Dunedin committed to higher learning

Speight and Company's winning tug-of-war team at the Caledonian sports, anniversary day. Back row...
Speight and Company's winning tug-of-war team at the Caledonian sports, anniversary day. Back row: E. Simpson, A. Stevenson, A. Lamont. Seated: A. Edwards. R. Salter, P. Davis (captain), R. Karney, A. McDonald. - Otago Witness, 8.4.1914.
The keynote of the speeches at the interesting ceremony which was performed by his Excellency the Governor at the University yesterday was one of appreciation of the enlightened generosity that is manifested by the public of Otago in its practical support of the institution of higher learning in this city.

The extensions of the University premises which have now been formally declared open have themselves been erected as the result in large degree of private liberality.

The new wing which has been added to the original building which is occupied by the Faculty of Arts has been erected entirely at the expense of a former resident of Dunedin, whose munificence has been recognised by the association of her name with it, and the cost of the students' hall and its adjuncts, the existence of which should contribute sensibly to the promotion in increased measure of an ''esprit de corps'' among the students, has been defrayed out of funds subscribed by the local community and subsidised by the Government.

It has been calculated that in recent years the public of Otago has provided no less a sum than £53,000-we have seen an even larger estimate mentioned-for objects connected with university education in this district, and the opinion expressed by Lord Liverpool in a breezy speech that this ''spoke volumes'' for the community of Dunedin and Otago conveys a compliment that will, we have no doubt, be appreciated by the public.

It has been said recently by an educationist in a Northern city that the people of Otago liberally support their educational institutions because they find that it pays them to do so.

It is not seriously to be disputed that it does pay a community to maintain important schools of learning in its midst and to maintain them in a state of efficiency.

But it is a mistake to suppose that it is entirely, or even mainly, in a spirit of commercialism, so to speak, that the public of Otago readily accords financial assistance, when this is required, to the University which the early settlers with great foresight established in this city.

The traditional Scottish recognition of the value of education has, as Dr Gilray observed, been powerfully reflected in the minds of the residents of Otago, drawn to a large extent as they have been from a Scottish stock, and it is gratifying to know that the influence of this tradition remains to the present day.

• As indicating how the motor is affecting the demand for oats, a member of an Invercargill mercantile firm informed a Southland Times reporter that he had received advice from a reliable Napier authority that in that district the quantity of oats required for feed was 20,000 sacks less than it at one time was, and the reason for the falling-off was entirely attributed to the use of the motor.

The reporter's informant elaborated on the position, and maintained that there was a proportional falling-off in the demand in every other district in the dominion.

The diminution in the quantity consumed in the North Island alone he estimated as being easily 450,000 sacks.

• In these days of graft and bribery (says the Timaru Post) it is not surprising to hear that at a school not far from Timaru a small boy, who had reached school some time after the required hour, went one better than the old fashioned note of excuse, by offering his teacher a penny ''to say nothing about it''.- ODT, 8.4.1914.

 


COPIES OF PICTURE AVAILABLE FROM ODT FRONT OFFICE, LOWER STUART ST, OR WWW.OTAGOIMAGES.CO.NZ

 

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