The Evening Star. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28,1876.

Evening Star, Issue 4161, 28 June 1876, Page 2

The Evening Star. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28,1876.

When it was first announced that the Council of the Otago University proposed to establish a Medical School in connection with that institution, the project met with general welcome. There was, indeed, hardly two opinions as to its advisability; and the ‘ Otago Daily Times ’ always desirous of swimming with the stream when it can discover the course of the flood (which is not invariably the case) emphatically expressed its approval. But times have changed. It is no longer convenient to certain persons who are more eager for personal honors than for the advancement of learning that a Medical School should be opened; and our contemporary takes the hint and trims its sails accordingly. Forgetting all that it has been urging to the contrary for months and months, it declares : “The conclusion that two [Medical Schools] can be successfully maintained is so obviously wrong, although this conclusion has practically been come to, that the necessity for one should be more carefully investigated. We are, on the whole, inclined to think it an odder flight than is yet warranted by the present requirements of the Colony.” And then it goes on to point out, in language oracular in its an*

tiquity, what principles should be kept in view in forming a Medical School. The ‘Daily Times,’ the reader will notice, does not directly oppose the establishment of a Medical School, but

Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike. Just hints a fault, and hesitates dislike. The long and short of it is, tho ‘Daily Times ’ wants to get rid of one of the University Professors, but fearing to attack him openly and directly, it does so indirectly by insinuating that the proposed Medical School should be Kbandoned. Public attention has been awakened to the incompetency of two or three members of tho University Council who happen to be proteges of the • Daily Times,’ and every exertion must be used to lead it in a different direction. If it be really the case that the establishment of one Medical School is “ a bolder flight than is yet warranted by the present requirements of the Colony,” could any more damning fact be cited to prove the utter incompetency of the present Council, which engaged a Professor and incurred the expenses in connection with such a school; whose inauguration, moreover, it proclaimed to the world with a flourish of trumpets, before it had even counted the cost of the undertaking 1 Granted that the Colony is able to support two schools : what then 1 Is that a reason for the Otago University quietly yielding the laurels to Canterbury College 1 The inhabitants of this Province will not think so. They fail to understand why the school was not in active order months ago. Had ordinary diligence been used by the Council the school would now have been in full swing and rivalry been hopeless ; and even as it is, promptitude would give it a fair start before the Canterbury school could be opened, supposing the College Hoard persisted in its efforts after the Dunedin school had fairly got under-way. The Canterbury College is merely taken advantage of the indolence of the Council of the Otago University. The real motives which lie at the bottom of this inaction crop up here and there in our contemporary’s article. The ‘Daily Times’ is “fully persuaded that the special medical or surgical qualification possessed by a teacher is very unimportant. Appsint the man most competent to teach ; then, the classes being formed, there would be no hesitation on the part of the examining bodies to recognise the school.” If there is one thing more than another which examining bodies at Home have set their laces against, it is sham Universities conferring sham degrees; and American experiences have made them trebly suspicious. There may, of course, be cases where a man, destitute of a “special medical or surgical qualification,” is nevertheless endowed with natural gifts as a teacher ; but how is an examining body in Groat Britain to know that 1 It naturally looks to those outward marks which stamp a man’s rank in his profession; and any attempt to foist upon it a bogus medical school, with an array of unqualified teachers, would be resented immediately. Nor does the Colony want unqualified teachers to be employed. The affairs of the University are now getting into such a state as to make it seem almost desirable that they should be investigated by a Commission of Inquiry, composed not of politicians or merely rich men, but of men of learning, conversant with the management of a University, and whose integrity is above suspicion. The resignation of the Chancellor alone requires fuller explanation than it has yet received. There are sundry other matters upon which fuller light ought to be thrown. It has, for instance, been asked how it happened that when the University Council required designs for a new building they applied to a particular architect to furnish them, instead of having recourse to the usual mode.of public competition? Matters of this kind may be capable of a satisfactory explanation, but, for the sake of the University Council itself, they should not be permitted to remain in doubtful obscurity.

Tbe ‘North Otago Times’ reports that lambing has commenced in the Oamaru district.

The Dunedin Presbytery at its sederunt this afternoon again affirmed the desirability of union with the North, and decided to remit the question to Kirk Sessions to report to next meeting of Presbytery. On Friday night, a man employed by Messrs M'Kon/ie and M'Pherson at the Owake Creek Saw Mills, was drowned in the Creek while returning from the Owake Flat to the mills. His body has not yet been discovered. The only name (the ‘ Bruce Herald ’ hears) by which he was known was “Yankee Jack.” There was an excellent attendance at the Queen’s Theatre last evening, when “ Hazard ” was repeated, and passed off with as much ecldt as on any of its previous representations. The scenery painted by Mr Willis was generally admired, the audience at times becoming quite demonstrative. During the evening Mr Keogh announced that the Variety Troupe (of which Johnny Moran is a member), which arrived by the Arawata, would open at this theatre on Monday for a short season. Mr Henry Talbot, the tragedian, had left under engagement by the Ringarooma, and would open on the 12th inst. “Hazard’’will be repeated to-night. A serious accident happened yesterday at Bradley's Cutting, Purakanui, to one of the workmen named James Kinross, who was standing on a scaffolding outside the tunnel while a blast was being fired inside, the effect of which was to shatter the scaffolding and cause Kinross to fall amongst the debris. He has in consequence sustained the following severe injuries :—His left arm is broken, his collar-bone injured, he is severely wounded on his left leg, and one of his fingers is fractured. As soon as the accident was madg known, Mr Foote, a settler in the district, kindly brought the sufferer in a spring cart to Port Chalmers, where he was immediately attended to by Dr O’Donoghue.

The * Herald ’ understands that the Rev. K. Coffey, of St. John’s Church, Milton, Luw received and accepted a call from the congregation of St. Matthew’s Church, Wellington. His resignation of his present charge has been accepted by the Bishop. Mr Coffey • will probably leave Milton in October.

■^' ea 'dent Magistrate’s Court Port Chalmers, yesterday, the following civil cases were heard before T. A. Mansford, Esq., R.M.;-W. Weaver v. J. M'Kenzie, claim L 32 10s for making a quantity of bricks. After a number of witnesses had been examined, the plaintiff accepted a nonamt.—Tannage y. Jelly, claim Ll42s 8d on a dishonored bill. Judgment for plaintiff with costs.—B, Crawshaw v, B. Burke, claim LlO 18s Id. Judgment for plaintiff with costs. —Same v. Thomson, claim 19s. Judgment for plaintiff with costs.

_ There was a short sitting at the City £°“ ce Court this morning. Eliza Blackford, who had been before the Court on so maay occasions that the Bench did not care to enumerate them, pleaded guilty to a charge of using obscene language in St. Andrew street on Sunday night. The language, according to the constable’s statement, was most abominable. The Bench sentenced her to three months’ imprisonment, with hard without the option of a fine, thinkingthat in such cases a fine shonld not be allowed. She was further charged with drunkenness and disorderly conduct, for which she was fined 40s, or seven days’ imprisonment. Arthur Bradley and Robert Morrison were charged with drunkenness, the former beings fined' ss, or twenty four hours’, and the latter, as it was his first offence and had he offered no resistance to the police, discharged. Messrs T. Birch and 0. S. Reeves and Dr. Niven, J-P.’s, presided.

“London Assurance,” with a good cast, was played at the Princess’s “Theatre last evening to a moderate house. Mr Hoskins’s Dazz'e was as enjoyable as ever ; while Mr Burford secured considerable applause for. his excellent interpretation of the character of the old English squire, Sir Harcourt Courtly, Miss Colville has before appeared to greater perfection as Lady Gay Spanker, a reprehensible habit of giggling in the more serious paits of the comedy, into which she has of late fallen, somewhat marring her efforts. Miss Laurence, as Martha, played carefully; and Mr Douglas gave a gentlemanly representation of the part of Charles. Mr Starke’s performance of the pettifogging lawyer increased the favorable impression which we formed of him on his first appearance. “Much Ado About Nothing" will be repeated to-night, and to-morrow “ The Heir at Law ” will be played, with Mr Hoskins as Dr Pangloss, a character in v.-hicK he has few rivals.

The usual fortnightly meeting of the St. Kilda Council was held last evening. Present—The Mayor, and Crs. Mitchell, Vickery, and Robins. It was resolved that the clerk be instructed to ascertain if it would be legal to impound cattle straying upon the streets, and if so, to employ a man to do so. The Clerk stated that an application had been made to the Mayor from two persons for permission to erect a place on the Sandhills to render tallow, and ; t was agreed that the clerk bo instructed to write to the Waste Land Board, stating that the Council disapproves of the application. Mr Mitchell suggested that the Waste Land Board again be asked to vest the Sandhills in this Council, as persons were in the habit of burying dead horses, cattle, &c., in the hills, and only covering them over with a few inches of sand. The clerk was instructed to write to the Manager of the National Bank, and ask him if he would accept the account of the Corporation. . The ‘ Melbourne Age ’ bears the following testimony to the working of the Young Men’s Christian Association in that City ; “There is a broad ground upon which all may meet and give the Young Men’s Christian Association a hearty and generous support. The members—those of them at all events who conscientiously fulfil their pledges—form a kind of moral police. They not only act as a check one upon the other, but they bring within their wholesome influence young men who otherwise would inevitably fall victims to the many evil allurements that exist in all large cities. Scores of those who are somewhat slangily termed “new chums ” owe their rescue from the sad fate that too frequently overtakes their companions to the friendly intervention of members of the ■ association ; and many more have, through the same agency, been reinstated as respectable members of society when they had already passed beyond the reach of other wholesome influences. In Victoria these associations are only in their infancy, and have achieved comparatively little; but a perusal of the last (the 20tb) report of the proceedings of the annual convention of representatives from similar institutions in the United States and British provinces in America, held in 1875, at Richmond, Va., would convince the most sceptical that their growth means the advance of public morality and the accomplishment of much good.”

An adjourned meeting of Mr Reeves’s supporters will be held in the Athenaeum Hall to-morrow, Thursday, at 8 p.m. The South Dunedin Municipality av* initiating measures for the drainage of the Flat. A public meeting will be held at the Forbunr School on Friday, at 7 30 p.m., to.whicoall owners of property in the district, &c., are invited to attend

The Pioneer Lodge, No. 25, P.A.F.S. , held its quarterly meeting last Monday night in the: Lod-ra-room, Temperance Flail. The election of officers for the ensuing six months resulted as follows : —Bro. Alex. Wilson, W.M. ; Bro. Wm. Wilson, D.M.: Bro. JET, Thompson Senior Elder; Bro 11 B. Ingram, Junior Elder; Bro. Wm. Die!<son, secretary.