THE GOVERNOR'S VISIT.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 921, 7 June 1877, Page 2

THE GOVERNOR'S VISIT.

Opening of Canterbury Collegf

The formal opening of the new College, just competed, took place to-day at noon. The Board of Governors invited his Excellency the Governor to perform the ceremony, and this was the principal object of his visit here. Shortly before noon the chairman and members of the Board of Governors, many of them wearing their academical robes, and a goodly muster of ladies and gentlemen, assembled in front of the main entrance to the College. His Excellency, accompanied by the Hon. C. C. Bowcn and Captain Maling, arrived with commendable punctuality, and was received on alighting from the carriage by the chairman of the Board of Governors, Mr W. Montgomery, his Lordship the Primate, and the Registrar, Mr Stedman. The Chairman, having conducted His Excellency to the main entrance, read the following address :

His Excellency the Marquis of Normanby, G.C.8., Governor of New Zealand.

My Lord, —On behalf of the Governors of the Canterbury College, I beg to thank your Excellency for the honor you have so kindly conferred upon us by responding to the invitation of the Board to open the new College Building. It will not, I hope, be considered inappropriate on the present occasion if I briefly state some particulars respecting the position of the College, and the hopes and expectations entertained by 'he Board in reference to its future prospects. In the year lS73the Provincial Council, having under consideration the question of higher education, passed an Ordinance intituled The Canterbury College Ordinance, the preamble of winch states

" It is deemed expedient to make provision for enabling all classes and demoninations of her Majesty's subjects resident in the province of Canterbury and elsewhere in the colony of New Zealand, to procure a regular and liberal course of education, and with that object to establish and incorporate a college within the province." By this Ordinance the Board of Governors of the Canterbury College was duly constituted. The Provincial Council made liberal grants of money for the purchase of a site and for defrayino' the cost of suitable buildings, and to ensure due maintenance in future years, blocks of land of considerable extent were reserved as an endowment. The Board entered upon its duties in July. 1573, and here it should be stated that there was then in existence in C tnterbury, affiliated to the University of New Zealand, a body, consisting of the representatives of the Fellows of Christ's College and the trustees of the Museum, called '' The Collegiate Union '' which was doing good service in the cause of higher education. The teaching staff and the students of that institution voluntarily came under the authority of the Board, and it is due to the gentlemen who took so much interest in and gave so much time to the establishment of the "Collegiate Union" to acknowledge that the early success of this College was, in a great measure, assured by their labours. Shortly after the first meeting of the Board, it was deemed expedient to obtain from England three highly qualified professors to give instruction in Classics and English Literature, in Mathematics and in Chemistry and Physics. The selection of these gentleman was confided to Lord Lyttelton, Kev B. Jowett, Oxford ; Professor Seeley, Cambridge : Professor Blackie, Edinburgh; E. E, Bowen, Esq., Cambridge: Professor Fuller, Aberdeen; J. M. Wilson, Esq., Cambridge: Professor Archer, Edinburgh: Dr Macadam, Edinburgh ; and Professor Ramsay, Royal School of Mines, London, who kindly undertook the duty.

The professors selected commenced their duties in the year 1875. The Board has taken steps to establish a School of Agriculture in connection with a model Farm, which, it is hoped, will be in full operation in a few months. A building for a High

School for girls, under the control of the Board, is now in course of erection. It will shortly be completed, and, in all probability, the school will 1)0 open in September next. The Board is now endeavouring to make arrangements for the establishment of a school of mines as a department of the College. At the present time there are on the teaching staff of the College four Professors and three Lecturers, giving instructions in Classics and English Literature, in Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, in Chemistry and Physics, in Geology, in Modern Languages, in Biology, in Jurisprudence, and cognate subjects. The number of students attending the classes this term is 78. Of these 16 have matriculated in the University of New Zealand, to which this College is affiliated. The want of proper lecture-rooms and a laboratory has hitherto somewhat retarded the progress of the institution, but the considerable number of students which lias attended the classes from the commencement proves that the establishment of the College was not premature. Now that the College possesses good lecture rooms, with a well-arranged laboratory and an excellent museum, it may, with confidence, be stated that the means of obtaining that liberal education contemplated by the Provincial Council have been provided ; and the Board would earnestly express the hope that the youths of this part of Her Majesty's dominions may take advantage of the opportunity thus offered for qualifying themselves for whatever positions of usefulness in after life their talents and conduct may entitle them to. I beg to express the gratification felt by the members of the Board at the presence of Your Excellency here to-day, aiding the good cause of education. WM. MONTGOMERY, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Canterbury College. Canterbury College, Christclmrch, June 7, 1877. His Excellency replied in a very eloquent speech, thanking the Board of Governors for the opportunity thus afforded hirn of assosciating his name with the cause of higher education in the colony, and expressing a conviction that the College, when completed, would be of infinite service, not only to the city and district in which it was situate, but also to the colony as a whole. He combattcd the notion that to establish a college such as the one they had that day opened was premature. It was not alone for the present but the future that they had to provide. Anyone looking to the marvellous progress made during the past twenty-five years could not but see that, so far from being premature, institutions of the character of the Canterbury College, were a positive necessity. In conclusion, he begged most heartily to congratulate the city on possessing so excellent an institution in its midst.

His Excellency then proceeded through the building, accompanied by the Chairman and members of the Board. On reaching the lecture hall, the various Professors were presented to his Excellency by the Chairman. There were present Professors Cook, Brown, Bickerton, Von Haast, Rev C. Turrell (lecturer in modern languages), Dr Foster (jurisprudence), Dr Powell (biology). Professor Cook then presented the following address to his Excellency:— To His Excellency the Marquis of Normauby, Grand Cross of St. Michael and St. George, &c, &c, Governor and Commander-in-Chief

of New Zealand. We, the Professors and Lecturers of Canterbury College, beg respectfully to approach your Excellency to express our gratification at seeing your Excellency within the precincts of this College, and thus affording us an opportunity of testifying our loyalty to her Majesty the Queen upon that spot in which we naturally feel a peculiar interest. We trust your Excellency will be satisfied from all you learn in relation to our institution that it does provide with a considerable degree of success for the attainment of the higher education by all classes of the community, at a moderate expense, and without distinction either of race or of creed. This has been from the first the object of its promoters ; and it is to ourselves, who are personally engaged in the work of teaching, a matter of cordial satisfaction to be so employed upon this important basis.

We assure ourselves of your Excellency's sympathy in the work we have undertaken, and humbly pray that your stay amongst us may be marked by continued evidence of progress throughout the colony. His Excellency briefly replied, expressing his deep sympathy with the efforts of the Professors,and his cordial appreciation of their work.

After going through the other parts of the building, his Excellency retired.