford the time to attend the meetings of the board. The medical and other faculties would bo under-represented, and' arts and science would be the only faculty fully represented on the board. The medical faculty were all at Dunedin, and could 'confer whenever necessary. The same could be said of the engineering faculty at Christchurch. He held that the Board of Studies was further wrongly constituted in that technical schools were nnder-represented, and there was no conceivable scheme by which they niiglit have proper representation. Professor Chiiton said the recommendation, would have the effect of -upsetting the Board of Studies, which they had only'establislied a year ago. Professor Malcolm explained that the medical'faculty had no intention of casting any slight on the Board of Studies. The recommendation only referred to professional matters, and it was thought; time would be saved by taking them direct to the Senate. The recommendation was adopted by 11 votes to 7. It was agreed on the recommendation of the Law Committee that any candidate who has" volunteered and been passed as lit for service be allowed to sit at the supplementary • law examination in the subjects of the second division in lieu of the November examination, provided that he subsequently enlists and serves in the New Zealand Expeditionary Forces; and that each ■student who seeks to take advantage of the Act of 1915 shall forward to the registrar' a certificate "from the Defence Department, or a Yccognised recruiting officer, that lie has volunteered for active service and been passed as lit. It was reported that Professors Farr, Jack, Marsden, and Owen had conferred, as authorised by the Senate, and had resolved that the syllabus in physics for B.A. and B.Sc. pass degrees be altered, so as to make it a reasonable one-year course. The matter was referred to the Board of Studies. A recommendation by the Medical Committee was adopted that the degree of Bachelor of Mcdicine and Bachelor of Surgery he conferred on the following: Bertram Frederick Aldred, Robert Hector Baxter, Herbert Miller Hay, George Brownlie lsdale, Amos William Johnston, George Harold Robertson, Stuart Scoter, William Henry Simpson, Arthur Harry Aylmer Vivian, John Connor, and Alexander Duncan Shanks Wliyte.

The Senate adopted 1 a recommendation by tile Statutes and Ad Eundem Committee that Peter Afanasavitch Toka-l-ieff (Imperial University of Charkoff) be admitted to the University of New Zealand ad eundem stntum with rcspcot to the medical preliminary examination. With reference to an inquiry by •Judge Gilfedde ( r'as to whether the Senate would receive a thesis on Maoi'i law and custom for the degree of Doctor of Laws, the Law Committee rccommonded that tho subject of tlio thesis was not one contemplated by the stattute on the degree of Doctor of Laws, and regretted, therefore, that the thesis could not be accepted. Tho Chancellor remarked that .Maori custom could not be said to 'bo law. A member: It is tribal law. The Chancellor said that the only law affecting the Maoris was the law passed by Parliament. Professor Macmillan-Brown said that Native, custom and folk lore might be the origin and foundation of law. It was suggested that the question be referred to a committee to consult the calendars of other universities. The Chancellor: To ascertain whether a thesis on folk lore has ever been accepted for this degree. The Doctor of Laws statute can be amended with tlie sanction of the Board of Studies to include a thesis on Maori custom. In the course of further discussion, sympathy was expressed with the idea of encouraging research with respect to Maori customs, and the Rev. Mr. ■Cameron moved that a committee be •appointed to consider the amendment of tho statute as suggested by tho Chancellor. Eventually the matter was referred to tiie April meeting._ with power to act. Tho Senate adjourned till 10 a.m. to-day.