ACCOUNTANCY CLASSES

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 146, 16 March 1921, Page 6

ACCOUNTANCY CLASSES

AT THE UNIVERSITY

WHY THEY WERE DROPPED

REPLY TO MR. E, W. HUNT

At the annual meeting of the Wellington Accountant Students’ Society recently) the president (Mr. E. W. Hunt), in the course of his address, sharply commented on the dropping of ,the accountancy course from the curriculum of the Victoria University’. The matter cropped up at last evening’s meeting of the College Council in the form of a report 'bearing on the facts of the case. The .report was as follows:—

"The classes in accountancy at Victoria University College were started in 1912, the New Zealand Society of Accountants making an annual grant of <£lso for the purpose. This grant carried a £ for £ ’subsidy from the Government. The following were appointed by the council:—Accountancy: Mr. J. S. Barton, F.P.A., F.I.A. Commercial law: Mr. W. F. Ward, M.A.. LL.B. The number in attendance at the classes in 1912 was about 70, but this suddenly fell to about 25 at the beginning of 1913, and then decreased to about 8 in 1915, 1910, and 1917. One of the reasons for the rapid decrease after 1912 was the fact that the University of New Zealand had agreed to waive the entrance examination in the cass of those candidates who passed a section of their examination in 1912, but to insist on the preliminary examination after that year. The teachers felt that the poor attendance was in part due to the position of the college, and asked the council to allow the classes to be held in tho city. To this request the council finally agreed, but the number in attendance did not increase, and in 1917 the New Zealand Society of Accountants withdrew its subsidy and the classes came to an end.”

Mr. C. H. Taylor said that hundreds were attending the accountancy classes at the commercial colleges in town, and it seemed to him that they had com. pletely ousted the university. Professor Hunter, in explaining that what had happened was no fault of the university, said that the classes were started at the instigation of the New Zealand Society of Accountants, with first-class men as lecturers. Mr. Barton was one of the very best men that could be secured, land his books wore in daily use, whilst in Mr. Ward they had a first-class man who was not only a trained lawyer, but a trained teacher, ft might be that the young men preferred coaching work to university work. Coaching was not university work. No blame wevs attachable to the university for what had occurred; indeed, the council had interested itself warmly in the classes. Mr. T. Forsyth said that he was surprised at the mildness of the reply to Mr Hunt, who was secretary of the association at the time, and knew the facts of the case. He understood that in tho fast yeat (1917) there were only seven accountancy students at the university, and the association, thinking that it was not receiving value for its money, cut it out, and so the classes had come to an end. But that was no fault of the university, as Mr. Hunt had inferred. It was rather the fault of the association in not fostering the classes it had assisted to promote. Another reason given was that the college was too far away from the students, which was very paltrv. To get over that the classes were then held in the Accountants’ Chambers, but they grew so small that the association considered it was not getting value for ita money. Mr. Hunt knew all these facts, and he (the speaker) was very surprised at the remarks Mr. Hunt had m professor Hunter said that they were not replying to Mr. Hunt They had only been asked to report on the facts ot Bakewell eaid that was all that was needed.' If any ™ mb er °f the council wanted to have a go at Mi. Hunt, let him do it on his own. Mr E K Lomas Wud that having no accountancy course at the university, no student could qualify for the Bachelor of Commerce degree without going outsaid that applied to manv subjects of a practical nature. Sir Roliert Stout said it applied to medicine, engineering, and surveying. He was surprised at students c 2!! Blde,r [ nff tll<! rollege too far for them. When he was a student they had to walk a mile and a half to attend colleges, and it uas not conridered anything extraordinary to do it He did not know what the young men were coming to. The report was adopted-