THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1947. A CHAIR OF ANTHROPOLOGY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26640, 10 December 1947, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1947. A CHAIR OF ANTHROPOLOGY

The decision of the Auckland University College Council to make application for consent to the establishment of a chair in anthropology is an indication of the importance that this science has assumed in the quest for human knowledge. It is a many-sided science, and the principles it teaches through its several divisions have become indispensable to the student of mankind and the races of man. Nor are these teachings of academic interest and purpose only. In the practical field they have proved of invaluable assistance to officials, missionaries and others whose duties lie among backward races. A course in ethnology is part of the training given to men selected by the British Colonial Office for administrative service in Africa, and the scheme has proved so successful that arrangements have now been made whereby administrators with some experience can spend a furlough working intensively at anthropology at one of the large universities. The necessity for having trained anthropologists to deal with backward native populations has been appreciated by other dominions, and in South Africa and Australia chairs of anthropology have been founded for the training government administrators. The possibility that New Zealand is also likely to give proper recognition to the science is therefore to be welcomed.

Auckland, being more closely linked with the islands of the Pacific —a fertile ground for anthropologi-. cal research—has strong grounds for claiming the right to establish a chair of anthropology. Its museum houses magnificent collections of ethnographic material from all parts of Polynesia and greater opportunities exist there for students to undertake research among native peoples. A good case could also be made for the foundation of the chair in Otago. The local collections are little, if any, inferior to those of Auckland, and the city of Dunedin could provide the additional assets of the various departments of the Medical School. To quote but one example of the assistance that physical anthropology in New Zealand has received from the Medical School it is necessary to recall only the important contribution made, half a century ago, by the late Professor Scott, then Professor of Anatomy, to the dispute on the origins of the aboriginal Morioris. Certain legends, which even such a learned student as Elsdon Best accepted as basically true, credited the autochthones as having marked physiognomical differences compared with the later Maoris. Dr Scott, however, published a comparative study which suggested that such .differences could scarcely have existed, an opinion that later anthropologists supported by technological and other evidence. Anthropology has been taught at the University of Otago for nearly thirty years, but only by a part-time lecturer. In view of the more widespread recognition of the importance of the subject the time would appear ripe for the University Council to consider promoting the science, if not to the dignity of a chair, at least to a position warranting the services of a full-time teacher.