The Evening Star THURSDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1876.

Evening Star, Issue 4317, 28 December 1876, Page 2

The Evening Star THURSDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1876.

The publication of a report of the proceedings at the meeting of the University Council on Thursday throws some muchneeded light upon the manner in which that body transacts its business. The object of the meeting was to consider a lettei from Dr Coughtrey, tendering his resignation as Professor of Anatomy, which it was determined to accept. The immediate cause of the Professor’s resignation appears to have been a letter from the Council to the President of the Otago branch of the Medical Association, in which, as the Professor alleges, the Council endorsed a wrongful accusation made against him of .engaging in private medical practice, without giving him an opportunity of being heard in his own defence ; but it is notorious that the relations subsisting between Dr. Coughtrey and the Council have long been of an unpleasant character, and that the former charges the latter with obstructing his efforts to found a Medical School, notwithstanding that he was engaged to perform that very task. It would be quite rash to form an opinion at present of the merits of the dispute. Sufficient data are lacking, and it is to be hoped a thorough elucidation of the whole affair will take place, so that the public may know whose fault it is that the Medical School, which was heralded by such a flourish of trumpets, has proved so miserable a failure. A great deal of money has been spent, much valuable time wasted, and the result is nil. Undoubtedly the Council is responsible, because it has full control

over the affairs of the University, and it I therefore bos upon the Council to prove its I ’iicc- A; A A •; net ;A.>uc ‘ho; l:uiuu- Vo c?.tabiiiu a Mn.iifn] i-A'.o'A which j r»-quaes oxplanatn a. ihero is a general j want of vigor and progress about the University which has caused a wide-spread feeling of dissatisfaction to pervade the community. Possibly too much was expected at first. The University is a tree of slow growth, and it will not bear hothouse treatment; but still, after making all proper deductions, the fact remains that the University has not acquired that educational status in the Colony which, with its splendid endowments and ample teaching appliances, it might have reasonably been expected to attain by this time. And when the inquiry is pushed farther, the Council is always pointed at aafona tt origo mail. The pith of the matter seems to be that the Council should have been re-constructed

after the arrangement made between the Otago and New Zealand Universities in 1874. Under the Ordinance which called the Otago University into being, the general management of its affairs was devolved upon a Council, composed, in the first instance, of the nominees of the Superintendent and his Executive ; and casual vacancies being afterwards filled up at the appointment of 'a Senate, consisting of the graduates of the University, or in default ef such appointment at the nomination of the Superintendent. The Ordinance was obviously defective in that it gave the Councillors a life interest in their office; and although the Council would be elected by the Senate, since the concurrence of the latter would be required to effect any alteration of the statutes, yet, inasmuch as the >"enate could not be constituted until thirty persons had taljfjn degrees, the Council would, for a considerable period, exercise a despotic control over the University. The Ordinance would therefore have needed amendment in this respect had the University remained on its old footing; but when the University agreed to waive its claim to confer degrees, it became impossible to create a Senate, and the Council was thus put into a position which it was never intended to occupy. As soon as the Council was converted into an autocratic and irremovable body, all incentive to exertion was withdrawn, while there were no means of getting rid of incompetent or obstructive members. Doubtless the University lost prestige by the arrangement of 1874, which reduced it virtually to the rank of a University College, but it was always intended to be preeminently a teaching institution, and in this respect its powers were left untouched. Rather, indeed, were they augmented, because the right of the University to manage its internal affairs was not curtailed, while it received a grant in aid ot its funds from the Colonial institutions, with additional landed endowments. It could, therefore, have directed all its energies towards efficient tuition, and had before it an opportunity of acquiring real academical distinction by marking out fresh paths of teaching for itself. For this reason, among others, we rejoiced at the action taken by the Council towards founding a Medical School, because, had such a school been successfully-established it would have shed lustre upon the University and made the name of Dunedin honorably known throughout the Australian colonies as a seat of learning. There is no reason whatever why the University should degenerate into a High School. It ought to be the first teaching institution in New Zealand, instead of which it is taking second place to Canterbury College, although the latter did not start with half its advantages. The change in the relative position of the two institutions is owing to difference of management; and, until the University is placed in charge of men versed in University government, vigorous in action, and subject to periodical retirement, so that they may know that if they neglect their duty, they will be replaced by others ready to perform it, things may be expected to go on in the humdrum fashion in which they have been doing for the last two or three years, and the University to follow where it ought to lead. To reorganise the Council would take some time, because an Act of the General Assembly would be necessary; but the piquant character of the communications which have already passed between Professor Coughtrey and the Council, gives promise of a little entertainment in the meanwhile. Then, a doctors’ quarrel is brewing; and doctors’ quarrels are generally lively.