THE AFFILIATION OF THE OTAGO UNIVERSITY.
To the Editor. : Sir,-—I. venture, with your permission, to piake a few remarks touching thp great change which has cqme over us within the last few weeks in respect tq high culture iu this Colony, and the mode by which that is to be attained, Xu no place is the change so transparent as iu the columns of your contemporary the ‘ Otago Daily Times. 5 That journal, on the 26th of November last, devoted an able leading article, strongly condemning tho so-called New Zealand University by terming its Council a nondescript body, and ventured to give advice to the Government and Parliament of New Zealand iff the following languageTo knock .on the head this costly and mischievous Frankenstein that has been galvanized into life. We are but using the language of the men. in. this Colony most experienced in education when we say it is doing incalculable mischief; and through, ignorance of the exigencies of in the Colonies, and the cauarity of hoys'anywhere, fostering a fatal systdM of cram as deleterious to the candidates physically as it is mentally.” A- few months have Only passed over our heads, and we find the ‘ Times 5 lauding ttprtliis body; this body’ winch is fojJterihf£ 'a‘iu(;Ur,e' system pf ciami so deleterious to candidates physically, gs it is mentally. What does all this mean? What does the . Tiroes 5 mean when,, in its leader of yesterday, jt speaks of the interference of some evil genius to hinder tho powers of affiliation of the University of Otago with the nondescript body ? Is it the Superintendent who is the evil genius ? The Superintendent that wrote that very able and sensible letter of tbe 9th inst. to the Council of the Otago University, giving it as his opinion,- and that of his advisers, as “ unwise for the University of Otago to lelinquish any of the powers and privileges which it now possesses, unless Dunedin is to be the seat of the University of New Zealand, as was fully intended by the Colonial Legislature wbeh it passed the versify "Act, is7o.” ' i Is the Superintendent ap evil genius because he now expresses big belief in the opinions expressed by the ‘ Daily Times' on tho 20th November, 1873? I have ever looked to the establishment in Dunedin of the New Zealand University as a
circumstance of much more importance to it m the future than the transference to it pf the beat of the Colonial Government. I, Cannot but regret the has been re* w its Council and Professora, it 13 i>opr consolation to culture, and to the. place, to find that ft protest only has been recorded whon so much harm has been done. A 1 1? ’ i n ita leadei ' of the 18th, that the Superintendent, for instance, is evidently vexed that the Province, by accepting the position of a College, should seem to los| the credit of being the creator of the first University Not unnaturally, perhaps, ho thinks more of the position of the Province than of the Poaitiop of the higher education of New Zealand. I have read, gir, Mr Macandrew’s letter very carefully, and I see in it the expression of the greatest concern ior the welfare of the Province, as well as deep concern for high culture in Zealand. The Province has already received its blow by the affiliation of its University, and high culture’s prospects are not bright when wo arc told that the Otago Uuiver* sity is united to a nondescript body that fosters a fatal system of cram as deletariops to the physically as ft’is mexJtaUy.—l am, t. Hawk. Dunedin, March 18. Mil HOLLOWAY AND THE LAND QUESTION. „ •nr-ii 'l'° Mie Editor. sir,— Will you permit me to criticise some , r ®iuark3 which appeared in your leading article of the 12th inst., relative to Mr Holloway s visit to the Colony, and the settlement of the people on tne soil. It appeared to me
that a good deal of what you said in that ftrtigle was beside the question. Your article ‘looked as if it was written m the Merest' of the present against former administrations. It is what is termed in sporting lanPW* ‘drawmg a red herring across the trail. The present Government, in my opinion, can favorably compare with any previous Administration, Their acts speak for themselves, and the Province is satisfied with them, and they, are satisfied with their own acts. Even the ‘Daily Times,’ sir, lauds them for all the good they havb done, a£ well as lauds thepi for tpe good done by other Administrations, AU these things aro satisfactory and becoming. Then, why not let sleeping dogs lie ?
Why abuse former Administrations, when the wsue between the people at Roxburgh and iapanui and the Government is with respect to the sale of land presently taking place and to take place in a week or a month or two ? The people of Roxburgh complain that the present Government are not keeping good faith with them in opening land for settlement on Henderson's run, Miller’s Elat, as originally arranged to be thrown open ; that the land they are opening is unlit for settlement; and further, that the Government are arranging to sell privately to the mnhoMer the only block of land suitable for agricultural settlement remaining on Henderson’s run, Miller’s Elat. That in consequence of these things they invite- Mr Holloway to come_ to the district of Mount Benger to see for himself the exact state of things. Now, sir, are these statements true or are they false? If true, the sooner the evil is remedied the better. If false, Mr Holloway’s visit will do no harm.
I understand, like you, that Mr Holloway did not come here as an ambassador to settle or decide upon the merits of rival political theories. He conies here, according to his own statement,to see whether a laborer from Great Britiiin, if he come here, will benefit his condition ; and whether New Zealand offers the same inducement to the laborer, in the shape • ~ home,” as is being offered to that class in Canada aud Queensland. He says the GoCanada will give a free grant oi 100 acres of land, with five acres of it cleared, and a cottage erected on it, to any industrious laboring man that wilt emigrate to that country. The 100 acres are to be a free grant, but the cost of clearing the five acres, and the cottage is to be
paid by easy instalments. Mr Holloway also says if this Colony will do likewise, it will get a large number to come to its shores, for he is prejudiced in its favor. .He is silent about the matter of wages. He knows that wages iu Great Britain are on the rise. But there they cannot get a “home,” and sickness and accidents cause the poor man to go into a poorer U i*i 0 ’ which a “ home” to fall back upon, Mr HoJoway knows, would prevent. The great aim of our statesmen, sir, ought to be to diffuse property in land widely throughout the Colony. This is the principle which has made the United States of America so great and so generally prosperous. Under its J jaw 850 acres to each person, 6,000,000 of ueople have been settled on the soil, out of a population of 36,000,000. In this country, where land is so limited as compared to America, one man is enabled and has leased from the Crown 300,000 acres.
Laud being the foundation of all wealth and P™ o /. the more it is diffused the more will wealth and power be divided amongst the people. Give large monopolies in land, and we at the same time give power with it. This is a truism which the agricultural laborers in Great tJntam know to their sorrow. It is the boundeu duty ot every person having the pretence to statesmanship, now that the introduction of labor is a cardinal part of the policy of the present Government, to see that bona fide settlement on the Crown Lands is attended to. Unless this be done, wages will prcsfctly fall, And what will then follow? Why, cjiudaiats far and wide of the dulness qf the ’times tradesmen, and every person that has anything to sell, will complain because they cannot get the same high price for their wares that they
got formerly. And wdiy cannot they ? Because the purchasing power of the people hga been reduced by the reduction of wages. This is another truism which people directly interested u ,V fc disregard. But their disregard does uot alter the truth. It is unerring. Then how are we to keep up wages and general- prosperity ? Certainly not merely by bringing into the V/Oiony a large pumper o,f laborers in order to compete for the sale of their labor with one another. We must have, sir, other elements at work than the mere employer of labor bidding for the price of labor. We must have the land bidding directly for it as well as the man of capital. lam bound to admit in passing, that much has been done in this direction by the sub-division of the mineral lands, and tho compulsory working of them by the workingman, or by the of ,miit ft l. Hence tho reason of labor being at a higher price within goldfields than elsewhere. J have before me the evidence of an American employer of labor which bears upon the point. And what does he say ? He says ; Of course tbe rate of wages is regulated substantially m our country by the profits which a man pan get out of tbe soil which has
cost him little or nothing except the labor •r ,o Su he t^ 11 2? elf ; or hJS famil y ave put upon n. inat is the element which, in my judgment determines the standard of wages in the Unitedotates which an ordinary laborerwill derive from the fact that the man who thinks that lie is not getting enou-h takes to the land; and if he hud thi(t the Lind, does not yield him so much as he could get in some other branch af indushe goes back from the land to that industry. these principle 'arc true applied in America, here, or elsewhere.’ If America had not given every encouragement to’the : poor man to occupy land on the niqst liberal tei'ms, wages hi America; have been as low there as thoy are iu Great Rrltain-the land of monopoly and protection on’ lauded property, u tfcih 1 rovince, land, in many instances, instead of competing % labor, offers to capital investment wheTohy the demand for labor is diminished, This wto be seen in those places vhere large blocks of land have been sold to sheep farmers, and are now notably occupied by many sheep, and few human beings. The land in this Colony and Province is limited in extent as compared to America, and a monoliere in ■ ls > therefore, more easily secured are P erson * who believe in the sale of all Crown lands (auriferous or other--3-“ so « n Possible, as the cure for all political evils. These men pride themselves op Tl.evrSfh t0 re i duCe evtir y t^\ l \o to. practice. ° practical men. They belli mi *ri ft w ®W‘ fa H ecl Treasury, even though it he hi ed by disposing of our capital. They are not theorists, they deny that it exists either m social or political economy, and, therefore, they put everything into practice, without any principle, ihese men ipay be very good men et business, and so long as they cobbled on tbeir own last, everything weu/vS fit a country is never free from danger when such statesmen are ruling it, and a crisis may come a SW* afc night, when it is not expected.— $ am, &a, 1. ~ , Progress. Dunedin, March 13.
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Evening Star, Issue 3454, 18 March 1874, Page 3
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1,986THE AFFILIATION OF THE OTAGO UNIVERSITY. Evening Star, Issue 3454, 18 March 1874, Page 3
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