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This Foundation Number of The Spike Has been produced, and is issued, in the spirit of the Presentation Ceremony when the oil portraits of the Foundation Professors were presented to the College. May the issue be bought and read in the spirit of this outstanding event, a spirit produced by the traditions we have inherited from the Foundation Professors and the students of those early years. We acknowledge with grateful thanks the assistance of all who made this issue possible. Foremost in that band is the anonymous donor who relieved a chronically impecunious Students' Association from all financial liability involved in producing a number worthy of the occasion. Such kindly and practical assistance is particularly outstanding in these days of financial stringency.
Our efforts to make this number as complete and as authoritative as human fallibility will permit have been lightened to a tremendous extent by Mr. G. F. Dixon. To Mr. Dixon goes the credit of any success we may have had in extracting much of this issue that relates to the past. His Souvenir Booklet in connection with the Ceremony, each copy personally autographed by the three surviving Professors, inspired us in our task.
To Mr. F. A. de la Mare in particular and to the many other contributors who spent hours of search for information before they set pen to paper we tender our grateful thanks. Referring to the subject of preserving records, we feelingly support from tantalising experience, Mr. Dixon's plea in this issue for preservation of all records connected with the College. We would very much appreciate advice from former students who are in possession of College records or photographs of historical value, as such information would greatly assist the Students' Association in its efforts to form a complete collection of all items of historical interest. We also thank Messrs. F. A. de la Mare and S. Eichelbaum, who compiled "The Old Clay Patch," for the invaluable assistance its pages have afforded us in our search for quotations in keeping with this issue.
In the name of the Victoria University College Students' Association we send forth this Foundation Number of The Spike to all friends of the College, and in particular to those "in far Japan or Tobago," as a token of the love and veneration we of
The Editors.
The Spike is published once in a session, usually towards the end of September. The Editorial Committee invites contributions, either in prose or verse, on any subject of general interest, from students or officials connected with the College. All literary communications should be addressed to—
The Editor, Victoria University College, Wellington, W.l.
Subscriptions, 2/6 per copy, are now due and are payable to the Business Manager, Victoria University College, Wellington, W.l. (The Executive has been able to reduce the price of this number to 2/- through the generosity of an anonymous donor.)
Joint Editors: J. A. Carrad and R. J. Larkin.
Associate Editors: E. F. Hubbard and Carl Watson.
Business Manager: R. C. Morpeth, P.O. Box 857, Wellington, C.l.
". . .
The beauty, the courage, the honour are our heritage. Never in the course of history has a long-suffering world held them more in need. Half the world is starving and the rest bordering on chaos. What the next twenty-five years may bring no man may say. . . ."F. A. de la. Mare.Editorial, 1924 Silver Jubilee Number "The Spike."
It is now ten years since Mr. de la Mare wrote those words, ten years in which the University has seen many new faces enter its portals, and many old ones go forever. Change—that is eternal. The crazed beat of the jazz drum may echo where once the soft violin held sway, the lilt of Strauss's mellow waltzes may have been lost in the throb of Noel Coward's maddened "Twentieth Century Blues." Change—the University more than any other institution knows that word. Change in ideas, change in teaching. We look at the old photographs printed in this very issue, and our first thought is—how different it all seems. How different the clothes, how different the ideas.
Yet the tradition of the University remains. Our footballers still wear the old olive green and are proud to wear it, and will be—forty years on!
When Mr. de la Mare wrote those words he little thought that ten years hence there would be another Reunion on The Old Gay Patch. That Reunion, held on the occasion of the presentation of the Portraits of the Foundation Professors, must remain forever a happy memory to all those students, past and present, who were lucky enough to be there. Another milestone in the College's life, another proof that Victoria College does not forget her heroes.
Thirty-five years ago they started their work at Victoria College, four scholars from an old world coming to a new. Four students who knew the glory of old Halls steeped in the traditions that generations of other students had given them; four men who were willing to be pioneers in the realms of Learning.
There was not even a red brick building on a clay patch here to welcome them. There was no building that could be pointed out to the interested newcomers as "Victoria College." That was but a name on paper—a name to which an Act of Parliament alone gave tangible evidence of existence.
How well those four men, and the others who so staunchly followed in their footsteps, made Victoria College a name to conjure with, can be seen from the events of the past thirty-five years.
They began their work when the World was yet growing, when there were still new frontiers to be conquered, still new cities to be built. The country of their adoption was yet young and there was much work for everyone to do. There were still many adventures, now chronicled as achievements in the pages of History, yet to be thought of; there was yet to arise the god of War in his most terrible mood yet seen on this Earth.
Even as they began their work the war drums were sounding. War drums, which compared with those heard in the later days, were but dim. And those four men brought to the College an understanding and a training which, during the four terrible years of the Great War, served Victoria College's sons in stead in those damp and terrible trenches.
So it was that when at last a red brick building on a rudely cut and churned up clay bank, was opened, those men felt a thankfulness indeed—a gratitude that their College had at last a Home. Far from ideal it is true; from the very nature of the limitations of the spot there was born a warm affection for that small patch carved out of a clay hill, immortalised in the writings of The Old Clay Patch. And surely this is reward enough for imperfection.
What brought this affection for the raw College on the hill? A paragraph of the Editorial in the War Memorial number of The Spike reads:—
It is curious how slender and impalpable are the most golden of the threads which bind us one to another. A look, a touch, and the world will never be the same for us again. The sound of a voice and one moment may leave a lifetime's memory of regret or joy. A hot catch may be all we remember of many long summer days, but it holds together a vision of green turf, and sunshine, and of youth. A quick tackle in a hard game and not politics itself can make us quite forget that this man is forever a brother. A night by a winter's fireside, a passing jest, a quick retort, the just word, the generous concession, and we see into hearts which may not thereafter be alien. Close communion for a common cause, and for the rest of our lives, if need be, we shall forgive and forget because we must be true to that thing we dare not throw into the blue waters of forgetfulness. In such soil are the roots of life cast. In the aftertime the greatest joys are in remembering"
How true those words. How true of the men our College built on that steep has known. As years roll on and breath grows short, we can still see, and live again the days spent in the comradeship of our youth. Days, when a cricket bat was not a heavy unwieldy lump of wood, but a magical wand, with which to do great deeds, when a Latin prose was difficult but not entirely impossible, and when a run up steep western steps was not unthinkable if it meant being on time for a lecture. Intangible indeed the ties that bind us to our College, but what further proof can anyone ask of their existence than was) shown by those past students on May the Fifth,
The days of The Old Clay Patch have gone. The rough clay has given place to ordered lawns, and the green of shrubs and trees; the bright new bricks are mellowed by the years, and already ivy is bringing to them a new and softer beauty. The Library has the dignity given to it by those thirty-five years of service. The Memorial Window mutely tells of a sacrifice by Victoria's sons—a sacrifice supreme in man's humble ken, and on the walls four portarits have joined that of Sir Robert Stout, the founder of the College, portraits of four men who carried High Scholarship into a scholastic wilderness, and who gave to those they found there a new ambition. To them all honour. To those who followed so ably in their footsteps, we can too but give our humblest thanks. And to Victoria University College, our College, we can but do all that lies within our limited ability to show that we are proud to be her sons.
The words of Mr. de la Mare are even more true in The Times:—
"The problem which is now perplexing mankind is to discover by what flaw or flaws in our system it has come about that the world, never better equipped both in knowledge and in machinery to produce all its needs, is forced to see so much of that knowledge and machinery lying idle while millions of willing workers are unemployed and in want. . . . . There is plenty of material here for searching study by men not obsessed by any theory or dogma but anxious to get at the facts and to frame policies to meet them.
"The situation of the world to-day is a challenge to world statesmanship, a challenge which statesmen must take up for themselves."
The world situation is also a challenge to every thinking man and woman. Many of our troubles have been brought on ourselves by the stupidity of our own selfishness. We cannot, we dare not, return to the conditions of
In the example of the lives of those Foundation Professors lies the solution of this problem. Whatever the system, whatever the policy followed, if we make such unselfish service as personified in the lives of those four men the keystone of society, the tragic paradox of poverty in the midst of plenty would not exist.
Then, too, we should in some small way have repaid those four men, who came from ordered lands to a rude Colony, and built in a once indifferent city, despite heartache and rebuff, a tradition of service and sacrifice. Whether or not we, Victoria College's sons and daughters of to-day, earn high honour and renown in the future is beside the point. What is important is that we remember always, as we did on the Fifth of
"Look back and see if in those walls You helped to build, and cherish, Truth walks with courage, sword by sword . . . "—S. Eichelbaum
On the
There will be the greeting and the stirOf fellowship within our rightful Hall.There will be wassail at our festal board,Glad voices, gay Terpsichorean throngs;And we will make the ringing roof recallThe rousing chorus of our college-songs:Giving the gold sand of a social hour.""Spike," 1904 ."The Old Clay Patch," 1920 .—S.S.M. Ode on on the laying of the Foundation Stone of Victoria College, 27th August, 1904 .
We refer elsewhere to the ceremony on the 5th May last on the occasion of the Official Presentation of the oil portraits of the Foundation Professors. By general consent of those who took part in it that ceremony was dignified, impressive and in every way in keeping with the spirit of the occasion.
From the present students' viewpoint the outstanding feature was the spirit of loyalty, not only to the Foundation Professors themselves, but to the College; a spirit of loyalty which induced many to journey from all over New Zealand especially in order to be present. Some journeyed to Wellington from points as far distant as Whangarei, Tauranga and Greymouth; others put aside the cares of their professions and business in order to meet once again on the Old Clay Patch.
At the luncheon and afterwards the love and veneration displayed on all sides for the Foundation Professors of the College was a revelation to those of us who are perhaps inclined to take for granted our College life and its privileges. The Reunion, for such in truth it was, held a peculiar interest for those men and women who attended the College during these early years when it had "eyes but no site," and who watched it grow before their very gaze from its humble beginnings under the wise guidance of the first Professors and their colleagues of later years. Those men and women gave wholehearted support to the Foundation Professors in their work and created a corporate feeling within the College itself, a feeling which has ever characterised the students of yesterday and to-day. That such a feeling should be manifested so early in the history of the College is at once a tribute to the Foundation Professors and to those who first attended their lectures. Perhaps, also, it was because of the scattered nature of the buildings in which lectures were held until the College on the Salamanca site was opened in
In
Due to the magnificent generosity of the late William Weir, a quickening influence has been brought to bear on our College life during the last two years. The residents of Weir House have taken a leading part in every College activity, and the College has greatly benefited thereby. At Capping time, if there was a Procession to be arranged at short notice, or some men required to fill vacant places in the Extravaganza, a harassed Executive could with quiet unanimity resolve to hand on the tasks to Weir House. The same is true in the sporting world. For the first time in the Football Club's history two lower grade championships were won by teams from Victoria College. One of them, the third grade team, was almost entirely composed of Weir residents. That this group of less than 100 students has been able to exert such a beneficial influence on the College in so short a time, an influence comparable to that of the Foundation Students, has been possible simply because the enthusiasm of its members has been fused through the possession of a common meeting place where matters may be discussed in comfort.
Weir residents have not a monopoly of the energy, the organising ability and the enthusiasm for College activities latent in the average undergraduate, but they have one great advantage. Whatever talents they do possess may be used to the full, simply because they have a focal point on which they may be brought to bear. Weir residents then are able to give expression to the veneration we all feel for the College, veneration which was amply shown by the manner in which all came to that Reunion of
Adequate entertainment will be possible only if our facilities are improved. Let us then strive to have as the crowning point of Easter,
The
On the
The whole setting of the ceremony, as the officials and graduates filed into the Library—the academic robes lending their appropriate touch of colour and decorum—was dignified and impressive.
After the National Anthem, a minute's silence was observed, in the spirit of Lawrence Binyon's
"... and
in the morningWe will remember them."
During the silence, a wreath was laid at the foot of the memorial window by a returned soldier graduate of the College, Mr. W. Perry, who has for several years held office as Dominion Vice-President of the New Zealand Returned Soldiers' Association.
"Absent Friends" was then sung.
The presentation itself was made by Mr. A. H. Johnstone, K.C., a graduate of the earliest years. In handing over the portraits to the College, Mr. Johnstone said:—
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,—More than thirty-six years ago this College was founded by an Act of Parliament of New Zealand. This Act, having by its preamble recited that its object was to promote higher education by the establishment of a College at Wellington in commemoration of the sixtieth year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, and having incorporated the College and constituted the College Council and Professorial Board, proceeded to make the following financial arrangements—first for the taking of reasonable fees from the students, secondly for the payment by the Colonial Treasurer out of the consolidated fund of the annual sum of £4,000, and lastly for the setting apart as a permanent endowment 4,000 acres of unproductive land. These arrangements were at all times hopelessly inadequate. No provision whatever was made for buildings, library or equipment; and although there was soon the nucleus of a library, thanks to the generosity of certain members of the Staff, and equipment was gradually acquired, several years elapsed before the College had a home of its own. Nevertheless it was thought at the time that the legislation was a great improvement upon that of three years earlier which also had founded a College but provided no means whatever for carrying it on. There was, of course, something to be said for the apparent parsimony of the Government. No great enthusiasm existed at that time for higher education in the Middle University District, and it was not then regarded as an essential function of the State to provide either for a University or a University College. Moreover, there were those who thought it not improbable that a State institution might soon lose its own soul-its academic independence. During the latter half of the nineteenth century six Colleges were founded in England, all of which subsequently became Universities. In every case they owed their existence to private endowment. In later times all these new universities received substantial aid from the State, but there has been no interference with the mode of carrying on their work. Unlike these, Victoria College came into existence without any private assistance whatsoever. No bidding prayer will ever be said within these walls for any pious founder or early benefactor. Fortunately, the original College Council was not deterred by the serious difficulties which confronted it. It determined according to the account contained in an old Calendar to begin, not by pressing for building or equipment but "by the appointment of four Professors for the chairs of Classics, English Language and Literature, Chemistry and Physics and Mathematics and the following were appointed: Classics, Professor John Rankine Brown, M.A., St. Andrews and Oxford; English Language and Literature, Professor Hugh Mackenzie, M.A., St Andrews; Chemistry and Physics,
The record goes on to say "These Professors arrived in the Colony at the end of
Professor Maclaurin was the first to leave us. He was a man of brilliant attainments and an inspiring teacher. He proved later to be a great educational organiser as well. He had won high distinction at Cambridge both in mathematics and in law—he was both Smith's Prizeman and Yorke Prizeman—and he taught each with equal ease. The University of Cambridge honoured him with Doctorates in Law and in Science and he held many other academic distinctions. He was President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology when he died in
Of the professors still with us it is, of course, more difficult to speak. Professor Easterfield went to Cawthron Institute in
Professor Brown, ripe scholar steeped in the classics, has taught the classics here for full thirty-four years and is still teaching. In the early days he taught French as well. He has taken a prominent part in the affairs of the University of New Zealand and has been honoured by his own University of St. Andrews. To him we are indebted for our college song. He was always ready to help us, and to listen patiently, even to complaints. A lady student once complained that he had commented rather severely on a translation of hers from Latin to English. The professor maintained his ground. At length she retorted, "Oh well, I copied it straight out from a crib."
Professor Mackenzie has for the same period taught the beauties of our own incomparable language, and in his earlier years he taught philosophy as well. I was the member of a philosophy class of which the professor was not proud. He had no reason to be so. Two of us went up for the degree examinations. We were examined by Professor Caird and passed with fair marks. Professor Mackenzie mentioned this strange circumstance to his class the following year, and added by way of explanation "You know Caird is a very old man." He is a most kindly and helpful teacher and a great lover of freedom.
But the professors were more than teachers. If one may say so without presumption, they were our friends as well. I sometimes think that those of us who attended the College in the early years were specially fortunate. "Sweet," it is said, "are the uses of adversity." In our case adversity certainly created a bond of sympathy between professor and student which would not otherwise have existed. The very lectures were held at hours to suit our convenience, and no student sought help from a professor in vain. There were no college institutions when lectures commenced. The Debating Society was formed shortly afterwards. Professor Mackenzie was the president and afterwards Professor Maclaurin the vice-president and chairman. Professor Maclaurin took the chair at the first meeting of the Students' Society, as it was then called, and became its first patron. When the first tournament team was selected in
I suppose that anyone who does his allotted task conscientiously may rightly be careless of the opinion of others, but I venture to think that it must be some satisfaction to a professor that his students have not been ungrateful. I think I speak for the whole student body when I say that we have not been ungrateful. It was left to the kindliest of all students, Mr. G. F. Dixon, to evolve the mode whereby our gratitude might in some measure be expressed. It was he who thought that steps should be taken to procure the portraits which at the request of my fellow-subscribers I am about to present to the College. There was no difficulty in obtaining the portraits of Professors Brown, Easterfield and Mackenzie, but in the case of Professor Maclaurin there was no material in New Zealand from which the artist could work. Mr. Dixon then communicated with the Massachusetts Institute, with the result that the portrait of Professor Maclaurin was presented to us by that institution. We have accepted the gift in the kindly spirit in which it was made. It was a friendly gesture by a great American educational body to perpetuate the memory of a man who had served both with the utmost distinction.
Each of these professors in his time served Victoria College faithfully and well. The world has changed rapidly since they came to us. We were then at the close of the Victorian era. The South African War had not broken out; the social revolution which followed had not commenced; there were no motor-cars, wireless, or aeroplanes in common use. The Great War was fifteen years away. But throughout these mundane mutations they held aloft the lamp of knowledge and taught the truth as they knew it. "Two men," says Carlyle, "I honour, and no third. First the toil-worn craftsman that with earth-made implement laboriously conquers the earth and makes her man's. A second man I honour, and still more highly. Him who is seen working for the spiritually indispensable—not daily bread, but the bread of life. These two in all their degrees I honour. All else is chaff and dust, which let the wind blow whither it listeth."
They who have taught us the truth, have dispensed the spiritually indispensable, have broken the bread of life. Representatives of every generation of students who have passed through these halls return to-day to pay them respect and to do them honour. And now, Mr. Chairman, on behalf of the subscribers I hand over these portraits to you to keep them as an inspiration to all professors and students who may henceforth work in this place, and as a witness that the first four professors of this College—each in his several way—adorned the peerless profession of teaching. They laid the foundations sure. Withal they kept themselves humble in mind, avoiding all self-seeking and vanity. And of such is the salt of the earth.
Mr. Levi, on behalf of the Council, acknowledged a gift which so enriched the College and left a memorial which would be an inspiration to the future.
Seaforth Simpson Mackenzie, who had written the Ode on the laying of the Foundation Stone in
The College Song—Aedem Colimus Minervae— written by Professor Rankine Brown, concluded the Ceremony.
No report of these proceedings would be complete without a tribute to Mr. G. F. Dixon who conceived the idea of the presentation, undertook the whole of the organization, and carried it through with such conspicuous success. Possibly at no other gathering of Victoria College has the spirit of "The Old Clay Patch" at Kelburn—of the brave days before the War—been so fully expressed. The Ceremony in the Library by reason of its simplicity, sincerity and elevation rose to a high level and maintained a distinction worthy of the highest University tradition.
After the presentation of the Portraits a luncheon was held at the Royal Oak Hotel and was attended by those who had been present in the Library. This function served to renew many old friendships. The toast of the three surviving foundation Professors was proposed by the Chairman, Mr. H. F. O'Leary, and each Professor in turn received a great ovation and replied in characteristic fashion.
Professor Brown said he was quite sure that there had never been an occasion in the history of the college such as the present. It was very rare for a university college to be established; it was rarer for three out of four of the original professors to serve in a reasonable condition of activity for 35 years, and it was absolutely unique for those professors to get their portraits painted and presented to the college while in that condition. (Laughter.) It was impossible for him to express the depth of his feelings in the matter, and no one was more surprised than he when Mr. Dixon told him some months ago of his intentions.
Speaking for himself, he should like to thank from the bottom of his heart his old students for their extraordinary help given to him in the carrying out of his duties. He did not think he had attempted to teach Latin in his classes; in fact, for the majority of students, it was really impossible to teach them Latin. But he had endeavoured to show that Latin was very much more interesting than the subject taught under that name in the schools, that it had a far-reaching influence throughout life, and that, if its teaching were abandoned, it would be a serious loss to civilisation.
Professor Easterfield, in a happy speech, gave some interesting reminiscences of the early days. He recalled a chemistry class held specially for lawyers at which some very distinguished members of the legal profession attended. Sir John Findlay had approached him saying that there was an idea that people studied science from the point of view of more gold, and he asked that a class in chemistry should be formed suitable for lawyers. A class was formed and he could certify that, in the chemistry and science department of the college, they were prepared to look at science from a point of view other than that of the search for gold.
Looking back at the students of the early years, he thought that the appreciation they had expressed of the work of himself and his colleagues meant this: not that they had acquired degrees, not that they had done something practical, but that they had enjoyed scholarship for its own sake. To his mind, the occasion was a great one, and all should go away feeling that something worth while had been done. He would urge that records be kept concerning all graduates who had passed through the college.
The speech of Professor Mackenzie is reported in full elsewhere.
Dr. Maclaurin, brother of the late Professor Maclaurin, accepted a specially bound souvenir booklet commemorating the occasion, on behalf of his sister-in-law. He was sure, he said, she would appreciate it as an indication of the great feeling of respect toward the foundation professors. Simi
Mr. G. F. Dixon proposed the toast "Absent Friends," and Mr. F. A. de la Mare responded.
The Hon. Mr. Justice Fair paid a tribute to the benefactors of the college and especially to the late Sir Robert Stout who had never failed in his loyalty and devotion to the University and to Victoria University College.
The gathering closed with "Auld Lang Syne."
Subsequently many of the visitors welcomed the opportunity of seeing Weir House, where they were the guests of the college authorities.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,—This is for me a rather embarrassing experience, for I have always, when attempting to address an academic audience, suffered from something approaching nervous debility. While I am sincerely grateful to all who are good enough to thrust unmerited greatness upon me in this generous way, I could fain have wished that I had been spared the honour until I had been promoted or degraded to my post-mortal sphere.
Fifty years ago I was a student of my distinguished friend and colleague, Professor Rankine Brown, and I then acquired an inferiority complex, and it is still asserting itself! Thirty-five years ago I accompanied Professors Brown and Easterfield on a missionary journey to New Zealand. Some few years ago I published a circumstantial account of our eventful voyage to this country, and of our arrival in Wellington on Kaikoura (then making her last voyage to New Zealand) Professor Easterfield and I started an intensive refresher course in Domestic Science and in Plunket Nursing. He was bringing two small children, and I four, to this country. We therefore established a Plunket laboratory. He was in charge of the pasteurising and sterilising departments, and I in charge of the feeding-bottle department! Well, so successful were we in our collaboration that we succeeded in getting all our Plunket babies to New Zealand in prime Plunket condition, and they are still, after 35 years' life in New Zealand, in prime Plunket condition! Some five or six years after our arrival in New Zealand, Sir Truby King established the system in this country without acknowledging any obligation to Professor Easterfield or myself. Professor Easterfield, in his generous and self-denying pro-Scot moments, tells us that, but for the fact that there was no Scottish candidate for the Chair of Chemistry, when he was appointed, all the four foundation Professors would have been Scots. Well, with three Scots to begin with, and with the tincture of "sweetness and light" which our cultured English colleague brought into the Scottish atmosphere, Wellington had what is popularly called "a great asset." Think of it! Professor Brown and myself had, before coming to New Zealand, lived through, and survived, 5½ years of Scottish Sabbaths! That you will readily concede accounts for the sobriety, the solemnity, and the dignity which have always characterised our work and influence in this generously appreciative community. Our students, too, of the first decade of the history of Victoria College, had to take themselves and their work seriously. There were very little first-aid and spoon-feeding by the State in those days. The luxury of generous State-aid came later. The fact that the teaching staff and the students of our early days at Victoria University College took themselves and their work seriously accounts for the great respect entertained for our University College throughout this Dominion.
The influence of the council, of the teaching staff, and of the graduates and undergraduates has always been such that (notwithstanding all that we, occasionally, hear to the contrary), our University College has invariably been on the side of the angels, on the side of the police, and on the side of the Government of the day. Mr. Seddon was always a very present help in our times of
Now, with regard to the portraits—let me say that only two types of portrait are of much interest to me:—
Now then, you will observe that Mr. Nicoll has been very gracious—even merciful—to Professors Brown, Easterfield and myself! He appears to have taken great pains to conceal our finger-prints, and to iron out all traces of at least the habitual criminal and sinner from our portraits. I am satisfied that he has got Professors Brown and Easterfield as others, and as I, see them—and have seen and known them. They are, I think you will agree with me, "all there"!
As for my own portrait, well, it is not for me to say whether I am there as others see me, or whether I am, or am not, "all there." I have never been privileged—perhaps a fortunate thing for me—to see myself as others see me. I have (as you know) never seen my features at first hand, but only through a glass darkly or as reflected from a wall (or reflecting agent) opposite to a kind of Platonic cave. It is, therefore, for you, not for me, to say whether I appear to be there as you and others see me. All I can say is that I am satisfied that Mr. Nicoll has done the best for me that Nature permitted him to do, and the best, too, that charitable aid from a distinguished artist could do for me.
When I look at Professor Brown's portrait, I feel as it were in the presence of a benign Scottish Saint and Father Confessor. How near to sainthood he has attained will be realised when I tell you that, although I played golf with him for over 20 years—and frequently saw him inwardly very much perturbed—the worst that I ever heard escape his lips was:
"per deos immortales!"
When I look at Professor Easterfield's portrait, I feel in the presence of one who aspired to sainthood, but who had (like myself) much more of the naughty schoolboy and sinner in him than Professor Brown ever had!
Professor Easterfield's portrait gives me the impression that he has abandoned the mysteries of alchemy, and has taken to studying the mysteries of the Breviary and of the Prayer-book, and so that his place among the saints is assured.
When I look at the portrait of President Maclaurin, I feel that the eleven years of his strenuous academic life and work in America but rendered him more youthful in appearance than when he began his career as Professor of Mathematics at Victoria University College; and this of itself greatly increases the regret that a man of such exceptional ability and distinction should have been lost to the academic world in the prime of his life.
Now, let me assure you all that I am very grateful for your kindly efforts to thrust greatness on me.
I have been asked to contribute to the present number of
The College was certainly started under considerable difficulties. The finances at the disposal of the College Council were limited, consisting mainly of an annual grant of £4,000—which for the first few years of the College was burdened with certain payments to six "Queen's Scholars" to be elected annually. These scholars were not students in attendance at the College but pupils in some secondary school in the College district. The land endowment for the College produced very little—though in the advertisement calling for applications of four Professors it was said to be, unless I am mistaken, an "adequate land endowment." The students' fees, though not entirely negligible, did not produce a great amount of money—partly owing to the number of students, which averaged about 130 during the first three years of the College—but also owing to their amount which, except in the case of English, was fixed at £1/11 6—there being a clause in the Act establishing the College to the effect that the fees charged should not be higher than the lowest fees charged in any of the other three Colleges. Still, owing to the careful management of the Council the funds sufficed for the operations of the College, which were much more limited than they are now.
The College had no buildings of its own but until a portion of the present building was erected enjoyed the hospitality of the Girls' High School in Thorndon for the Arts and Law classes, and of the Technical School for the classes in Science (Chemistry and Physics). In the Girls' School we had the use of three class rooms after five p.m. and of a smaller room at other hours, for I remember that I was conducting a Greek class between 9 and 10 a.m. when the most alarming earth-quake shock Wellington had experienced in my time occurred in
At the same time, owing to the enthusiasm of the students, something of a College spirit developed almost immediately. The College has always owed a great debt to Mr. George Dixon—and it was owing to him and others that a Hockey Club was established—the first athletic organisation to be set up in the College. This explains why hockey not football has a place in the College Song. A Debating Society soon came into being, and met in the Girls' School on Saturday evenings when as a rule the building was not occupied. The first contest for the Plunket Medal was held in the hall of the school in the presence of the donor of the medal. Nor was it long before the first number of the Spike appeared. College dances soon became a regular element in the College life, and though not as numerous as they are now were perhaps just for that reason more looked forward to and engaged in with greater enthusiasm.
I believe that both Professors and students have every reason to look back with the greatest satisfaction to those early days of the College. There was a spirit of pioneering in all of us, difficulties were made light of, all worked harmoniously together, and a limited number of students led to a much closer contact between teachers and students and between the students themselves. I had come to Wellington after teaching in the large University of Glasgow—and was reminded of my old University of St. Andrews—the smallest of the four Scottish Universities and just for that reason the most patriotic. A glance at the rolls of my classes during the first two years of the College recalls to my mind a most creditable number of students who have since won distinction in various spheres of life in New Zealand. It would be invidious perhaps to specify individuals—suffice it to say that these names include a Judge of the Supreme Court, one of the leading barristers of New Zealand, a most important Civil Servant and the Mayor (for many years) of an important town in the North Island.
"I have travelled far neath sun and star, in lands remote,I have been the mate of potentate and man of note,Yet whatever gap may sever us by land and sea,Salamancais the anchor of my memory!"—S. Eichelbaum.
Enclosed with letter dated
"A new student, timid but amazingly ambitious, once knocked at the door of Professor J. R. Brown's study and requested help in mapping out his course. He had a slight smattering of Latin, and through Emerson he knew the names of two philosophers, Plato and Aristotle, whose works he proposed to master in the original Greek. Could he begin right away?
A characteristic smile lit up the professor's face. He did not say that even he had not completely mastered them, and that I certainly never would. But he laid aside the Pausanias he was reading, lauded my ambition and carefully mapped out the road.
Thirty years have gone by since then, and I can still see him in his class-room, lifting us over some grammatical stumbling block or illustrating Greek and Roman history by parallels from modern times. His scholarship was as deep as his manner was unassuming, and his kindness and patience were inexhaustible. Every student who needed advice or help unconsciously took the road to his study. Sometimes we may not have appreciated his scholarship, or we may have taken too much for granted his kindliness and the unsparing inroads he allowed us to make on his leisure; but what we never failed to perceive was a deep wisdom that made him our infallible guide. Though some of us have travelled far since those years, our happiest memories linger round the days when we sat at his feet."
I hope I am not too late in sending the enclosed contribution to the portrait fund.
I have experienced and seen teaching of all kinds but I have never known better teaching than we were given at Victoria College as I knew it from
May I add my grateful thanks to you for your work in organising an expression of gratitude to the early professors.
. . . .
Extract from letter dated
"Thank you ever so much for the booklet 'The Foundation Professors.' I shall treasure it.
"The 'Ode' stirred me deeply. It expressed my own halting thoughts in words more fitting than I could find and framed them in verse more beautiful. For this I am deeply grateful. I could almost smell the gorse on the Kelburn hills and hear the music on the old top-floor (the 'hop-floor')—when I read those lines and prowled among the names listed at the back, remembering so many, and wondering about so many more."
. . . .
Extract from letter dated
"The Portrait brochure and the "Evening Post" of
. . . .
Copy of cable dated
"Cheerfully acknowledge excellence of early leadership.—The Popes, Sydney."
. . . .
Extract from letter from Dr. Duncan R. Niven, Portland, Victoria, dated
"Thank you very much for the invitation to be present at the ceremony. Were I nearer Wellington I would certainly attend with pleasure. I am very pleased to be associated with the College governing authorities in honouring the Foundation Professors in this way. I am sure they all deserve the honour that will be paid to them for they have served the College and the community faithfully and well during the many years of their association with the College. To those of them who still carry on I desire to convey my best wishes for the future.
I shall be very pleased to receive the booklet you contemplate sending me. It will, I'm sure, interest me very much. The news about former V.U.C. students and their success in their particular spheres makes me think of the influence of the College upon the community."
. . . .
Extract from letter from Major Annie I. Smyth, Salvation Army Headquarters, Tokyo, Japan, dated
"Many thanks for the booklet containing the portraits of the Professors and the Ode! I think they are all splendid, even if Maclaurin is minus his glorious' moustache, as Annie—described it. Prof. Mackenzie's is most majestic and Prof. Brown looks less formidable than in days of yore! In Tokyo I know John Struthers, M.A., B.Sc., who went to school with Professor Brown.
It was good of Prof. Brown to take us for French the way he did, was it not? On one occasion, do you remember his asking de la Mare how he translated a certain passage? De la Mare was not attending: however, he was equal to the occasion, replying, 'I took it as you did, sir!' at which we all smiled, the Professor as much as any one. Those hardy early days developed our mettle.
. . . .
"Miss Violet Greig, Lady Principal of the Wellington Girls' College, came and saw us. An American warship was in and she even helped me to entertain some of its fine men. She was a good sport.
"Japan, of course, may not need us foreign missionaries any more, but then another pair of hands is always a help, and there is work to do for our nationals, and as long as our ships sail the seas will not that need exist? Therefore, I want someone to come to carry on my work when I retire (D.V.) in
"Should auld acquaintance be forgot."
Air—The Old Brigade."
Chorus:
On the Presentation of the Portraits of the First Four Professors of Victoria University College, Wellington, New Zealand.
Once upon a time—so, I am told, fairy tales begin—there lived in a small country town a young man. To him there came news that in a few months there was to be opened in a certain town known as Wellington a palace in which all the jewels of learning of the past and present were to be housed, and glimpses of the future given. Fired with hope, he packed up his scanty belongings and set out upon the path that led to that palace. Awe stricken, reverent, and hopeful he took his place amongst the first visitors who were admitted to that palace. He was not disappointed, for though that palace had a rather dingy outward appearance, and was still more dingy within, the jewels that were shown to him attracted him so that he saw only the glitter.
In such a manner might I describe my reactions, as one of the original students of Victoria University College. We met in the Girls' High School in Pipitea St., after the younger people had finished their day's work. We were few in number; a little over a hundred all told, the average age of the students being a few years higher than the average age at present, for most of us had had no earlier opportunity of joining a University College. We were enthusiastic; our professors, Rankine Brown, Mackenzie, Easterfield and Maclaurin, were young men, perhaps ten or fifteen years older than the average student. Two of them we still have with us, and need no eulogy. Professor Easterfield was a man with a world-wide reputation as a chemist, and in addition was a great "miler"—I forget his record, but I fancy he could do the mile in minutes. I had most to do in my course with R. C. Maclaurin who dealt in mathematics, pure and applied, jurisprudence and constitutional history, for I enjoyed mathematics as much as some people enjoy crossword puzzles, and I read the subject as far as geometrical optics and spherical astronomy—then discovered that perhaps I was not sufficiently a mathematical wizard to obtain honours, and switched over to political science, as it was then called—a jumble of history, economics, and jurisprudence. But I do not intend to write an autobiography—I would be far too dull; I shall only say that from that day in
To the present student it would, I am afraid, be boring to attempt to read a dissertation on the stalwarts who were their academic ancestors; for if the average student life be placed at four years, nearly nine generations have passed since those days. Some of our present students are the sons and daughters of those who were young in
We had this great advantage over present-day students, that since we were so few in numbers, we all knew the members of the staff and one another personally. On one occasion the professors gave a dance to the students—a happy function which I can still visualise, with professors and students mingling in happy waltz or lancers (it was ten years or more before "jazz" was introduced).
I can recall clearly the inauguration of the Students' Association and the Debating Society—and of course the Tennis Club was formed shortly after the College opened. We played on the old Parliamentary courts just below Hill Street—it was the social club of the College.
Capping Carnivals were somewhat different from the modern ones, though the Procession was an early feature; one of the most striking "stunts" in the procession was a huge crocodile with an unorthodox number of legs. The extravaganza was not evolved until Victoria had emerged from infancy—a concert and dance in the Sydney Street Schoolroom always wound up that day of joy.
Spike began its brilliant career in
"I have the spike" was a current expression in
We had a college, but no home, and the government of the day did not seem anxious to provide one; it insisted that first of all a site must be agreed on. Hence in student processions of about
I have confined myself to the days of infancy; when we acquired a home of our own we took on a new importance. Till the erection of the new building the citizens of Wellington knew that a University College existed in Wellington only by the eccentricities of Capping Day. Many of them to-day probably have only a hazy idea that there is some institution up Kelburn way which harbours a few Radicals. But the distinctions which our graduates have earned and the prominent places occupied by so many of them—more than half the judicial bench is filled by our men—is a sufficient answer. I have sufficient faith in the present generation to feel that though the future belongs to them, it is safe with them, and say "good-bye" to my alma mater with the wish:
O Victoria, sempiterna
Sit tibi felicitas!
Sunt hie plura sacra, sunt hie mundalia plura;ex his, si qua placent carmina, tolle, lege. . .Hic geminae radiant veneranda volumina legis.condita sunt pariter hie niova cum veteri.—Isidore of Seville.
It deserves to be recorded that the first Professors lost no time in drawing attention to the need for a library. When their first representations to the College Council were put aside, in the absence of funds, they sought aid elsewhere; and in Mr. Donald Manson of Palmerston North, Professor Mackenzie introduced the first of a line of generous benefactors. They persisted in their efforts, and at length in
It is of the nature of libraries to grow. By
The years from
But in those years the library had done more than grow. The books had been carefully selected worn and outmoded books (nearly 2,000 in all) had been steadily discarded, a catalogue had been compiled with care and, above all, a sound tradition had been created. About that tradition much might be said, but let it suffice to say that if a Sabbath quiet now reigns in the reading room, it does so not because undergraduates are by nature sweetly reasonable, but because a librarian was once systematically unpleasant to disturbers of the peace. The library owes a great deal to B. H. Ward.
Since
But still we are not content. We have still only the beginnings of a library. We have now some 30,000 volumes. In five years we shall have perhaps 45,000. But it will still be only a beginning. We shall want generous benefactors to carry us forward to the time when we shall be able to nourish those researches which are the life-blood, not merely of any university, but of any great community. At the end of that brief autobiography in which he describes the founding of the library that bears his name, "I found my selfe," says Sir Thomas Bodley, "furnished in a competent proportion of such fower kindes of aydes as, unless I had them all, there was no hope of good successe: for without some kinde of knowledg, as well in the learned and moderne tongues as in the sundry other sorts of Scholasticall literature, with some purse habilitie to go through with the Charge, without very great store of honourable friends to further the designe, and without speciall good leasure to follow such a worke, it could but have proved a vayne attempt and inconsiderate." Well, however it may be with the other three, we shall need such a "great store of honourable friends," and I take this opportunity to appeal for them.
May I suggest that old students should help us, even if in ever so small a way, along the line of their special interests. Some few will be able to help us in a large way, by gifts of special collections, but many a man will be able to help us in a small way, by giving us a single copy of a really good book, or by paying a subscription of a single periodical. When I was in America recently, I spent a morning with Mr. Andrew Keogh in that stupendous library of Yale University, and I was particularly impressed with his story of the way in which students of the University had helped to build up the collection. The building no doubt was the gift of a millionaire, but all over America there were alumni who had made it their business to watch over a particular section of the library and to help in howsoever small a way to its improvement. It is my hope that it may be so with us. We have begun well; is there any reason why we should not go on to become the Bodleian or the Yale of New Zealand?
Victoria University College dates from the nineteenth century, having opened its doors in
In the closing year of the nineteenth century, then, and in the opening years of the twentieth, citizens of Wellington became accustomed to seeing little flights of students hastening in the late afternoon from the old Technical College in Mercer Street, where they had been attending a class in chemistry or in physics, to the Girls' High School Building at Thorndon, there to attend classes in humanising Latin or more humanising mathematics. On foot, in tram-cars or on bicycles these students travelled; and, though the bicycles were propelled by student power—for, happily, the pestilent motor-bike was as yet a rarity—the speed limit often received scant regard.
Incidentally, it may be explained why these migrating flights were, for the most part, northward. Although there were then no full-time students, Science then, as now, loved the light, and Professor Easterfield was able to get into his lecture room at the Technical College earlier in the day than his co-adjutors of the Arts Faculty could get into theirs at the Girls' High School. His spare and frugally-equipped laboratory, too, could be open in the day-time, although the principal laboratory classes were held at night. It is a survival from those old days that still, in the better equipped laboratories of these modern times, night work is not unknown. When, in
The four foundation professors faced the positions with the adaptability and determination that have made the British pioneer successful so many times and in so many fields. Each took on cheerfully an amount of work that must have crushed into oblivion his earlier ideas as to the scope of a professor's duties. And these men must have felt how well the students reacted to their zeal. In spite of all difficulties,—perhaps because of the difficulties—there was a heartiness and a manifestation of grit on the part of the students that had a marvellously unifying and co-ordinating effect. It showed itself very noticeably in those early days. Then, too, the social gatherings of students and staff were not gatherings of College clubs, but jovial family affairs. One remembers well what part Von Zedlitz, whose chair was the fifth to be established, took at these gatherings, introducing a vein of wit, of mirth and of jollity that was as heartily appreciated as his deep scholarship.
Perhaps the most noticeable feature of the time that followed closely the foundation of the College, was the establishment of Spike, and the encouragement so given to the literary ability of gifted students. And it can scarcely be denied that there was among the students of those days a much larger proportion of literary ability than has been shown in later years. Always we have had from time to time students among us who had ideas to express and who could express them well; but the earlier times were marked by an efflores-cence of good writing both in prose and verse, and poetry showed itself in both. This was often evident in the special features that marked the observance of capping day. The capping extravaganza was a very distinctive feature, and it was sometimes marked by imagination and by literary merit that raised it far above the level of a mere topical production. It is true that in recent years there has been some slight recovery in these respects. It may be that we shall come again to make the capping extravaganza a thing worth having in itself, and not regard it as, first of all, the mechanism for raising funds. And, with that achievement will come again the capping song, now known only as a survival of days when no capping was decently complete without some fresh and appropriate expression from the College bards. In those good days of recovery may the capping! songs be aptly referred to as "flung from roof and rafter" as they have been never yet, even in the days of bounding youth.
As the first Editor of
The second year de la Mare became Editor and I one of his assistants. I have not yet forgiven my co-editors for a practical joke which they imposed on me. Miss Smith had a clever way of making a caricature by sketching the body and the surroundings and cutting the face of the victim from a photograph. In conspiracy with the other Editor a caricature of me was thus made, a block of it was prepared, and secret instructions were given to the printer to insert it without my knowledge. This was shameful conduct. At the same time a caricature of de la Mare was prepared in the same way and submitted to me for approval. I at once recognised its merit and determined to use it, but being well aware of the modesty of the Editor we very properly agreed that there was really no necessity for him to know. I read all the proofs, and chuckled over the little surprise in store for de la Mare, quite unconscious of the treachery of my co-editors. I was waiting eagerly for the first complete copy from the printer, and as soon as I received it rushed off to enjoy de la Mare's astonishment. On the way I discovered the caricature of myself. I expressed my disapproval in no uncertain terms, to the accompaniment of the unrepentant chuckles of my associ-ates. But my revenge came when the Editor in the middle of his laughter came upon his own caricature. In his chagrin he was rude enough to say we had played a trick, on him.
But Eheu fugaces Postume, Postume, labuntur anni, and we who strove so strenuously are now told that we are old (though none of us will admit it); and we also hear that we are old fashioned, and that the faith we then held and the ideals we cherished were all wrong, and are now anathema to the young. We were all intensely proud of our Empire and our Country. We were most of us politically minded. We knew that everything was not right in the world. That there was much unnecessary injustice and misery to be righted. We all meant to take our part in doing this; but the world seemed more spacious. There was the zest of life and work, with romance and adventure always round the corner, and we had faith in our future and the destiny of our race. The best evidence of our faith is the long list of old college friends who gaily laid down their lives for their
These are hard times for the young. The world has grown smaller and poorer. Opportunity does not knock at the door as of yore, and it embitters a man after he has spent strenuous years in qualifying to find that there it no place for him to fill. But that will pass, and better times will come. I still hold to the ideals of my youth. I still believe that with all its faults, faults which it is the duty of every graduate and undergraduate to do his best to remedy, our system of government is the one which gives the greatest measure of liberty, and which is best suited to the genius of the British race. And I believe that our youth who are striving for higher education are still sound at heart, and would rally as of yore to the defence of their country, though I pray that the need will never arise. Some I know have persuaded themselves that it is their duty rather to die in any other way than by fighting for King and Country, whatever the cause of the war. I spoke with an Auckland Professor recently who held this view, and I could not but be impressed by his sincerity. If they feel that way I see no harm in their expressing their opinion. They will gain a following, mostly amongst the physical weaklings who are unfit for fighting. It would be the greatest mistake to make martyrs of such men. In war much peace time work must go on, and there will always be plenty of work for such conscientious objectors. But most men love adventure and believe in the gospel of living dangerously. On such the new Oxford movement will make no mark. With centuries of history of our race to guide me, I find it impossible to think that it will change its characteristics in one generation. The enemies of the Empire are vocal and have made many people think that our University colleges are hotbeds of sedition. But let them take courage. At heart the student of to-day in spite of changed times is much the same as he was thirty years ago. But I trust that in so thinking I have not proved against myself the charge of being old-fashioned.
. . . .
. . . .
I have been asked by the Editor of
As all students are well aware, a Registrar is an objectionable functionary who carries out with gusto the unpleasant duty of collecting fees from impecunious students. It is true that he can give an account of the material changes that have occurred, but such matters as bequests, additions to buildings and additions to staff, are they not written in the pages of the College Calendar? Representations to this effect were made to the Editor, but he proved to be obstinate and insisted that some account of these matters would really be of interest. I shall therefore make no further apology for this article, which, after all, no one is obliged to read.
When I came to the College in
These figures show that the College has more than doubled in size since my appointment. Let us hope that it has increased in wisdom as well as in stature.
In viz., Travelling Scholarships of £250 tenable for two years for students to study abroad, and New Zealand Scholarships, tenable at the Home Science School at Dunedin at the value of £125. A full account of these Scholarships would be too lengthy for an article such as this. However, in
The second benefaction in
In
In
In Note—Only half this sum was to be for buildings, the other half to remain with the Public Trustee who was to pay the Council the interest on it for maintenance and general purposes.
There had for years been a crying need for an institution such as this, and the Council immediately set about preparing for the erection of a hostel, although nearly three years elapsed before the money was available. The will provided for other large bequests to be paid out of revenue, and it was only when these were fully paid that the capital sum could be released. Plans had been prepared for the erection of a building to the value of about £60,000, but the arrival of the slump found the Government unable to pay the statutory subsidy. This forced the Council to cancel the contract with the builders, to abandon the foundations of the Dining Hall Block on which several thousand pounds had been already spent, and to arrange for a dining room, kitchen and maids' quarters in the main building. The Hostel was completed by the end of
The first Warden was Dr. I. A. Henning, but on his leaving New Zealand in
Probably no event that has occurred during the last twenty years can compare with this in its effect on the corporate life of the College.
Accommodation is provided for about 90 students. Recently the Council has erected temporary quarters for the maids on one portion of the dining hall foundations, and a fine recreation room with a billiard table on another portion.
Other benefactions of importance that have been made are—The Lissie Rathbone Scholarship Bequest (£3,000) in
Many splendid donations of books for the Library have been received, notably those from Sir Robert Stout, Mr. W. J. McEldowney and Mr. R. F. Blair.
The chief additions to the College Buildings during the period under review are the Library Wing finished in
The Library Wing deserves more than passing notice. Besides a fine library chamber there is accommodation in the basement for a Women's Common Room, a cafeteria and Women's Cloak Room, and on the first floor for two large class rooms. The actual space for library books, though large, will soon prove insufficient owing to the large number of books being purchased under the Carnegie Grants, and the Council will soon be faced with the necessity for providing additional library accommodation.
The Library has for its main north light the fine Memorial Window designed by Mr. F. V. Ellis, now on the staff of the Technical College. A brass tablet underneath contains the names of 145 students or ex-students who fell during the War, while the names of all those who served, numbering 472, are inscribed on tablets placed on the two pillars supporting the main arch in front of the window.
The Library also contains the portraits of Sir Robert Stout, generally considered as the Founder of the College, and those of the four Foundation Professors, these last having been presented to the College this year by past students.
The presentation ceremony in the Library was one of the most impressive occasions in our College History. This is referred to at length elsewhere in this issue.
The Women's Common Room contains a number of fine paintings by New Zealand artists. These were purchased by the trustees of the late
There have not been very many changes in the Professorial staff during my tenure of office. Five professors besides Professor Peren have resigned. In
In January last all friends of the College were shocked to hear of the sudden death of. Professor D. M. Y. Sommerville who had filled the Chair of Mathematics since
This brings my imperfect record up to date. The above facts show that during the last nineteen years the College has achieved much and can confidently look forward to greater achievements in the future.
When, twenty-five years ago, Victoria College came into existence it was poor in material wealth, one of the poorest of all University institutions. But it had an immense wealth of the wisdom that is more than gold—of lofty ideal, clear view and earnest purpose. And when the time of testing came in the World War the men of the College were not found wanting. From the student that first registered on the books of the College fifteen years before to the men that could hardly convince the doctors, willing to be deceived, that they were old enough to enlist, a magnificent company went to fight for the land they loved and the ideals they owned. At once they sprang to arms, nobly they bore themselves, cheerfully they faced Death, grandly they died. We are tempted to wish that all could have come back. But in their death they have nobly en-dowed the college with a magnificent heritage, the glory and the pain of a realised ideal. As we look back upon the short history of the College, we see that there are things that might have been better done; but in the establishment of a noble tradition there has been nothing that leaves a feeling of regret. When they entered the doors of the College, ideals were in these men, their heritage and the result of their training. That their ideals became more clear, more ourposeful, in all ways better developed—this is the thing for which the College existed: this is the thing it achieved.
In the minds of none of our men that fought, of none that would gladly have fought but could not, was there ever the idea that war was a good thing—always an evil thing for which the best that could be said is that it furnishes a foil against which chivalry and greatness of soul stand out in clear relief. And that, of our men, there were many that stand out in brilliant light against the sulphurous background, all know that read their record: none know so well as we that know both the record and the men. Peace, peace in honour—and for us and ours there can be no peace without honour—this is the ultimate ideal of men that think. But peace has sometimes to be bought by war. The men that were willing to pay the price were here: the men that are willing to pay the price are here to-day; such men will always be here while the College stands. For we are sealed to that lofty object by the sacrifice of their lives that the men of the College have offered, that so many of them have made. They have pledged us to follow the course of Honour wherever it may lead us: pledged us to be worthy of the tradition they have set.
"Ye tell our England that of many a sonDeep agonies are suffered, high deeds doneWhereof is sparing memory, or none,That hare eternity and deathless landBeneath the starry threshold of our God:And evermore in such she learns to readThe pledge of future deed."
To-day we think mainly of our dead. But of those that laid their lives upon the altar, and to whom the offering, in all its greatness and nobility, was returned we think many and many a day as well. These, with those that died, are the chief greatness and glory of the place, for they mark it as a place where men are cast in heroic mould.
Many, most of us, perhaps, confidently believe that the time will come when the Nations will recognise themselves as brother nations and will think of war as one of the inexplicable follies of the youthhood of the World. The blessed draught of forgetfulness that will make this possible is perhaps not for us; but we can help to prepare it for those that follow. But when that thrice-blessed time is come the deeds of those whose sacrifice we now commemorate will still be unforgotten. In our Islands the Maori and Pakeha live to-day at peace; and the chivalrous exploits of past wars are their common heritage. Of the bitterness and the abounding horror we do not speak or think. So, far off perhaps, is a time when there will remain in the minds of men, not the madness and the horror of the World War, but the greatness to which even in that lurid field the soul of man could rise. And in that surviving record of great and noble achievement the College will have its part.
Editors' Note: This article is reprinted from the The Spike which is now out of print.
This record has been revised since the publication of the Silver Jubilee Number of
Wounded.
Killed or died as result of war service.
We print below the lists of students who commenced attendance at the College in the year of its foundation (
Up to
Mr. Dixon has, by dint of much inquiry and research, supplemented the records extant, and as a result these lists are as complete and accurate as it is humanly possible to make them in the circumstances. If any reader notices any mistake or omission, we ask that such be communicated to the Students' Association so that correction may be made. The lists for the succeeding years will appear in subsequent numbers of The Spike, so that the College may have on permanent record the names of all its past students.
We give our thanks to Mr. Dixon for making available these lists, on which he has spent so much time and trouble in the interests of the College, and offer our congratulations on the successful completion of his long and arduous labour of love.
Alexander, William C.,
Anderson, Harry Evelyn,
Andrews, F. W.,
Bee, James,
Beere, Rawdon St. John,
Blair, Archibald William,
Blair, James,
Blair, Mary Alice,
Bright, Alice,
Burns, John Campbell,
Burns, Vera,
Cederholm, Daisy Oliana.
Charters, Alexander Burnett,
Collins, John William,
Cowles, Jabez Alfred,
Craig, George,
Darroch, Robert,
Davidson, William Robert,
Devine, Bernard James,
Dixon, George Finley,
Edwards, Aethelberta Mary Cutten,
Erskine, Albert,
Feltham, Edgar Charles,
Fisher, Gertrude,
Fitzgerald, Geraldine,
Fitzherbert, Sydney William,
Fleming, Leonora Beatrice Ruth,
Gawith, Samuel Roy,
Gifford, Algernon Charles,
Graham, John,
Gray, Albert Williams,
Greenfield, Mary,
Hall, Alice Louisa,
Harding, Emma,
Hay, James Johnston,
Haslam, Charles Nelson,
Hempleman, Frederick
Hutchinson, Philip George,
Jenkins, Harriet,
Jordan, Thomas,
Kirkcaldie, Keith,
Lorimer, Margaret,
Lynskey, James Henry,
Macdonald, Donald,
Mare, Frederick Archibald de la.
Mason, Francis
Matthews, Frederick Gwillim,
Mead, John Joseph,
Mee, Aubrey A.,
Moran, Stanislaus James,
Myers, Phoebe,
Niven, Duncan Robertson,
Oswin, Mabel Ellen,
Patrick, James Erskine,
Prendeville, James,
Pringle, Graham Speedy,
Reeves, M. (Miss),
Reid, James Grant,
Reith, Ella,
Richmond, Howard Parris,
Roberts, Florence Grace,
Rose, George Gould,
Ross, Christina McKay,
Ross, Margaret Cleland,
Rowntree, William Walter,
Sladden, Hubert,
Smith, Angus W.,
Smyth, Annie Isa,
Smyth, James Robert,
Sommerville, Clive,
Sprott, Kathleen,
Stout, John Logan,
Stowe, Henry,
Tasker, Annie Harriet,
Thompson, Annie Lynn,
Thomson, Frank David,
Tudhope, Archibald,
Van Staveren, Lena,
Williams, Ethel,
Williams, Florence Bertha,
Williams, Freda,
Wilis, Frank Fabian,
Wilson, Elizabeth Chilman,
Wilson, Francis Prendeville,
Wilson, John James,
Wilson, Marion Kitty,
Wilton, George W.,
Winder, Jessie,
(Last date in each case is date of death.)
Banks, Francis Donald,
Caverhill, Thyrza Mildred,
Edwards, Frederick Cutten,
Fleming, Mary Sylvia Easton,
Foster, William Henry Leader,
Hector, Douglas,
Hitchcock, Maria,
Logan, David Kennedy,
Look, Edward John,
Loudon, Whittaker,
Morison, Charles Bruce,
Reid, Jessie Mabel,
Stowe, Mary Sylvia Courtenay,
Baldwin, V. R.,
Ballinger, Fanny Elizabeth,
Blake, Alexander Charles,
Butler, John Sherwin,
Cook, J. A.,
Davies, Herbert,
Douglas, Frederick Charles,
Ellis, P. S. G.,
Feltham, H. G.,
Foley, Patrick Stanislaus,
Flux, Gladys Millington,
Furby, Frederick Westland,
Goulding, Richard Randall,
Hales, Mary Eveleen,
Harland, Edward Dugard,
Hector, Lyell,
Henderson, George Macdonald,
Jack, John Bain,
Johnston, T. A.,
Johnstone, Alexander Howat,
Lynch, Eva Myra Beryl,
McLeod, Hector Norman,
Magill, Kathleen,
Martin, Frederick Millward,
Organ, William John,
Patterson, Isaac,
Pharazyn, Marion,
Powles, Mabel,
Putnam, Philip Harry,
Roberts, L. D.,
Rothenberg, William Lionel,
Seagar, Mabel Constance,
Sladden, Edward Mourilyan,
Toogood, George,
Tooman, Elizabeth,
Tustin, William Henry,
Van Staveren, Maurice,
Watson, Alexander,
Webster, Henry Arthur,
Wilson, Arthur Benjamin,
(Last date in each case is date of death.)
Atkinson, Samuel Arnold,
Ballachey, Ernest Harold,
Batham, Irwin Meacham,
Crombie, Frederick William,
Crombie, Melville John,
Evans, Edith Mary,
Gunn, James Thomas,
Mason, William John (later Mason-Seabrook), (Welling-ton),
Wedde, Albert Augustus,
Wedde, Elizabeth Freda,
Wilson, Percy Noel,
Alexander, J. C.,
Bagley, George,
Bennett, Alfred Augustus,
Bennett, Francis,
Brailsford, John Annesly,
Castle, Frederick,
Cooke, Gertrude Florence,
Evans, Reda Mary,
Grant, Margaret Grace Donaldson,
Griffiths, AliceWinifred,
Gibson, Fanny,
Henderson, Archibald Gordon,
Hustwick, Albert Hirst,
Hutton, James,
Jacobson, Ethel
Jones, Frederick,
Lee, Godfrey Lincoln,
Longton, James,
Longton, Cora Violet,
Marshall, Arthur,
McLean, Janet,
Matheson, Dugald,
Mitchell, Thomas Michael,
Morling, Joseph,
Newall, Nina N.,
O'Regan, Patrick Joseph Burke.
Ostler, Henry Hubert,
Owens, Augustus Palmer,
Price, Herbert Edward,
Purnell, G.,
Quartley, Arthur Gilbert,
Rigg, Maude Mary,
Robertson, Isabel,
Robertson, Philip Wilfred,
Scotter, Adolphus Nelson,
Smith, Fanny Louisa,
Stocker, Eustace Dupuis Henchman,
Todd, Olive Gwendolyn,
Watson, Florence,
Watson, Robert Mackenzie,
Whyte, Bessie Blair,
Williams, George Bannister,
Wolters, Frances Melanie,
(Last date in each case is date of death.)
Banks, Henry,
Blair, William Crosbie,
Bogle, Gilbert Vere,
Butt, Charles Congreve,
Fell, Gerald Horton,
Hobday, Horace William,
Ludwig, Ernest William,
Sprott, Maurice William Campbell,
Will, Alfred James,
Allen, Frank Embleton,
Arthur, Clarence Adolphus,
Baldwin, Ernest Smith,
Barrer, Thomas Robert,
Bartlett, John George Sherry,
Batham, Alithea,
Bee, John Guthrie,
Benge, Alfred James Havelock,
Bogle, Archibald Hugh,
Buchan, Margaret Euphemia McEwan Bella Henrietta Nong,
Burn, F. E.,
Castle, John George Thomas,
Churchward, William Thompson,
Collins, Charles Bower,
Colquhoun, Edith Jane,
Cook, Wilfred Wulstan,
Cruickshank, George Craig,
Dale, Margaret Frances,
Dunford, C. H.,
Edwards, Elsie W.,
Gillespie, Oliver Noel,
Gow, John William,
Fruhauf, Julie Deborah,
Fruhauf, Lionel D.,
Gamble, Frederick William,
Hay, Peter Clarke,
Heath, Annie Alice,
Jackson, Percy Wyndham,
Kean, Balfour,
Kelly. Francis Patrick,
Luke, Arthur James,
Macgibbon, Roy Gregor,
Mackenzie, Seaforth Simpson,
Martin, Ethel Emily Milford,
McGrath, John Joseph,
Maunsell, Thomas Edward,
O Leary, Humphrey Francis,
Perry, William,
Prouse, George Stanley,
Rowley, Elizabeth Matilda.
Runnerstrum, Ernst Henrik,
Samuel, Gurdon,
Schatzmann, Bernard,
Seddon, Thomas Edward Youd,
Slowey, Anastasia Imelda,
Smith, Bernard Crompton,
Staples, A. S.,
Stewart, William,
Stout, Robert,
Strang, Marion Meiklens,
Stuckey, Henry Overton,
Tait, Margaret,
Taylor, Clara Millicent,
Thompson, James Edward,
Thompson, John Shaw,
Waugh, Robert Daniel Bernard,
Wild, Cyril Thomas,
Wilson, Warwick Ruxton George,
Wolters, Gerald Hilmer,
(Last date in each case is date of death.)
Beechey, Frederick James,
Buddie, Harry,
Dale, Annabella Stuart,
Fitzgibbon, Edward John,
Richardson, Jessie Mary,
Rigg, Ernest Edward Andrew Thompson,
Rudman, Robert Edgar,
Thompson, Andrew James,
Atkinson, Harry Temple,
Ayson, Hugh Fraser,
Batham, Helen Maud,
Bollinger, Elsie Margaret,
Borgia (Brother),
Bowman, Mabel Florence,
Bridson, Mignonette Alice,
Eccleton, James Augustine,
Falla, Mary Frances Annie,
Freyberg, Cuthbert,
Galvin, Francis Henry Grattan,
Gillanders, William,
Hannan, John William.
Hope, Robert,
Jacobs, Bertram Joseph,
Johnstone, W. S.,
Kennedy, Agnes,
Larsen, Richard Christian,
Link later, Herbert,
Ludwig, Edith Millie,
Mason, Henry Greathead Rex,
Morgan, Kate Lawrence,
Newberry, William Henry,
Palladius (Brother),
Park, Richard Gavin Mclntyre,
Paterson, Andrew,
Patrick, John Crumbie,
Prouse, Oliver Richard,
Reid, George Walter,
Ryburn, Josiah Archie,
Smith, George Grant,
Smythe, K. H.,
Strang, John Ferguson,
Sutton, Howard Harry,
Taylor, Cuthbert Hargreaves,
Vickerman, Hugh,
Watson, Isabel Evelyn Spencer,
Watson, James A.,
Williams, Dulcie Eliza,
Wilson, Mary Donald,
(Last date in each case is date of death.)
Beaglehole, Edward William,
Cooke, Charles John,
Goulding, John Hannington,
Grundy, Edward Stanley,
Hogben, George McLachlan,
King, Herbert William,
McKellar, Duncan,
Merry, Eddie Spencer Powell,
Richardson, Elizabeth Mary,
Acheson, Frank Oswald Victor,
Adams, Alan Augustus,
Arcus, Lawrence Herbert,
Atkin, Ernest,
Batham, Guy Symonds Meacham,
Beechey, Ernest Mansfield,
Bretherton, Arthur Charles,
Carter, Frederick John,
Christie, James,
Clouston, John Peter Porteous,
Cooper, Arthur Charles,
Cox, Maude Emily,
Dallaston, Louisa Naomi,
Davey, Ivor,
Eichelbaum, Siegfried,
Evans, Herbert Edgar,
Fair, Arthur,
Fanning, James,
Field, Violet Eulina,
Fisher, Elizabeth,
Freyberg, Claude Victor,
Gaudin, Emma Charlotte,
Gibbs, Margaret Elizabeth,
Gleeson, James Collins,
Gower, George William,
Heenan, Joseph William Allan,
Hoggard, Dudley Reginald,
Hutton, William Augustus,
Isaacs, Rose,
Jenness, Diamond,
Lankshear, Frederick Russell,
Macalister, Sinclair,
MacKellar, Una Mary,
Macmorran, Robert Glen,
Mcintosh, Catherine,
Mcintosh, Lizzie,
Mclntyre, Ruth Mary Dundas,
McKenzie, Kenneth,
Mellsop, Winifred Jenner Lascelles,
Mulville, Mary Jane,
Reid, John Bertram,
Reilly, Charles,
Rutherford, David,
Simpson, Eric Volkmann,
Skelley, Claude Henry Thomas,
Tavendale, Julia Spencer,
Tavendale, Lilian Jane,
Thompson, Frederick Greville,
Thompson, Henry Theodore,
Thomson, James,
Tudhope, James McCurdy,
Ward, Emma Elizabeth,
Wild, Herbert Arthur,
Willis, Vernon Ballance,
Wilson, William Henry,
Zedlitz, George William von,
(Last date in each case is date of death.)
Aitken, Euphemia Grace,
Bray, Douglas,
Elliott, Louis Albert,
Fruhauf, Katie Miriam,
Griffiths, John Haldane,
Hoby, Kenneth George,
Macdougall, Allan,
Mansfield, Frederick Norris,
Neave, Thomas,
Quick, William Benyon Austin,
Adams, Robert Tasman,
Allan, Christina McGregor,
Anstice, Herbert,
Armit, Edward Napier,
Bailey, Violet Millicent,
Barrett, C. H.,
Bartley, Francis William Stanislaus,
Blomquist, Henrietta Valeria,
Brown, Kenelm Noel Hawtrey,
Burnett, James Edmund Maurice,
Butler, J.,
Clark, Stanley,
Coad, Nellie Euphemia,
Collie, Edward Norman,
Collier, H. E.,
Coombridge, W. S.,
Craig, Gwenllian,
Croxton, Herbert Valentine,
Dillner, Olaf Herman,
Dobbie, Arthur Evan,
Donovan, William,
Fell, Erica Richmond,
Gilbertson, Evelyn Maude,
Glover, Frederick Simpson,
Graham, Charles Thomas,
Ham, Violet Edith,
Hay, Ernst Peterson,
Hayes, J. S.,
Hayes, L.,
Hewitt, William Collingboume,
Hildreth, Ellen
Hill, Reginald Walter,
Hind, Edith Miriam,
Hogben, Julius McLachlan,
Holmden, Trevor Noel,
Holmes, Harry N.,
Hopkins, Wyndham,
Isaacs, Daisy,
Isaacs, I.,
Jamieson, Catherine,
Johnson, John,
Johnstone, Ivy Maitland,
Jordan, James Garfield,
Latham, Robert,
Logan, Lillian M.,
Lyne, C. T.,
Martelli, Geraldine,
Mason, John,
McBean, A.,
McGowan, Mary,
Miller, May Julia,
Monaghan, Harold Wyatt,
Morris, Guy Norman,
Morrison, Elizabeth Stewart,
Mowbray, James,
Murray, H. W.,
Newbold, M. G.,
Newman, Elizabeth Amy,
O'Leary, John Francis,
Oram, Matthew Henry,
Packham, Victor Reeves,
Polson, Donald Murray,
Poynter, Zoe Esther,
Prendeville, Edward Charles,
Purdie, Archibald,
Robertson, Herbert Donald,
Ross, John Wallace,
Roulston, W. R.,
Rout, William Vernon,
Scantlebury, Percival John,
Scott, Florence,
Seagar, Edward Aitken,
Short, Thomas Gordon,
Smith, David Stanley,
Smith, George Corser,
Solomon, Nera,
Stratford-Henniker, Augustus Brydges,
Sullivan, J. J.,
Tait, James,
Verry, Thomas,
Vickery, Herbert Douglas,
Watson, Donald,
Wedde, B. M.,
Wedde, Herbert E.,
Westrupp, Agnes Catherine Iva,
Whitelaw, -,
Wilkie, Walter John,
Wilkinson, Dorothea Josephine,
Wills, Samuel John,
Withers, Geoffrey Tyndall,
Woodward, Elizabeth,
Ziman, Rae Lena,
(Last date in each case is date of death.)
Bedingfield, Douglas Sherry,
Compton, Kate Hilda,
Dempsey, Sydney William,
Dwyer, Richard,
Freyberg, Oscar,
Gill, Thomas Henry,
Hogg, Norman Hugh,
Lynch, Arthur Daniel,
Renner, Charlotte Frederica,
Allan, Joanna McGregor,
Allen, Grace,
Amodeo, Peter Paul Justin,
Andrew, William Jeffrey,
An till, Marjory Jean,
Armit, Katherine,
Armstrong, Mary Conboy,
Arnold, William Eric,
Atkinson, Esmond Hurworth,
Bairstow, Janey,
Barkas, Mary Rushton,
Barnett, Graham Roy,
Battersby, Margaret Nicholson,
Bayly, Vera Hilda,
Brockett, Frederick Charles,
Brosnan, James Deen,
Bryce, Margaret Jean,
Burge, Agnes Hilda,
Caddick, Alfred Edward,
Card, Vera,
Carter, Pearl Lena Seymour,
Clemance, Herbert John,
Clemance, Winifred Mary,
Colquhoun, Percival Cantis,
Cook, Olivia
Dagg, Lucinda Rose,
Dixon, Dorothy Strong,
Dougherty, Alice,
Duncan, Ashley Trevor,
Duncan, Stuart,
East, Alfred Francis Drake,
Eastwood, Ada,
Fell, Margaret Cecily Richmond,
Finlayson, John Herbert McWilliam,
Fitt, Arthur Benjamin,
Fitzgerald, J. C.,
Forne, Edward Stanley,
Freeman, Charles John,
Gibb, George Henry,
Gibbs, Eva Louisa,
Gilbertson, Lilian Winifred,
Gillanders, Rachel,
Gilmour, Richard Smyth,
Gordon, Jessie,
Grant, Annie Jones,
Grant, Frances Jane,
Haslam, Emma Jessie,
Hay, Jose D.,
Hewetson, Kathleen Mary,
Hill, Reginald Bernard,
Holm, Annie Alexander,
Holm, Eva Mary,
Hoult, William Harold,
Hutcheson, George Rae,
Ioms, Ivy Phoebe,
Iorns, Olivia Evelyn,
Johnston, Elsie Millicent,
Jorgensen, Albert George,
Kemp, Stanley Morgan,
Kennedy, Robert,
King, Minnie Helen,
Kirby, Irene,
Larkin, Harold,
La wry, Hugh,
Livingstone, Fanny Ruth,
Low, Benjamin Harris,
Lyon, William Alexander,
Macalister, Horace James,
Macalister, Stanley Morell,
Mackay, Gladys Dagma Iva,
Magill, Maggie Emma,
Martin, Edith,
McCarthy, Thomas Joseph Aloysius,
McEwen, Malcolm Roger,
McDonald, Francis Edward,
McEldowney, William Joseph,
McKenzie, Donald,
Miller, George Ernest,
Miller, Mary (? Millier),
Murphy, Bernard Edward,
Murray, Catherine Gordon,
Nicholson, Beatrix Mary,
O'Shea, Mary (? May),
Palmer, Alice Mary,
Parker, William Leonard,
Phillips, Catherine Richards,
Phillips, Henry Vincent,
Pope, John Carington,
Puflett, Annie Livingstone,
Ransom, Mabel Clarice,
Rayward, H. W.,
Reeve, Bertha Isabel Langley,
Richards, John Frederick Gwyther,
Riddick, Bessie,
Robson, Mary Cook,
Ross, Margaret Ellen,
Rutherfurd, Elliot Stanley,
Sargent, Frank Driessen,
Scott, Jessie,
Scott, Peter Bruce,
Shaw, David James Alexander,
Short, John Lawrence,
Skelley, Mary Emma Catherine,
Skinner, Henry Devenish,
Snell, Joseph,
Stace, Iva Muriel,
Stitt, Alexander William,
Strack, Constance Taiaroa,
Stuckey, Frederick George Albert,
Tasker, Kate Louise,
Thomas, William Webster,
Thwaites, John Edward,
Tipping, Francis Joseph,
Treadwell, Lillian Helen Lawrance,
Tudhope, William,
Von Haast, Heinrich Ferdinand,
West, Miss G.,
Wilton, Isabel Annie,
Windsor, Ellen,
Wogan, Lawrence William,
Wright, Eric George.
Young, Helen Agnes,
Yortt, Caroline,
Ziman, Ettie Lewis,
(Last date in each case is date of death.)
Abernethy, Jessie Olive,
Atkinson, Lucy,
Bogle, Gordon Kennedy,
Callam, Mabel,
Dudley, John Charles Amphlett,
Dyson, Stanley Wilson,
Freyberg, Paul Milton,
George, William Stanley,
Gilbert, Thomas Andrew,
Goodbehere, Frederick Walter Brian,
Joll, Ethel Stacey,
Jones, Frank,
Macdonald, John William,
Mackenzie, Francis Wallace,
Poole, Samuel Joseph,
Randrup, Holger Bro,
Reeve, Llewellyn William Pearce,
Tattle, Philip Gardiner,
Tomlinson, Annie Pourie,
Watters, Alexander,
Watts, Amy Edith,
Wilson, Frank Alexander,
Adams, Charles Edward,
Adams, Francis Boyd,
Anderson, John Edward,
Anderson, Stanley James,
Andrew, Charles Thomas,
Andrew, Robert Leslie,
Aston, Bernard Cracroft,
Atkinson, Agnes Annie,
Bannister, Edna Muriel,
Barnett, Alfred Herbert,
Billens, Kathleen,
Boyce, Thomas,
Broad, Philip Benedict,
Brodie, Archibald Douglas,
Bruce, Isabella Donnet,
Burden, Mary Witherden,
Butler, Jessie Marion,
Caldwell, Keith Sholto,
Cartwright, Elizabeth Jane Bingham,
Caughley, John,
Chapman, Jessie Moore,
Clapham, J. W.,
Clayton, Ruth Lily Gertrude,
Cook, Henry Lawrence,
Cooke, Florence Winifred.
Coombs, Leslie Douglas,
Corry, Theodore,
Currie, Amy Elizabeth,
Danby, Edna Jane Bentham,
Dean, Harland Holmes,
Dick, Nora Stuart,
Duncan, Agnes,
Fathers, Harold Thomas Malcolm,
Finlayson, Janet Alice,
Fogelberg, Norma Emmeline,
Gamble, Charles,
Gascoigne, Charles Sidney,
Gaudin, Grace Beatrice,
Geddis, Arthur Charles,
Geddis, Ida Kathleen,
Gibbons, Robert Barnes,
Glasgow, Doris Marion,
Gledhill, Frederick James Reese,
Griffin, Isabella Rachel,
Haddrell, Olive Vyse,
Hall, Margaret Ethel Baird,
Hannan, Denis Owen,
Hird, William Edward,
Hitchcock, Mary Lavinia,
Hunt, Ellen Jane,
Hursthouse, William Richmond,
Inkster, Annie,
Isaacs, David Nathan,
Jamieson, Maude Lydia,
Kay, Florence Esther,
Kibblewhite, Bruce Melville,
Mason, Henrietta Rex,
Matthews, Miss L.,
McCaul, George William,
McDowall, James Campbell,
Melody, William John,
Messenger, Ernestine Rhoda Gay,
Millar, Hawthorne Mackenzie,
Mitchell, Mervyn Holmes,
Moir, George Herbert Malis,
Morice, George William,
Mousley, Edward Opotiki,
Newth, Richard Douglas,
Nicholls, Gerard Henry,
O'Brien, Grace Ellen,
O'Brien, Mouat H.,
O'Meara, Hugh Holmes,
Pattle, Olivia Emma,
Payne, Henry Thomas,
Pickering, Eva Mary,
Pinhey, Ellen Gertrude,
Raine, John,
Rapley, Stafford Wellington,
Remington, Frederick Charles,
Rigg, Theodore,
Ronayne, Tom Uniacke,
Ross, Fanny Lethbridge,
Russell, James,
Ryan, Beatrice Sarah,
Ryan, Joseph Patrick,
Sampson, Eileen Norah,
Siddells. Ethel Maud,
Simpson, Mabel Elizabeth,
Smart, David Gordon,
Smith, James Douglas,
Smith, Sydney Alfred,
Sprott, Stuart Tichborne Campbell,
Still, Bertha Cardno,
Sturtevant, Harold Beresford,
Taylor, Helen Annie,
Tennent, Oswald Kesteven,
Teychenne, Annie Winifred,
Thompson, Herbert William,
Thompson, James Frederick,
Thompson, Leslie Joseph,
Thompson, Lilias Isabel,
Thompson, Winifred Vivian,
Thornton, Marion Gilchrist,
Tustin, Ernest Belton,
Walton, William Henry,
Webb, Hilda
Wilson, Mary Catherine,
Woodham, Aile,
Whitbread-Edwards, Dorothy,
Williams, Henry,
(Last date in each case is date of death.)
Aston, Wilfred Burt,
Barnard, Henry,
Bogle, George Stafford,
Bradley, Jeremiah,
Coradine, John,
Davies, Richard Acton,
Frethey, Walter Knight,
Gondringer, Bernard Joseph,
Horrax, Thomas Harrison,
Johns, Frederick Noel
Kelly, Francis Edward,
Lyon, Eric,
Mackay, Donald Eric Caithness,
Newman,
Nutt, James Charles McGill,
Ogg, James,
Ramsay, Harold Vivian,
Reid, Oswald James,
Richmond, James Macdonald,
Sargent, Jane Davidson,
Strack, Conrad Harry Excelsior,
Williamson, Grace Annie,
Dear Sir,—As requested, I gladly enclose further lists—in continuation of those published in the The Spike—giving names, etc., of students who entered Victoria University College in its earliest years.
In view of the wider circulation which (thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor), this special feature number of The Spike is to have, I agree with you as to the appropriateness of republishing the previous lists, especially as in that way a few errors and omissions therein can be rectified.
Some readers may wonder just why and how these lists have been compiled and why it is considered necessary to put them on permanent record in this way.
Early in less than one year, I typed the others out in rough alphabetical order, with full names where known and actual years of attendance. It
There are still, unfortunately, a few whom it has not been possible to trace. In some cases this is due to names being incorrectly spelt in the Registrar's books and also in the College calendars for the respective years. Sometimes initials only appear instead of full Christian names, making the search more difficult and at times hopeless; but by dint of reference to contemporary students, directories, electoral rolls, etc., and either telephonic or written enquiries from probable or possible relatives with similar surnames, the number of "unidentifieds" and "untraceables," has been narrowed to quite small proportions.
To all those personal friends and others who have generously tolerated these enquiries and who, without exception, have most courteously and readily co-operated in perfecting the lists, I gratefully acknowledge my indebtedness and tender my thanks accordingly.
Later, I hope to have similar lists for The Spike; but, alas, the records for
Since
In view of the great importance of keeping accurate and complete records I should like to suggest that the Students' Association, or even the College Council itself, might do worse than consider the making of some special annual award to the Club, Society or other College institution whose records of its activities and personnel during that year are adjudged the best by reason of:—
In this connection, Weir House is entitled to commendation on its foresight in instituting a special Record Book in which important events connected with the life of the House are being systematically entered. Such a record cannot fail to have great historical interest and value, and those who become residents in later years will assuredly be doing good service if they zealously and jealously make this an outstanding tradition in Weir House. Yours, etc.,
Chorus:
When the task is grey in the doing,And heavy the load on the wain,It heartens to see a yoke fellowBrace shoulders that bunch to the strain,To know the teams work is dividedThat taut is the leading-chain.—S.S.M., "The Old Clay Patch," 1920 .
The story of our Students' Association, if well told, could not but send a thrill through the spine of those students whose interest in the College is most tepid; by the same token it would send a warm glow to the hearts of those who regard the College as their Alma Mater in the true sense of those words. We hope that this account will at least give a mild thrill to the latter class. It is a story of faithful and enthusiastic beginnings—of a foundation well and truly laid—and of a vigorous and continuous growth. The Students' Society, as it was first called, was formed within a fortnight of the commencement of lectures when a meeting at the Girls' High School on the
President: J. Prendeville; Vice-Presidents: Miss M. A. Blair, S. W. Fitzherbert; Hon. Secretary: J. E. Patrick; Hon. Treasurers: Miss M. S. E. Fleming, K. Kirkcaldie; Committee: Misses M. C. Ross, M. Greenfield and J. M. Reid, Messrs. G. Hutchinson, J. L. Stout, D. K. Logan and A. B. Charters.
It was decided that the Chairman of the Professorial Board for the time being should be Patron of the Society. We have not the space to discuss the first constitution but there were important differences between that Executive and the present one. The fact that there were two Treasurers, a man and a woman, gives a clue to the most important difference. Membership of the Society was optional and was by a subscription of 2 6 per annum, which money the Treasurers had to collect themselves.
By direction of the meeting, the Executive framed rules for a Debating Society which commenced on the
Victoria College does not stand as a monument to the foresight and wisdom of a benevolent Government keen to further University education in the national interest; it does not commemorate the munificence of some philanthropic citizen; it is here because of the incessant urging of a band of enthusiasts with whom the first students were closely allied. Consequently the Students' Society took an active interest in the arrangements which were being made, albeit very tardily, to secure a University building. The battle for a site went on for the first three or four years. When the then Duke and Duchess of York arrived in
We have eyes but no site.
The position most desired was Mt. Cook, but no fewer than seven sites were discussed. By
The first Library was formed by the Executive in The Spike appeared in
G. F. Dixon was the moving spirit for the greater part of the first decade. Tournament was his special forte, and, as President, he had seen a new constitution adopted, but he did not specialise. The membership had increased from 74 in
The new building provided adequately for the time being for the scholastic needs of students. But with the growth of extra-curricular activities the need arose for a building where there would be facilities for athletic training, for dances and meetings, and for general purposes, in a freer atmosphere than the lecture room, and under their own control. After various schemes had been discussed it was decided to open a subscription list for the public—a separate one for students, and for the Association to donate £10 forthwith. The fund benefited to the extent of £86, being a portion of a sum subscribed to the College Building Fund but subsequently not required for that purpose. The retiring Executive was able to report to the annual general meeting in The Spike of
We have anticipated somewhat, and must now return to
The following extract from The Spike of
"To give a full and detailed account of the services of George F. Dixon to the Students' Association would be to give a history of that illustrious institution from about the year
1901 . Six years a member of the Executive, never once did he miss a meeting. He was President for three successive years, and promoter and organiser of most of our Clubs during their early struggle for existence. His work in connection with the founding of the University Tournament was of such a colossal nature that we are unable to do it justice. He has been one of the Victoria College delegates from the beginning and manager of the team on four occasions. Dixon is a Victoria College landmark and we hope to see him on Victoria College land for some time to come..."
The wish expressed nearly thirty years ago has been granted for Mr. Dixon has maintained his interest throughout the passage of the years—as witness thereof the reason for this article—to form part of The Spike commemorating the ceremony of the unveiling of the portraits of the foundation professors—a ceremony made possible by his energy and enthusiasm. We have less to say about William Gillanders because he left New Zealand as General Secretary for Australasia for the Y.M.C.A. He came from the same school in Christchurch as did Dixon, worked with him, as recorded elsewhere, in excavating tennis courts, although neither of them played this game, and succeeded him as President.
In Old Clay Patch, an anthology of College verse edited by S. Eichelbaum and F. A. de la Mare, two of the leading literary lights of the early years. In
It may be profitable at this juncture to reflect on the position of the Association and particularly of the Executive in their relation to the various phases of College life. In the beginning the Clubs had pursued an independent existence and the Society, or Association as it became later, existed mainly to act for the students in matters relating to the general welfare, especially in connection with their dealings with the College authorities. In the early years there was no harm in this for the Executives often led in the formation of Clubs and the personal element pervaded all relations. But the growing numbers might easily have led to a change and the clubs might have then continued their independent existences too long and too freely for the general good had there not been several counter tendencies which grew up. Of these, Tournament, The Spike and Capping were three dating almost from the first. The consideration of nominations for Rhodes Scholarships had its effect as in a different way did the building up of assets such as crockery. The Capping ceremony of
The outbreak of war in
Those left at home to carry on abandoned most of the usual activities, particularly Tournament and the festivities in connection with Capping. "Your Committee decided not to hold the usual Capping festivities last year, owing to the fact that our troops were recently landed on Gallipoii, and that casualty lists were commencing to be published." Little imagination on the part of readers is necessary to see the pathos implied in the last part of this extract from the Annual Report for The Spike, as it was published, to students at the front. The Spike. Cheery letters they were, full of interesting notes about V.U.C. men they had come across at the front, and asking questions about College affairs. Here is one which conveys a message which is still true.
Somewhere in France. My Dear Secretary, I have just received a pair of socks from the Association—socks that will warm my feet delightfully, but can never warm them as my heart would be warmed by a sight of the College Tennis Court and its surroundings. . . . The sight would bring back youth to this old hand. Mr. Secretary, it's years since I left your office. . . . No doubt you are cramming and carrying the burdens of office at the one and the same time—I will therefore fire my last shot. Remember that your meetings, your arguments and your decisions affect not only those around you but also those who have gone before and who are ever ready to support you in any movement for the welfare of Coll.
Yours sincerely, R. St. J. Beere.
The part played by V.U.C. students was commemorated by the laying of the War Memorial Stone in the New Library Wing on the The Spike in
During the war period the Basketball, Chess, Haeremai and Women's Clubs had been formed, while the Heretics' Club, formed in
In The Spike. Perhaps the most important events of the next year were the sitting of the University Reform Commission and the visit of a team of debaters from Oxford, included among whom was Malcolm MacDonald, son of Britain's Premier. Mr. Malcolm MacDonald is at present visiting the Dominions in his capacity as Under-Secretary for the Dominions. In
It is, of course, impossible to print the Smad was first issued. This alteration served to enliven interest in College affairs by publishing matters while they were still topical and at the same time freed the space in The Spike, henceforth issued once a year only, for articles of literary merit and records and events of a more than passing interest. In
For the rest, the events of the past few years are too recent for us to see them in perspective. Reflecting over these last years we think of the battle of the constitutions, of the ill-fated College of Electors Scheme, and of the new constitution with its assistant treasurer and paid office assistant; of the opening of the new Tennis Courts mentioned elsewhere; and of the Association's first trading concern, the Cafeteria. But the historian of the future may pass these achievements by in the Search for the genesis of what is to-day only a scheme. When the Gymnasium was first built it no doubt sufficed for the existing needs of students. But the passage of the years has seen a huge growth in the Association's numbers and activities; what did for yesterday is barely sufficient for to-day and will not serve for to-morrow. Each year as our representatives journey to the other centres for Tournament they return envious of student buildings at the other colleges, until when their turn comes to be hosts and hostesses they feel like the poor relation. V.U.C. always makes her visitors welcome, but the task is doubly hard. The idea of a new building is not new. A Gymnasium sinking fund was commenced soon after the present building was erected. The 'dea of a Students' Union Building on the grand scale is newer. The appointment of a Permanent Building Committee composed of leading students, past and present, turned an idea into a scheme. The realisation of this scheme is the next big task ahead of us; it will be the test of College spirit and loyalty. Is it too much to say that its early fulfilment depends on whether we are sincere when we sing:—
"Thou little thinkest what a little foolery governs the world"—Motto of the pre-War Extravganza Programme
It would seem to be as difficult to justify the annual Extravaganza of Victoria University College as it is to justify many other things that human creatures do. The institution existed in the "goodoldays" before the lifeline of the College was broken by an extravaganza of another sort conducted overseas. According to tradition, the Extravaganza began as an entertainment for the graduates of the year. The procession that preceded it was intended partly to inform the public that Capping was a time of carnival and partly to advertise the Extravaganza (advertising in the newspaper press was not thought of in a time when the College was regarded as a means of education). Later, when College clubs depended for their support upon those who used them, the Students' Association looked to the Extravaganza to provide the means of satisfying its modest financial requirements. In the Tammany times of the early twenties, College politicians of the authoritarian school at one stroke made student officialdom independent of the favour of the individual by persuading Authority to introduce that minor form of conscription known as the Students' Association Fee; and immediately both Procession and Extravaganza lost whatever meaning remained to them. The Extravaganza lingered on until
Much air has passed under the fuselage of this same skylark since Mr. F. A. de la Mare (the "father of the Extravaganza") wrote his excellent account for the Jubilee Spike of
The comedy, "Just As You Say, Dear," presented in the second term of
Pre-War Extravaganzas are collected in a book in the Library, entitled "Capping Songs." A similar title could not be given to a volume of post-War shows, even if the changes in the form of the programme were a convenience to binding. Such songs as are good in these shows have very little connection with Capping or College. As a matter of fact, songs have largely given way to dialogue, which is a much easier thing to write. The Gilbert and Sullivan tradition of the old Extravaganza is dead. The Hollywood plague has something to do with this, but the weight of responsibility surely lies in the fact that Capping plays are now left to individual authorship. A run-through the volume of "Capping Songs" already mentioned shows that formerly an Extravaganza was the composition of a committee, each member of which contributed according to his or her peculiar talent. The co-operative method probably ensured that a College show fairly represented the student point of view, but it must certainly have been a better guarantee of a perpetual succession of Extravaganzas than the present device of individual authorship, which is likely to leave the Students" Association high and dry one of these fine Capping days.
I cannot speak disinterestedly of all the Extraveganzas I have listed. "Done to Death" I saw from the inside. Mr. Harcus Plimmer said in the "Dominion" that the performance was obvisouly intended for the enjoyment of the participants. "A good time was had by everyone," certainly, but the glitter and the melody of the thing seemed to be adequate to the public taste, for the box office receipts were substantial. So were those, in the following year, of "Struth," a Wheeler and Woolsey show (I think it might so be called) written by a returned soldier in an ecstacy of disillusionment. Two toughs were in the stocks when the curtain went up and were back there when it finally went down, but this time they were laughing uproariously at what their answer was likely to be if they were asked to go to a war again. "Luv" and "Pep" were ventures into the purely spectacular under the sponsorship of a producer from outside the College. They were undoubtedly good of their kind, but it wasn't the College kind. With "Pep," moreover, the Extravaganza became divorced from Capping time; and that was the end of the chapter.
In
No record of the modern Extravaganza is complete without mention of the veteran Vryn Evans, who was active in College shows before our period, and during the period has taken the lion's share of the work of producing. He and Jim Stainton (composer of haunting airs and conductor par excellence) have probably done more than any others to help the Extravaganza along. Vryn's capable successor is W. J. Mountjoy, junior (who has yet, however, to free himself of conventional notions derived from a study of professional leg-shows). Producers to the fingertips are Doug. Edwards and Miss Dorothea Tossman, whose big jobs (if they want them) are to come. The mention of these College products is a conclusive reply to any suggestion that the College need ever again seek outside its boundaries for an efficient producer.
A word as to the programme, which appears to be going through a trial and error process. From being a dignified record of College songs and a repository of weird quotations, it has become a comic paper of doubtful virtue. But a growing realisation of its possibilities as an article of sale apart from the show bids fair to make it in time a serious (or un-serious) competitor of Spike and Smad. The prospect is not alarming if every programme sold means a brick for the new student building. If the programme should, however, attract bricks with another aim. . . .
The question of justification raised at the beginning of these fragments had reference to the Extravaganza as a purposive effort. From this point of view it is only a play, mere folly, of little benefit personally, involving an expenditure of time and effort out of all proportion to the few hours' amusement given, interfering (although not necessarily) with study. If, on the other hand, it be regarded as an opportunity for students for association with one another (which, as we are often told, is essential to the idea of a University), it is seen to hold its own against any other incident of the student life and, good or bad, wise or foolish, needs no further justification.
Quis multa gracilis te, puer, in rosa..
In the comparatively short space of 35 years since the formation of the Victoria University College Student Christian Movement, which was contemporaneous with the foundation (of the College itself, over 25 students have occupied the position of President of the Movement. It would be strange if the changes in the executive personnel which such figures imply did not mean also changes in the points of emphasis of the Movement at various stages of its history in the College. That the average student generation covers but 4 or 6 years has been at once the strength and the weakness of the Movement. It has meant that the Movement has avoided the restrictions that tend with the passage of years to confine the development of organisations whose membership is sustained over longer periods without effective change. It has meant that the Movement has been in closer touch with the thought of successive generations—but it has also meant that there have been periods of weakness when the spiritual life of its members has vacillated and wavered.
In
The Great War brought a new development. The men's side of the Movement especially suffered by the draining off into the Expeditionary Forces of its more experienced leaders. The women however, responded to the call to fill the positions of responsibility, and in so doing a new source of strength was discovered that previously had not been exploited. Those years produced women leaders who have since served in the work of the New Zealand Student Christian Movement and some of whom have gone into the wider fields of service of the church overseas.
The stark reality of death in close touch with which we all lived in those War Years left its mark on the thought of the little group that constituted the Student Christian Movement at Victoria University College. There was an immediate need to face realities that were not pleasant in the social and international order and in the light and love of Christ to make some response to them. It was not that the call to missions overseas sounded less Christian or that the need of personal evangelism was forgotten, but rather that the force of circumstances compelled an attention to social and national problems, problems of race and of war upon which previously no great World Upheaval had focussed the eyes of men. Thus it happens that in a
Nearly two decades have passed since the Great War, years of inflation and depression, and years too of great revolutions in thought. The students in the Student Christian Movement at Victoria University College in recent years have been turning again to the Lord and Master of All Life in search of the Truth, the Way and the Life.
While much change has taken place in the student thought of the last 35 years, the form of organisation of the Movement has varied little. Throughout its history the study circle has been the central core of its fellowship and life. Around the nucleus of these groups of students whose membership of their circles proclaimed their common purpose—the desire to know the Christian life—there has centred that friendship and tolerance of views of others which has become traditional. It has been here that many of us have for the first time learned to rub shoulders with men and women of other denominations than our own, and to appreciate their traditions and forms of worship. In the circles themselves there has always been an honest endeavour to seek the truth. Not always have the circles been the pulsating sources of spiritual power they were intended to be. Not infrequently they have become merely discussion groups not necessarily giving scope for men and women to grow in the Christian life. The renewed emphasis on evangelism of the present generation of students is bringing back some sense of distinction between a study circle and what is merely a group for discussion.
Taking its inspiration from the study circle core the work of the Movement has spread out into social work, week-end retreats and public meetings. In the post-war decade the social work organisation had become so strong that it severed and formed a social club independent of the Movement. Whether or not this was a good thing is open to question. It meant that the Student Christian Movement appeared to students as an organisation of talkers only and not doers, and though this was an unjust criticism it has been a taunt in the armoury of the critics of the Movement. Within the last two or three years the Student Christian Movement itself has assisted three poor families with provision and clothes.
The week-end retreats which in recent years have been held usually at Hutt Park or Island Bay, have been potent factors in deepening the Spiritual fellowship of the Movement. In communion Service, in study, in worship and in mirth and jollity are fused in every retreat the several contributions of our members. Such appreciation as this implies of one another's differing denominational backgrounds has not as a rule, though there may perhaps be some few exceptions, resulted in a denatured religious and Church life; rather has it inspired greater interest in and respect for the great truths emphasised by denominations of the Christian Church.
From time to time special evangelical campaigns have been run in the College. They have not in recent years, at least, drawn together large numbers though they have been of great value to members participating in them. It has been the special privilege of the Student Christian Movement to have the use of a room by the courtesy of Professor Florance. It was a rallying point and centre for the Movement in College that added much to its corporate life. For two years this privilege has been withdrawn by reason of lack of space.
In the last five years a branch of the Evangelical Union has been formed. It has been the wish and earnest endeavour of the Movement that these two religious organisations in a secular University might co-operate and show more effectively the Christian witness in the College. There, however, seems to have been a demand by some students for such worship and study as the Evangelical Union provides; and it may be that the previous stressing of intellectual and social problems in the Student Christian Movement has been the reason for its growth.
To-day, 35 years after its formation, members of the Student Christian Movement are to be found in Christian service in all parts of the World. They have in their college days sought the wisdom that is more than gold and their lives are keeping pure the highest ideals of our Alma Mater.
But of all the good maxims, Isay, of debaters—I ye said it before—This one is the pick,Get to know what the audience wants you to saybefore you get cm to the floor,And pile it on thick.—F.A.M., "Spike," 1902 , "The Old Clay Patch,"1920 .
To the Debating Society belongs the distinction of being the oldest College Club, next after the Students' Association itself. At the first meeting of the Students' Society (the predecessor of the Association), held on the
The earliest debates were held in "the Large Hall of the Girls' High School," according to a syllabus of the time, and when the present College building was erected the unfinished top floor was utilised, as it was for all other student activities until the Gymnasium Building was opened in
The early history of the Society is carefully summarised by Mr. G. G. G. Watson in an article in the Silver Jubilee Number of The Spike, published at Easter,
Amongst the Society's earliest traditions is one that has been maintained with increasing fidelity as the years have passed, and merits attention at the present time. The original rules, promulgated in
very large audiences and have been perhaps the most successful functions ever organised by the Society.
The years of the Great War were for the Society the years of the locust. Very many of its members were absent on active service; the Plunket Medal Contest was in abeyance for two years; the University Tournament went into a state of suspended animation; and even the familiar records are in some cases missing. Towards the end of the war, however, new speakers began to fill up the ranks and when many of the debaters of
The Committee was so much encouraged and emboldened by the Society's success that when in a team of three debaters from Oxford announced their intention of visiting New Zealand, the proposal was enthusiastically received. Early in
It had scarcely departed before the National Union of Students of England cabled its desire to send an official team. The financial guarantee required was too much for the nerve of the Students' Association Executive, which was on the point of refusal, when the members of the Debating Society Committee heard of the matter and as there was no other way out assumed personal responsibility for the necessary amount. The Imperial Debating Team, as this second visitation was known, arrived at Easter,
For two years visiting debaters left New Zealand's isolation undisturbed, but in
It would be melancholy to record such a formidable list of teams that have come to New Zealand, in most cases on terms involving some financial contribution by our student organisations, if we had not sent a team of our own abroad to redress the balance. Three V.U.C. debaters, G. R. Powles, W. J. Mountjoy and W. J. Hall, left New Zealand in
No history of the Debating Society, however brief, can end without reference to its efforts to promote freedom of discussion. On those occasions when reactionary critics have launched attacks upon student activities, the attitude of the Society has been uncompromising, and it has in the main been successful in resisting any limitation upon its right to free discusson, as well as its traditional right to invite visiting speakers to occupy its platform. I do not believe that this privilege has once been abused since the days of Lord Bryce's visit, and it has contributed immensely to the effective standard of debate. Some of us may disagree with the views expressed by some of the speakers, both students and visitors, but unfeigned controversy is the life-blood of debating and, in any event, the words of an eminent English Judge with regard to personal liberty apply with equal force to freedom of discussion: "This care is not to be exercised less vigilantly, because the subject whose liberty is in question may not be particularly meritorious. It is indeed one test of belief in principles if you apply them to cases in which you have no sympathy at all."
The winners of the Plunket Medal, Union Prize and Joynt Challenge Scroll are as under:—
"Somewhere in France,1917 .. . . my heart would be warmed by a sight of the College TennisCourts and its surroundings. . . . The sight would bring back youth to this old hand."—Extract from letter from R. St. J. Beere.
The early history of the Tennis Club is not to be dealt with lightly. In the years which saw the end of one century and the birth of another, there was considerable feeling displayed as to whether the Club existed in its own right or whether it had to bow an obedient knee to the Students' Society. The first committee was set up by the Students' Society and consisted of Misses Greenfield, Fleming and Ross, and Messrs. Smyth (Secretary and Treasurer), Thomson, Logan and Richmond. The Club had played for a season on the Parliamentary courts before its independence was settled. In its second season it took an active part in organising matches with various other Clubs in the City and finished up first equal in this series.
The writer of the Tennis notes in the first issue of The Spike (
In
For the next two seasons we played second fiddle at Tournament, the only title collected being the Ladies' Singles by Miss A. M. Batham in
It was in
In the next year Miss Scott retained the Singles and with Miss K. Mcintosh, the Ladies' Doubles. At that time we had six teams in the Inter-Club competitions, but sad to relate they collected the wooden spoon in every case. The sarcastic comments in The Spike of i.e., the two top grades—were both won. We retained the Shield the following season. Apart from this the years immediately preceding the war have little worthy of note. The War naturally affected the Club in various obvious ways. It is interesting to note that matches were arranged with teams from Trentham Camp. At the end of the war period the bank behind No. 4 court was concreted, while a pathway outside the courts was erected. It was then also that the question of removing the pine trees near No. 1 court was discussed as a practical problem. Another matter which exercised the committees of those days was Sunday tennis, which was not to be allowed until some time later.
Young represented us at Tournament from
The Tournament of
But we are anticipating a little. We must return to
On the 28th November, Mr. R. A. Wright opened our new courts. It was a proud day for the committee, and, in particular, for J. L. MacDuff and C. S. Plank, who had overcome many obstacles, including the difficult one of finance. This is perhaps the best place to record a fact which is only too obvious throughout the history of the Club, but which lack of space had prevented us from mentioning from time to time. We refer to the generosity of the College Council in giving substantial financial support to all major works undertaken by the Club. Included among the large number present were Mr. Justice Fair and Mr. G. F. Dixon, both of whom had been present at the original opening twenty-five years before. Selfishly enough we cherished hopes of securing the Tennis Cup all for ourselves in
This sketch is now concluded. It only remains to ask the forgiveness of students of years gone by if matters of importance have not been included. Considerations of space provide the excuse. The events of the season just concluded will be found elsewhere in this issue.
And that health may not be wanting,Games we play with heart and soul,Keen to lodge the flying leatherIn the adversaries' goal.—Translation of Professor J. Rankine Brown's College Song, "The Spike," 1914 , "The Old Clay Patch,"1920 .
The dry facts of histories, whatever the nature of their content, is intrinsically unromantic and unappealing to the minds of most, and this would apply, no less, to the history of the hockey Club. Reflection, however, and a keen regard, will see more in the fabric of such a factual exposition than is apparent or merely superficial.
It will, for instance, give a satisfying pique to hockey players, to learn that a greater enterprise was evidenced by the founders of the Club than by the members of the Football Club, for the latter came into being two years after the Hockey Club.
The triumphs of an organisation are not only in the record of wins and athletic excellences, and the success of the Hockey Club's launching was due to the zeal and fellowship which characterised its promotion. This spirit persisted, and has always made it a club in the complete sense; a club, rather than a collection of teams.
To Mr. G. F. Dixon belongs the honour of bringing about the promotion of the Club in
In other numbers of The Spike is written the record of dances and ping pong tourneys; of undertakings reminiscent of bazaars and sales-of-work; of men's and women's committees, strenuously operating to ensure the success, financial as well as social and athletic, of the new Club.
Its present size, for it numbers some eight teams, and until this year was the largest in New Zealand and Australia, is a monument to those early zealots.
An ardour, incomprehensible to the modern student, who takes his recreations, like his work, with a gay insousiance, possessed the Club members of those days and six o'clock in the morning often saw them hard at practice, perfecting with patience a shot from a corner, or learning the difference between untutored zest and accomplishment in the intricate work of giving and taking a pass.
A lean round was the first one of the first season. Not one win figured to the credit of the College team. But then as now, the 'Varsity team provided surprises, and besides playing a draw with the ultimate winners of the Cup, were the only team in the second round to defeat the Waiwetu XI. This was achievement. At least to a company so new to the game.
Two teams, a senior and a junior, were entered next season, the senior team furnishing one Wellington representative, D. Matheson, and the juniors, two senior representatives, J. M. Bateman and B. C. Smith.
Even the formation of the Football Club in
Indeed the members of each club were mutually helpful and the relations between them commendably fraternal, if recorded incident be true.
From junior games to senior; from senior to inter-University is the process.
We first met and defeated Otago in
These were the beginnings. A definite, if imperfect indication of what was to follow, namely the Inter-'Varsity Annual Tourney.
Of honours,
Not till
In
Among the accomplished members of the
It is remarkable to note that R. St. J. Beere found strength and wind enough, even in
So many find a like virtue in hockey. Long after the age when Rugby players, joints a-creak, distended of waist, have found that "sitting on the bank" suits them admirably, hockey players may be seen sporting a fine turn of speed and showing a wicked zest in a hard fast game.
N. R. Jacobsen, first capped for Auckland Province in
Of late the College has had many notable players. Eddie McLeod and H. F. Bollard, New Zealand representative halves both of them; N. R. Jacobsen, who, while he chose to play only for the Senior B team, has yet been New Zealand captain several times.
In
Lately the seniors have shown erratic form. At times superb, at others pitiable. The students' game, however, is mainly dash and speed, for, coming as most of them do to the game, after rugby has claimed their first efforts, science in hockey is never properly achieved.
Nowadays, however, the lower grade teams are manifesting an increasingly effective science and hostility, and success will surely come when the foundations are so sound.
The third grade and the two fourth grade teams each maintained an earnest challenge throughout this season for the premiership of their respective grades, only the incalculable element of luck preventing two of them from success.
Through all the grades, however, the teams were eager.
The unfailing support of all the Club's old members has been abundant and remarkable.' To such people as Mr. Dixon the Club's debt of gratitude is large indeed. To the members of the Ladies' Hockey Club, too, many thanks are due, for their able and ready co-operation at tournament times and at the Club's annual dances.
It is quaint to contrast their costumes of former days with those of to-day. It marks their progress, too, and perhaps the extent of their emergence from those ancient costumes is the measure of their emancipation.
Out in the fields the forwards are a-lining;The backs are crouched already in their place.Cold and grey, with a wink of sun a-shining—It's just the day for scrum, and rush, and pace.Hard the luck that I must sit here whining,And watch another fill the vacant space:While for the fresh old fight my heart is pining,And for the times when I was in the race.—"Superannuated," by S.S.M., in "Spike," 1906 , "The Old Clay Patch,"1920 .
Ntineteen hundred and three was the year of the formation of the Victoria University College Football Club. True, the first College team lined out on Athletic Park on the Prince of Wales' Birthday,
A committee was elected, consisting of G. V. Bogle, W. Gillanders, A. H. Johnstone, F. A. de la Mare, R. Mitchell, H. H. Ostler, A. G. Quartley, R. G. M. Park and A. Tudhope. The first annual general meeting was held on the 2nd April with sixteen members present. "Some were cripples," says the report, "but all were enthusiasts." Professor G. W. von Zedlitz, the first president, occupied the chair. It was decided to enter two teams, a junior and third-class.
In
In
In
In
Sydney University visited us in
In
Then the Great War intervened. 113 members and ex-members of the Club joined the colours, and not less than 38 members or ex-members were killed. The Club's playing strength fell off greatly, but in
In the next season,
Next year,
Again in
Jackson, Aitken, Malfroy, Thomas, D. Scott and McRae, retained their places in the representative team in
Many fine players wore the green and gold during these seasons and there always seemed more equally promising youngsters ready to step into the shoes of those who dropped out of the game.
Eight players were again in the representative team the next season, Malfroy, Martin-Smith, Hart, Riggs and Max Smith gaining further dates on their representative caps, whilst F. Britland, C. J. O'Regan, and E. Walpole were in for the first time. Most of the famous figures of the immediate post-war years had now gone but promising youngsters were coming on fast.
Then commenced a four year period of 'Varsity football success which fully lived up to the playing traditions made by such figures as George Aitken, Albert Jackson, Keith Siddells and their contem-poraries. 'Varsity were third in the senior championship, drawing 15 all with Poneke, the champions, in the second round. Hart, Walpole, E. T. W. (Tui) Love, Malfroy, R. H. C. Mackenzie, S. Joll, Martin-Smith and O'Regan gained representative honours, and Burns, Martin-Smith (captain), Mackenzie, Malfroy, O'Regan (captain), G. J. Sceats and Walpole playing in the New Zealand University team in the Tests with Sydney University. The Club defeated Sydney University for the first time by 16 to 8.
During the next season the Club occupied a prominent place once again in the senior championship, being third. New players were coming on and it seemed inevitable that before long 'Varsity would achieve their ambition—that of winning a Senior A Championship. Mackenzie. O'Regan, F. S. Ramson and E. E. Blacker repped for Wellington, whilst Childs, Love (vice-captain), O'Regan and Burns toured Australia with the New Zealand University team.
In
The following season was another year of dis-appointments, the senior team managing to get in a win now and again. Representative honours went to Diederich (captain), N. Hislop and Ruru (unable to tour).
This year the team has had to fight hard, and all things considered has done well, gaining promotion to the first division of the Senior A. The Club's sole representative in the representative team was Jack Ruru, whose tragic death took away all the pleasure we knew when two lower grade teams, the Third C's and Fourths, won their respective championships, an unheard of thing in the Club.
In
Annually a match is played between a team of players under twenty-one representing V.U.C. and Te Aute College, and these games have invariably resulted in expositions of football at its best, while Massey College is now played every year.
As can be seen, 'Varsity football has had its periods of football success and failure, and has taken them both with a smile. The public has always liked 'Varsity as a team, and it is to be hoped they always will. Certainly if the side remembers the great figures of the past who have made the Club by their open and sporting play, few complaints will come from 'Varsity's most consistent admirer—the man on the bank.
"Throughout the University of New Zealandthere is now a bond of friendship and respect,which will tighten as years go by, and whichwill stand as long as the Tournament lasts, asafeguard against a system of mere Universitycram"—The Spike,June, 1902 .
The bond has tightened and the New Zealand University Tournament stands to-day as the strongest bond of friendship between the students of the four Centres. Every year at Easter over two hundred students gather at one or other of the Centres and meet in seven different athletic sports. They come from all parts of New Zealand and from all classes of the community but they are drawn together in this, the greatest of all gatherings of students in the Dominion.
The first suggestion of a Tournament seems to have been a letter from Canterbury College in
The Committee appointed by the V.U.C. Students' Association to make full arrangements for Victoria's representation at the first Tournament consisted of R. St. J. Beere, G. F. Dixon, P. S. Foley, H. H. Ostler, J. Stout, G. M. Henderson, D. Matheson and F. A. de la Mare. The Committee did its work well, and considering her position as the youngest of the University Colleges, V.U.C. had reason to be proud of the results of this Tournament, being third in Athletics, second to C.U.C. in Tennis, and placed second equal with A.U.C. in the Debate. The first Tournament was voted a huge success, thanks mainly due to the energy displayed by the C.U.C. delegates, Messrs. F. T. M. Kissel and E. D. Rice, and the co-operation of the leaders of the visiting teams, Messrs. F. C. Long (A.U.C.), W. M. Thomson (O.U.) and G. F. Dixon (V.U.C.).
Since
The original Tournament programme, however, has been radically altered by the inclusion of new events. Very few amendments were made up to
In its method of organisation the Tournament has remained unchanged. The present Tournament Committe is composed of two delegates from each of the four University Centres, just as the
In
It would be impossible in the space available in this publication to consider in any detail the history of Tournament from year to year, although such a history, if ever written, would be of absorbing interest to past and present students of the College. A brief account of each sport is the best that can be done, and this follows.
. . . .
Athletics was an event in the first Tournament, and few changes have been made in the programme since then. In the majority of events V.U.C. has had more than a fair share of wins, the field events being the glaring weakness. (O.U. have had 23 wins out of 27 contests in throwing the hammer!) Up to the last few years Victoria had held the Athletics Shield on more occasions than any of the other Colleges, but C.U.C. has now drawn ahead to lead by 11 wins to V.U.C.' 10, with O.U. having won the Shield nine times and A.U.C. as yet without a win. Auckland teams have never had much success in this branch of Tournament, their best performance being in
The standard in the Athletic events in Tournament has always been high and athletes of high calibre are needed to score points for their College. Many such men have represented V.U.C. on the track and individual mention here would require so much space that it has been necessary to tabulate the results. Outstanding as far as collecting points for the Shield is concerned have been F. W. B. Goodbehere, L. A. Tracy, M. Lead-better, F. H. Stephenson, E. B. Smith, C. B. Allan, A. D. Priestley, T. Rigg, A. Hudson, A. B. Sievwright, A. G. Bogle, G. S. Strack, A. Jackson, F. S. Ramson, D. Barker and G. J. Sceats. V.U.C. has no complaint of the performance of her athletes, and the keenness of the present Athletic Club augurs well for the future.
10 wins out of 30 contests.
10 wins out of 25 contests.
5½ wins out of 30 contests.
12 wins out of 30 contests.
12 wins out of 29 contests.
1 win out of 30 contests.
1 win out of 29 contests.
4½ wins out of 30 contests.
8 wins out of 28 contests.
Won in
9 1/3 wins out of 31 contests.
V.U.C., 10 wins (
A.U.C., no wins.
Held by V.U.C. 5 times (
A.U.C., 18 times; C.U.C., 5 times; O.U., twice.
. . . .
Our efforts in Tennis have not met with the same success as in Athletics, and apart from wins in
No change in the programme for Tennis has been made since
3 wins out of 30 contests.
3 wins out of 30 contests.
9 wins out of 30 contests
5 wins out of 30 contests.
V.U.C, 3½ wins (
. . . .
In the days when the Debating Contest for the Joynt Scroll was a Tournament event, V.U.C., as might be expected from the Law School, were able to carry home the Scroll more often than any of the others. With twelve wins to Otago's six, Canterbury's five and Auckland's two wins, we
(Contest removed from Tournament programme after
12 wins out of 25 contests.
. . . .
The inclusion of Boxing was suggested in
Average success only has come our way in Boxing. A strong team brought back the Shield in
2 wins out of 15 contests.
4 wins out of 15 contests.
4 wins out of 15 contests.
1 win out of 15 contests.
4 wins out of 15 contests.
(First contest in
1 win out of 11 contests.
3 wins out of 15 contests.
(A.U.C., 2 wins; C.U.C., 5 wins; O.U., 9 wins.)
. . . .
The first official shooting match was held in
During the first few years of the contest V.U.C. did not enter a team, and only two wins have been recorded (
Victoria College has played little part in Swim, ming up to the present time. When Debating was withdrawn from the list of Tournament events in
. . . .
Early in
Due to the generosity of the Misses Heberley, students of V.U.C., a handsome shield carved in the Maori tradition by their father, Mr. Heberley, was presented in
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. . . .
Basketball was first held as a Tournament event in
Until
. . . .
The V.U.C. Students' Association presented a Wooden Spoon in
But whatever success may attend our representatives at future Tournaments, all will surely endorse Seaforth Mackenzie's lines in the Spike, reprinted in the
After our College days are done,And our Hall with ivy grown,Back, from the fields where their fame was won,We'll gather to cheer them home.We'll sing the praise of strong and true,Wherever such men are seen,We'll raise a shout for the faithful whoHave worn the gold and green.—F.A.M., 1905 , "The Old Clay Patch,"1920 .
Although the Athletic Club was not actually formed until
Athletics, in its early years at Victoria College, owes a great debt of gratitude to the late J. P. Firth, of Wellington College, and to Professor T. H. Easterfield. Mr. Firth for some years made the Wellington College grounds available to the 'Varsity, and thereby did a great deal to foster athletics and the Athletic Club when such help was most needed. Professor Easterfield, himself an old Cambridge half blue, freely gave the benefit of his advice and experience to our early athletes and his help and assistance were invalu-able. A note made about this time reads somewhat as follows: "Professor Easterfield donned his running togs after 15 years absence from the track and took us over a half-mile faster than most of us cared for."
Prior to the Great War the College produced some notable athletes. Mention might be made particularly of F. W. B. Goodbehere who, while not quite fulfilling the promise of his College days, had an outstanding record in the Tournament. Altogether he scored nine wins, three times each in the 100 yds. and 220 yds., twice in the 440 yds. and once in the long jump. A. T. Duncan, who won the New Zealand 100 yds. and 220 yds. Championships in the year
T. Rigg won the three miles at the Tournament for four years in succession. In
And, finally, Athol Hudson the greatest of them all. Hudson first competed at the Tournament in
In the post-war years Victoria University College has produced an exceptional number of brilliant athletes, and for many years the Athletic Club had a quite remarkable record. Starting in viz., the Heenan Baton and the Oates Baton.
After
So many of the Club members have achieved distinction on the athletic fields since the War that to traverse their records in any detail would be too long a task. Their achievements will be found tabulated below, but it is impossible not to mention some of them more particularly here. In sprinters we have had L. A. Tracy (9 wins and several records at the Tournament, 3 New Zealand Championships, and a first and a second in Australasian Championships) and M. Lead-better (who became a champion while at Victoria University College and later transferred to Canterbury—6 Tournament Championships, 7 New Zealand Championships and a New Zealand record of 9 4-5 sees, in the 100 yds.). In hurdlers we have had R. W. Lander, who first ran for Wellington, then for Otago and later for Wellington again (6 New Zealand Championships, an Australasian Championship and a New Zealand record of 15 1-5 sees, in the 120 yds. hurdles). F. S. Ramson was not only a great hurdler but the greatest all-rounder the College has produced. His record reads: 10 Tournament Championships scored in 5 different events (a record which has not been equalled), 4 New Zealand Hurdles Championships, an Australasian Championship, and a New Zealand record (which has since been beaten) of 56 4-5 sees, in the 440 yds. hurdles.
In
The performances of Victoria University College athletes are set out overleaf with the exception of performances at the Tournament, which may be ascertained from the article on the Tournament elsewhere in this issue.
L. A. Tracy, 440 yards flat,
R. W. Lander, 120 yards Hurdles,
F. S. Ramson, 440 yards Hurdles,
A. T. Duncan,
M. Leadbetter,
M. Leadbetter,
M. Leadbetter,
M. Leadbetter,
A. T. Duncan,
L. A. Tracy,
L. A. Tracy,
L. A. Tracy,
M. Leadbetter,
M. Leadbetter,
M. Leadbetter,
C. H. Jenkins,
C. H. Jenkins,
K. M. Griffin,
C. B. Allan,
K. M. Griffin,
A. Hudson,
A. B. Sievwright,
A. B. Sievwright,
A. B. Sievwright,
A. B. Sievwright,
S. G. Mcintosh,
R. W. Lander, 6 years from
F. S. Ramson,
F. S. Ramson,
F. S. Ramson,
F S. Ramson,
D. W. A. Barker,
G J. Sceats,
H E. Moore,
M. Leadbetter, 100 yards, 9.4/5 sees, in
R. W. Lander, 120 yards Hurdles 15.1/5 sees, in
F. S. Ramson, 440 yards Hurdles, 56.4/5 sees, in
(Ramson's record has since been beaten by a Canterbury College athlete, A. T. Anderson.)
In addition, G. J. Sceats for some time held the best New Zealander's performance in the High Jump at 6 feet, a height which has since been beaten.
New Zealand—G. G. Aitken (captain), E. T. Leys, J. D. Mackay, R. H. C. Mackenzie, S. K. Siddells.
New Zealand Maoris.—E. T. W. Love, J. H. Ruru.
New Zealand Army Team—F. M. H. Hanson, G. J. McNaught.
Great Britain—J. O. J. Malfroy.
Scotland—G. G. Aitken.
New Zealand—H. Foley, K. C. James, E. G. McLeod, H. W. Monaghan.
New Zealand—C. E. Malfroy, R. R. T. Young.
New Zealand—H. F. Bollard, N. R. Jacobsen, (captain), E. G. McLeod (captain).
New Zealand—C. B. Allan, C. H. Jenkins, W. G. Kalaugher (Olympic Games), R. W. Lander, M. Leadbetter, A. D. Priestley, F. S. Ramson, G. J. Sceats, A. B. Sievwright, L. A. Tracy.
Here's luck! for the sport we've had together,For chances bungled and battles won;For the wicket true, and the field in fettle,And the man who's safe for a tingling catch.—S.S.M., Sports Chorus. "The Golden Calf," 1907 ."The Old Clay Patch," 1920 .
For the genesis of the Cricket Club, one has to go back as far as the early summer of the year
The formation of the Club and affiliation with the Wellington Cricket Association in that year led the way for an entry in the Association's junior and third-class championships the following summer.
Overcoming early difficulties as to practice wickets the Club with an eye to the future, as early as
In
Among the prominent figures in the Club's early years of senior cricket were H. W. Monaghan, a New Zealand representative player, who played for the Club for several seasons; F. Joplin, who gained Plunket Shield honours when with 'Varsity, and who was a sound and reliable bat; Gilbert Howe, for several years the Wellington representative wicket-keeper; C. Berendsen, another representative wicket-keeper; and the representative players Dr. Foster, J. F. W. Dickson and J. Fanning. J. V. Saunders the Australian and New Zealand International, who was coach here in Wellington for some years, was allotted to 'Varsity as a playing coach, his presence in the team tending towards further improvement, and indeed it was the War alone which halted the Club's progress. For with practically all the active members at the front 'Varsity cricket was hard hit, but it struggled on manfully. Many stalwarts of the Club made the supreme sacrifice during those four years of horror, and the Club's first eleven was no longer able to extend the other teams in the senior grade and consequently lost senior status.
After the War, however, a new start was made, with a team in both the junior and third grades, and the Club entered into things with renewed vigour, until in
Expectations were realised, for in the following season the Junior A Championship was again carried off, and the Club earned the reward its enthusiasm had deserved, for its cause was taken
The performances of the
Fair success attended the Club in the following season, the First Eleven doing very well until Christmas, but slumping rather badly after that, the net result being two games won out of nine played. Particularly noteworthy was Maurice Hollings' record in scoring a century in each of three consecutive matches, this earning him the honour of being the first post-war 'Varsity man to win a place in the Plunket Shield team. The annual fixture with Auckland was won by 71 runs.
In
The next season was not regarded as a very successful one, for although the Club had now some of the finest players in the City, it came only fourth in the championship. During this season the first of what has now become a series of annual tours of the Manawatu and Taranaki districts took place at Christmas. Mackenzie captained the Wellington town representatives in the annual match against the Country, and R. J. Bagge, a promising bowler, was also in the town team. The game with Auckland was drawn after a game of changing fortunes, Mackenzie getting a fine 70 not out in the second innings.
The
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In the following year this lower grade improvement bore fruit, the Club being third in the Club Championship. The seniors were mainly young players, but under the captaincy of L. M. Pacey the team was fifth equal in the grade and
This brings the history of the Cricket Club up to the
No history of the Club would, however, be complete without special reference to those outstanding figures of the post-war period who placed the Club in the sound position it is in to-day. It was due to the leadership both on and off the field of three or four outstanding players that 'Varsity cricket emerged from junior obscurity to senior status. Foremost among those players were R. H. C. Mackenzie, a fine captain, sound and stylist bat, and safe wicket-keeper; A. M. Hollings, a player whose all-round worth is fully demonstrated in the averages; E. G. McLeod, a splendid all-rounder, the only cricketer to gain International honours whilst playing for the Club; and E. T. "Tiny" Leys, who signalled his farewell to V.U.C. cricket by a sparkling century on Kilbirnie Reserve one sunny autumn afternoon. For years it has been a hard fight for a young club to hold its own against the experienced and seasoned players of other clubs and, in no small measure, 'Varsity's prominent place to-day is due to the four men mentioned above and to the loyal support of many others. In them V.U.C. had stalwarts, who have left behind them a memory of ability with bat and ball which Time will be slow to erase.
Elected
Miss M. C. Ross (Mrs. Price).
G. F. Dixon.
W. Gillanders.
R. St. J. Beere.
A. MacDougall. (Died 3rd August,
Miss L. M. MacKellar (Mrs. E. Hope).
F. A. de la Mare.
D. S. Smith.
The earlier history of the Society is admirably dealt with in the
The decline in the Club's activities over the last two years has been due to financial difficulties. The students have never supported the Club's town productions and the finances have suffered a strain which has prevented the Club adding to its library and Continuing its successful readings. The Club this year has decided in future to produce plays at College in spite of the disadvantages and by this means hopes to keep expenses down and to continue its readings. The Extravaganza in the first term and examinations in the last have a limiting effect on the work and the difficulties in reaching new members are enormous. However, the Club intends to have a production in the first weeks of the next year and looks forward to a successful period.
Let day and night do what they willThou hast thy task...—Crashaw.
We are proud to look upon our growing list of Rhodes Scholars, but we are sad to see the dreadful gap made by the cruel hand of war that snatched from us two most promising students, Alan MacDougall and Athol Hudson.
Alan MacDougall gained the scholarship in
Athol Hudson was the first of our Rhodes Scholars to fall in battle. He gained his degree of B.Sc. in
For the rest, a happier fate has been reserved. To Professor P. W. Robertson goes the honour of being the College's first Rhodes Scholar (
Our next scholarship was gained in
While at New College, Oxford, Meldrum was awarded the degree of B.C.L., and he also won his half-blue for boxing.
Since his return to New Zealand, he has been engaged in the practice of law, and is at the present time residing at Hamilton.
Then, in
Mr. H. G. Miller, the present Librarian at Victoria College, and also the liaison officer for the Colonial Appointments Scheme, was our scholar for
In
The
Before proceeding to Oxford, he was engaged in teaching at Wellington College, and now, after a short visit to New Zealand, he has returned to England, and is on the teaching staff of Marlborough College.
The last Rhodes Scholarship to be awarded to this College was in
And so we come to the end of our list. In less than thirty-five years, we have gained no fewer than nine Rhodes Scholarships, an achievement which, considering the smallness of our numbers, is very encouraging to those of us who seek honours in this field. Let us therefore hope that the future has in store for us victories of peace as great as ever was the case in the past—but victories unmarked by the fierce talons of war.
To say nothing of Brook mere, who for years attended to the nourishment of the flagging student brain, and induced the mood for philosophy or (as the case might be) with her stews and sausages and mince; especially, if I remember me, her mince.
Why I should be requested to contribute an appreciation of the Brook dynasty of the past and present generations altogether eludes me, for T can testify only of the old regime. Does the younger Brook, emerging, not from haunts of coot and hern, but from the little room with the telephone, make a sudden sally whenever the feel of laughing girls resound along the corridors? Do the girls retire as awed and speechless as in a former day? Can the grand manner have descended upon the son? I do not know. There is Max Cleghorn's well-remembered Capping song:
Is this custom still perpetrated? I know not. Should I seem, therefore, in this short tribute to a family, which has reigned as long as there has been a building on the Old Clay Patch, to be purely laudator temporis acti, please send your complaint to the editors.
The dynasty was founded when the College moved to its Salamanca home in Spike', aAnswers to Correspondents:
"J—s Br—k.—We are glad to hear that your book, "The Great Illusion, or How to Avert Ward," is to be published this year." And the Capping Song entitled "The Common Fate" from "The Golden Calf":
And, as they say in the Women's Column, many others, all betokening that he was, as I have said, an outstanding personality in student affairs and a highly regarded member of our big family.
Mrs. Brook was almost as well-known. In the original building where common rooms were negligible and Brookie forbade gatherings in the hall and there was silence in the library, many regaled themselves far longer than they should in Mrs. Brooks' tea room. When the library wing was erected a larger kitchen gave scope for what was called "a hot course meal," and antiquarians who seek a definition of that term are referred to the Stud. Assn. minute-book. From then on more and more partook of her hospitality and she was as essential a feature of College life as J.S.B. himself.
Of Mr. W. S. Brook, as I have said, I am scarcely qualified to speak. This is certain, thai he would rather have nothing said, for he would much prefer, as the second of the dynasty, being left alone to carry on the traditions of his house. Long may he do so!
We are the nobs and not: the snobs,The aristocracy.We want cigars and hotel-barsUp here at V.U.C.Come all you gay young fellows,And let us have a spree,For we are the Club, the Haeremai Club,The pride of the 'Varsity.
In submitting to our readers a history of the Haeremai Club we are under a handicap as this Club is of a totally different nature from the other 'Varsity Clubs insofar as it has no records to mark its progress each year and the outstanding performances of its members do not bear repeating here. Some of the deeds of now staid business men, rising barristers, respected schoolteachers and others would cause much surprise if reported but we are bound to respect their feelings so they can rest assured that their reputations will not suffer through us.
The Haeremai Club was founded about twenty years ago with the object of fostering a true interest amongst the men students in the various activities of the College. As Victoria is largely composed of part-time students the aim was to afford an opportunity for students of the different faculties to meet one another and to foster corporate College spirit. The Club flourished for a few years and various functions were held until interest in it gradually evaporated and the Club died at the early age of six years.
In
We now come to the year
The Club has, the last two years, been less active than in previous years and we consider this due to the fact that the Capping Processions had been disallowed, there were not the opportunities to hold theatre evenings and also to the opening of Weir House. The latter took over to a large extent the aim of the Club, namely, providing a true University spirit in the College. However, it would be a great pity if the Club should die out but it can only carry on with the whole-hearted support of the men students, by whom we mean both the older students and the freshers.
The following benefactions have been received by the College during its thirty-five years of existence, and for them we return thanks again:—
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Under the will of the late Dr. Arnold Izard, one half share of his residuary estate after termination of a certain life-interest is bequeathed to Victoria University College for scholarships and general purposes.
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Books for the Library have been given by the late Sir James Hector, K.C.M.G., the late Sir Theo. Cooper, the late Mr. H. W. Eve, the late Mr. G. A. Hogben, the late Mr. A. P. Buller, the late Mr. J. W. Joynt, Messrs. R. T. Turnbull and T. W. Kirk, the late Mr. J. R. Blair, Miss Izard, Dr. Arnold Izard, Sir R. Stout, Miss Pumphrey, the Hon. F. M. B. Fisher, Mr. A. de B. Brandon, Mr. D. Coghill, Mr. A. R. Atkinson, the late Mr. W. S. Reid, Professor Hunter, Professor Garrow, the late Professor Sommerville, Professor Cotton, Mr. P. Levi, Sir Frederick Chapman, Mr. W. F. Hogg, Mr. R. F. Blair, Mr. Diamond Jenness, Professor Florance.
They were walking round the coast from Island Bay, had crawled round above the Run-around, and were negotiating Fly Rock Bay. As they scampered across from rock to rock, above the noise of sea, there rose a rattling growl from the throat of the Bay.
"Did you hear that?" roared the Big Brother, waiting for the Small Brother to catch up to him —"Did you hear that growl? That's the tantwha."
"Sez you," riposted the younger brother, breathing with difficulty.
"He always does that," pursued the Big Brother seriously. "When he tries to bring down the passers-by and fails, he always growls like that."
"Well I'll give him one." And the Young Brother hurled a stone full at the white horses capering at the entrance of the bay. A wave was just receding, and immediately there followed that low, malignant yarrrrl, so well known to visitors round the coast. Young Brother dropped his second missile, and looked sheepish as his Big Brother grinned at him.
"Made you jump," observed Big Brother.
"Bah," said Young Brother, half confused, "It's only the stones rattling on the bottom."
They passed from Taniwha's territory into Meston's Bay. There are baches there. "Listen," urged Little Brother, jogging Big Brother's elbow, "Tell us a story with lots of ghosts and taniwhas and things—all creepy. You can."
The "you can" did it. Ten-year-old youngsters know more of the psychology of the adult than any professor knows of children—and capitalise accordingly. Big brother appeared to ponder weightly. At last: "Donkey's years ago," began he, "there was a Maori whare just about where you see those baches now. It was owned by two brothers, Kapi and Roa. Nobody knew why they wanted to live in this desolate spot, but live here they did, and they cultivated roots SQ diligently that very rarely did they have to go back to the settlement for food. But one year they ran short of kumara, and set off to Wellington-proper to work for a few baskets of kumaras. As they were well known though regarded as eccentric, they had no difficulty in getting what they wanted. So they returned to their whare, on the beach where the winds wail all night, and the sea chops down the cliffs with a white mere, and were much astounded to find the bach had gone. Yes, gone!
They gasped. Not a stick, not a straw remained. At first they suspected Maori marauders. Then Kapi found in the sand right by the water a definite hoof-print. With an expression of dread expectancy he pointed it out to Roa. Roa turned white. "Patupairehe!" Kapi nodded vigorously.
Now any sensible Maori would have left the cursed spot as quickly as possible, but not so Kapi and Roa. Did I not say that they were eccentric? They determined to wage war against the fairy folk. Sleeping that night on the bare sand, one keeping watch, they built next morning a new whare, all woven with dry manuka and grass. They prepared a heavy mass of the stuff and laid it down beside the doorway.
When evening came, Roa walked along the beach away from the whare, half carrying, half dragging an effigy he had made of his brother. Kapi stayed under the pile of dry manuka near the door, with his fire pot barely glowing and half buried in the sand.
The moon was chasing along behind the clouds, trying to find a spot, a rift through which it could watch. The wind that always wails at night was sighing gently; the tender wavelets were creaming up the beach, in an effort to escape, and then falling back exhausted right into the mouth of the avid ocean. Roa was lying in the sand half -way up this hill, when both the brothers saw the waters of the bay ripple, and there appeared four patupairehe, fairy folk. Red hair they had, and a white skin; they mounted up the beach on nimble hooves. What a whispering and discussing there was among them when they saw the new whare—Kapi, holding his breath in half-horror heard it all. Then they went inside and began to ransack.
Kapi rammed his firepot into the wall and as Roa came racing down the beach, thrust the pile
What cries rose from the throats of the patupairehe as they saw themselves trapped in the burning whare—for the fairy folk are impervious to spear thrust or to blow of club, but fear and detest fire. And as they shrieked, the two foolish brothers capered round the whare, shouting triumph.
Next morning they buried all the ashes, and began to build a new whare a few yards away. And it happened that on the first night they slept in it, Roa, who was a light sleeper, was awakened by the cessation of the wailing of the winds. He arose and looked outside, and saw a curious light. It wavered, and danced, and waxed, and waned in a truly gruesome manner, until Roa, who was a brave man, though foolhardy, shivered with fear, and seized his weapon. "Spirit or man," vowed Roa "we shall meet in battle." And forgetting his recumbent brother, he gave chase. A merry dance did the spirit lead him, over the very roughest and thorniest ground until he was far away from the whare, and then it disappeared. Roa looked in all directions, but saw nothing until he looked toward the whare and there was the light, blazing eerily on the top of it, and forming itself into a hideous face. Roa shouted, remembering Kapi, and charged, but when he reached the whare, the spirit was gone and so was Kapi. He shivered, and revived the fire, and set some coals in the fire-pot. He had an idea he would need them.
By and by he dropped into a half sleep, and was awakened by a strong light shining in the doorway. "Stand back, Taipo," he cried poising the fire-pot," or I throw.'
The Taipo smiled. "I have Kapi. I have come for Roa." And at the feet of the horrified Maori he dropped Kapis hands, his head and his feet.
Seizing a lump of bushy manuka, the Maori lit it at the fire pot, and set off down the beach, driving the Taipo from the doorway with the flaming torch. The Taipo laughed loudly, and followed, walking calmly, flap, flap, flap, although the Maori was running as runs none but an athletic man in extremity of terror. And presently they came to a track between high rocks, where Roa seized more brush and sticks, and built a fire on the rock, lapped as it was by the sea. The Taipo snarled. The lump of brush had been a thing of short duration, but this fire bade fair to last till morning light, when the hour of the spirit world is ended. And Roa, safe behind the security of a blazing fire, laughed once more, and waved aloft a burning branch, and shouted curses.
But once again the Taipo was smiling. Roa watched in dread now, dimly conjecturing. Suddenly: "Taniwha!" roared the Taipo. Immediately the Maori heard the swish and gurgle of the waters behind him. He turned and raised again the fire stick, but the great claw reached blindly out of the ocean, and struck, and the Blood of the Maori splattered and stained the rocks.
So ended Roa, the second of the foolhardy brothers. And to this day the Maoris have called those rocks: "Pariwhero," or rocks of blood. And to this day they are empurpled with the blood of that too-daring Maori."
Young Brother was obviously impressed, but still critical. "There's a hole in that story," he remarked.
"Where abouts?"
Young Brother grinned and lifted his hands in Hebraic gesture. "Produce your rocks."
"Look," said Big Brother.
And just ahead, showing over the rise in the path, like the gory tooth of a waiting sea-monster, was a point of red stone. And beyond it, all the rocks were red.
Before the next issue ofSpike appears, another link with early Victoria will have been broken. Professor F. P. Wilson, one of the first students of the College, lecturer in Economics from Spikes record that he took an active part in student life, particularly in tennis and athletics. They also state that he was prominent in "the many lives of the Glee Club," and without this mention of a College activity which to a jazz-ridden generation smacks almost of the medieval it would be difficult to believe that the Professor is getting on in years. He seems to have the secret of perpetual youth. To look as the Professor does after 47 years of service in school and University is a tribute to a fine physique; but F. P. is fine in another way—he is a thorough gentleman—one of the old school—unfailingly honourable, courteous, kindly, and encouraging. If his successor is half as good a man, we shall be proud of him. But we shall be sorry to have the Prof, leave us.
. . . .
As with almost every other Professor or Lecturer in the College, Prof. Wilson has been criticised for his teaching of his subject. The self-important little wiseacre with a reform-complex is not absent even in Victoria. Perhaps he misses in the University system the coddling which a bright boy can obtain at a secondary school; perhaps he is flushed with his success in spotting History as the softest option in the Arts course; perhaps he is merely practising the vocal exercises of the Youth Movement. It is true that History for B.A. is only one remove from light reading and History for Honours (up to, at any rate, Second Class) the safest and easiest method of securing M.A.; but this is not the fault of the Professor of History. The University sets the standard; the Professor's business is to get his student through. Prof. Wilson is entitled to a large share of the credit for the fact that it is virtually impossible to fail a degree exam, in History.
But he is entitled to credit for more than this. From odd holes and corners comes a demand for History with trimmings. History with a doctrinaire bias, History tagged on to some form of modern radicalism, History adapted to practical use. Such History is not History at all—it is propaganda, or journalism, or politics. Prof. Wilson made no concession to the demand for History Coloured, but stuck to the ordinary conception of the subject as a chronicle of things that have happened and conscientiously fulfilled the requirements of the University prescription. He did not make the subject priggishly "dateish;" neither did he make it pretentious with verbal borrowings from "authorities," as thesis-compilers do. His recognition of the value of the subject as cultural rather than commercial value has probably done much to preserve it from the odour of quackery which appears to be gathering about one University institution and another in the uses to which they are put outside the University.
. . . .
The election as Secretary to the Stud. Ass. Executive of the popular and capable McGhie is a sign that Weir House is coming to a consciousness of the influence which it can and should exercise in student affairs. Weir House is the essential Victoria, the only part of the College which embodies to any extent the true ideal of a corporate student life, the part to which the College will increasingly have to look for its student standards. This is not to depreciate the nonresidential students, upon whom for more than a quarter of a century has fallen the task of creating and sustaining the College traditions; the student of Weir House, however, has a stake in the College which the others could never obtain, for his private life is part and parcel of the College life. Since this private life is passed in community, he has unusual facilities for measuring the character and worth of his fellows in the House; it would be difficult in such an institution
. . . .
Max Riske, whom the College will hold in loving memory as a founder of "Smad," has sudenly acquired newspaper fame. He wants to go to Russia—at his own expense. The Education Board which employs him will not give him leave. The Minister of Education will not interfere with the decision of the Board; he will not even commission Max to inquire into educational matters in Russia. It is a question whether if Max had simply asked for leave without stating what he was going to do with it his request would have been granted; for Max has, during recent years, been a keen student of Asiatic politics and has shown such ability in passing his knowledge on, that some people have trembled for the safety of the New Zealand constitution. These people would be difficult to convince that Max wished to go to Russia merely to find out things about education. The situation is a tribute to Max's potentialities as a reformer of institutions or, at least, as an irritant to the politically satisfied, but the problem involved is a difficult one. Is an employee entitled to what he asks for, if it costs his employers nothing, or are his employers entitled to refuse him what he wants if they think it concerns something other than the work for which he is employed. The question is one of competing liberties—the teacher's liberty to leave his job, the Board's liberty to keep it open for him. It would be quite easy to take a stand for liberty on either side, but what's the use? As Victoria College and Russia know, there is no complete liberty in a condition of dependence on others. From fellow-sufferers here—sympathies, Max.
Shades of Mae West and Evangeline Booth!" He stopped and leaned against the rail. "Do you call that ..."
A bus tore explosively down Salamanca Road and cut short the comment of my Christchurch friend. It was some minutes before he attempted to speak again.
"Do you call that architecture?" he asked disdainfully. "Who on earth was responsible?"
I stared mutely at him. Though I was dimly aware of the shortcomings of Victoria's pile, it was so familiar to me that I had come to consider it as an unquestionable part of the landscape.
"No wonder the Prof. Board banned sex and religion debates."
"Why?" I asked blankly.
"Perpetual entombment in that morgue would be enough to make anyone lose their reason" he replied feelingly. "At the same time they may have seen as through a glass darkly, that such an environment was likely to give birth in the student mind to anything in the way of revolutionary ideas from free milk to free love. As for an anti-war movement in that place, it is absolutely superfluous. It is quite beyond the powers of comprehension that anyone would raise a finger to defend such an atrocity."
"Well, it is not so bad when you come up by cable-car," I demurred, while wondering what invective would be drawn forth by the sight of the back of the building. Anything further I could say in reply seemed futile, so I merely murmured, "After all, it doesn't matter how the building looks, for most of us come up here at night when all we see is a punctured silhouette."
"Some people are lucky," was the rejoinder. We had now reached the end of the tennis courts.
"That oriel window and the steps aren't bad-rather a good entrance, in fact; but why a transplanted church for a north wing, and an indescribable conglomeration for the south?"
We entered the hall, and I decided on a quick visit to the library in place of a personally conducted tour of the whole building. As we climbed the stairs, my friend was saying in a guide-book voice: "Victoria College—well named, as it is a good example of Victorian architecture at its worst, with a resulting air of Victorian smugness pervading the whole." The inspection of the library was very brief. We came out. "What a wonderful idea that window was. A perfect example of florid patriotism expensively perpetuated in stained glass. And what a fine sense of irony—the modern soldier alongside the futile crusader!"
I hurried down the stairs, through the hall, and was just going to run down the steps when I realised that my friend had stopped. I turned to see what new object he had found on which to heap his scorn. He was, however, standing in the doorway, and the cynical curve had gone from his mouth; he was gazing out over the harbour and seemed to have suddenly forgotten me.
"Boy, what a view!" he said slowly, with a wealth of appreciation. I turned again and looked at the level expanse of the harbour, ruffled by the wind into varying shades of grey and blue. Its vastness accentuated the aloofness of the Tararuas and the loneliness of Somes Island; its quiet colour threw into relief the gilded houses on the Petone foreshore, standing like children's blocks on the edge of a deep purple carpet, while the slow flicker of the waves emphasised the stillness of the shadowed hills. I was just beginning to wish the sun would never sink any lower, when my friend's voice broke in on my reverie. It was not hard and staccato as it had been before—it was almost tender as he murmured:
"And it will last forever."
I have not been able to find out who lectured—or even that there was a lecture. I don't believe there was one.
But Bill says he was present; and Bill would not even pitch a tale to a professor, much less attempt to deceive a fellow-student who could see through him. He is quite devoid of the qualities that make for success in business or politics.
He produced notes of the lecture. Copious notes. The fact that he took notes lends colour to his statement that he hadn't the slightest idea of what the lecturer had talked about. A fellow can't do two things at once, be explained. But surely he had known beforehand who was to lecture and what he was to lecture about? Do I ever? asked Bill; lectures are all the same to me, before or after—they're an interference with swot. But, I persisted. Look, said Bill, I just popped in, yanked out my notebook, and started to scribblc—force of habit, I suppose—University coma—intellectual catalepsis—cerebral somnambulism. When Brookie did his trick with the lights, I grabbed my chance to make a quick getaway, see? Quite, I said; give us a screw at the notes. Dump 'em if you like, said Bill, indifferently. Don't you want to look at them yourself? I asked. What for? asked Bill; I attended the lecture, didn't I?
How can I say? Privately, I think he had some sort of a fit. It is difficult to explain his notes otherwise. They commence in this wise: "Human nature, It may be taken for granted, was very much the same as it was in the thirties. The intervening'period was too short to allow of any wild leaps in evolution. Considerable changes, however, had taken place in the social and political environment and these changes had exercised in important influence on literature."
Not much in that, or in the succeeding statement that the most important fact in the political world was the development of the Russias, which had achieved an industrialization as efficient as, if not more efficient than, the most progressive bourgeois state. I had heard that sort of thing before. But when the notes went on to mention "the neo-Leninism of the forties, supervening upon the original homodeism of the Bolshevik creed and finding its chief expression in poetry and philosophical speculation"—well, I blinked. What forties? "Young Russia, the product of purely Asiatic conditions, generations removed from the initial stimulus to revolution, namely, personal experience of a capitalistic environment, rapidly progressed from cynicism to iconoclasm in its deviation from the Messianic ideology of Marxism." Phew, thought I, this isn't my world.
The impossibility of the notes became more pronounced as they went along. "The political ferment which was the distinctive character of the fifties ..." Fifties now! "The prevailing sentiment was not in favour of change for the sake of change or even for the sake of securing better conditions, but was almost entirely directed to securing permanence and stability in social arrangements. The ideal of progress had suffered the fate of many another intellectual fashion. The interest of the citizen of the sixties was centred, not on the capacity of an institution for amendment as time went on, but on its capacity as a going concern whether time went on or stood still. This was largely the outcome of the efficiency of the politician of the day, who was far from being the muddled incompetent so taken for granted in earlier decades as the best man to discharge the important function of public convenience."
Well! The political blasphemy of the expression "public convenience" would have shocked me had T not begun to realise that the notes related, not to the present, but to the future—and a future which (most absurdly) the lecturer appeared to regard as past. (That is, supposing there had been a lecturer. I wonder if Bill ... no, he doesn't drink.)
The absurdity of the thing is not worth conjecture. The notes must be taken for what they are worth. Some of them are not worth much; others are worse, particularly those about what is called the "submergence of youth!" "Youth frittering away its virgin enthusiasms in exhibitionistic extravagances"—"put to learning instead of ideationizing"—the obvious comment is "oh yeah?" But all this and the other stuff about social and political conditions are evidently intended only as a background for something or other (the notes are by no means clear) about
There are confused scraps about radio, stereoscopic television, the broadcast press, and so on. Literature was broadcast more than it was printed—people were so busy playing that they hadn't time to read. Popular authors composed directly into the microphone. The development of radio permitted the automatic reservation of instalment literature for consumption at convenience, thus making listeners independent of the scheduled hours of presentation. Application of technocracy to the literary craft—organization of collaboration—authorship institutes—mechanical devices for sorting and recording literary material—phonographic indexes of plots, characterizations, forms of expression, suitable quotations, etc.—intricate plotting machines for complicating and resolving situations (some could even produce the precise psychological reaction to a given situation, but whether in the machine, the observer, or a subject is not stated): these were some of the incidents of a literature harnessed at every point to the chariot wheel of commerce. The word "roboture" occurring in Bill's notes at this stage was, I hope, used sardonically.
A human side is mentioned, however, There were Professional Reactionists, whose function is obscurely hinted at as the pursuit of "real experience." They seem to have been a somewhat disreputable class. At another level of respectability (and probably veracity) were the Professional Autobiographers—important persons hired at a stiff price to record for public delectation their daily lives. As might be expected, these were venal people. A notable scandal concerned the efforts of a prominent Behaviourist to pre-empt a Dictatorship for his newly-born infant. The Behaviourist (term not explained) had some difficulty in escaping proceedings under a (then) obsolete law which aimed at restricting the perpetuation of the unfit. Then there were the Rag-baggers (reminiscent of the Wellses and Mitchinsons of the Georgian period) who gathered the conclusions and speculations of learned men and dished them up for popular consumption. A special branch of this business was Omniscientism (another survival from the time of Wells), most typically represented by the synthetic historians, who wrote on a large scale with Man rather then men for their topic. Their assumptions of knowledge were? tremendous and pretentious, their affirmations pontifical. They dealt with history in the large and could manipulate it so as to make it yield conclusions favourable to any thesis desired. The field in which this class of worker was most at home was pre-history, where imagination could have the fullest play. A remarkable, but quite normal, development was the writing of history, not as it had happened, but as it could have happened and even as (in the opinion of advanced people) it should have happened. A restatement of the outworn conceptions of history in the light of modern science!
Mind you, the notes do not run as smoothly as the foregoing might seem to indicate and there were serious gaps. Much, also, of what Bill had set down was mystifying, as for example, his reference to "psychiatrist symbols on dust covers." I take it that Psychology had been driven out of some position which it had once achieved and had become a department of literature. But the notes say that the trend of fiction was definitely objective. "Satiety with the infinite particularization of personal experiences under the inspiration of a science obsessed with abnormality created a demand for information which could be accepted as universally normal." (In other words, they wanted to learn how to suck eggs, poor devils.) The sex novel still had a vogue, but with a difference: it was not experimentalist. The "new morality" was an exhausted impulse, of which the eccentricities and their consequences could be accurately adjudged. (The pendulum seems to have swung towards what Bill and I would term Victorianism.) A vast field of fiction was devoted to political speculation, which was encouraged as "a most effective means of dissociating the gratification of disruptive tendencies from the temptation to translate them into action." People who read political novels no more wished to take an active part in politics that people in an earlier decade who read crime novels or Wild West novels were prepared to emulate criminals or cowboys.
There is some reference to the Midden (or Joycean) School of fiction. Evidently the enthusiasm with which the novelists of this school had grubbed in all sorts of places for new media of expression had resulted in an enrichment of the vocabulary of the English language and an increase in its syntactical flexibility. But the school was very much in popular disesteem, as was also the Septic School, which had, at some past time, gone to incredible lengths in insisting that the purely animal side of life should dominate literature. In pointing out the violent revulsion from all forms of putrescence in art, the notes become excited: "The time was not one of despair and disillusionment, as was the period after the first of the Wars to end War, when life seemed a moral and intellectual scrap-heap and satyrs danced upon the ruins; when poets wrote with their heads in a crowd of poisonous flies and novelists raked the middens and dunghills for their inspiration. To the political ferment which began about this time is usually attributed the work of purging the tormented subjectivism of the earlier decades of the century, but-." But what? Here the notes 'abort" as Hollywood would term it
I would like to mention the Polyglottics, the Reversionists (who literally wrote backwards), the Determinists (who took a casual incident and traced its antecedents almost as far as time would allow), and many other freak schools of fiction. But enough's enough. I take the word of the notes that "if there was an absence of philosophic depth or ethical intensity in literary creation, at least the reader was not intrigued into viewing himself as an organism that functioned primarily from the hips down, with its feet caked in everlasting mud."
Afore ye go: there are some fragments about poetry, in the main a comparison of the poetry of the lecturer's time with that of our own day. I daren't hint at the criticism involved. Bill ought to have known better. But his reference to interim developments in verse structure contain one piece which I must quote, not only because it is a complete note, but also because it provides a handy stopping place. Here it is: "The limit was reached in the Poetry of Punctuationism, which dispensed with words altogether. The pinnacle of the art of this school was a poem about which 'artistic' persons argued with extreme seriousness for many years. Many attempts were made to pierce its essential meaning, but none was accepted as a final solution. The poem occupied a single page of the volume in which it appeared and consisted simply of—a full stop!"
If anyone wants to know anything further about the "lecture," the "lecturer," Bill, Bill's notes, Bill's mental condition, or me, let him ask Bill. I am busy with the meaning of that poem.
Written after visiting the fragmentary remains of the old abbey and castle in Christchurch, England.
. . . .
With the death of Mrs. Mackenzie in February of last year, College has lost one of its oldest and truest friends. Mrs. Mackenzie and the Professor arrived in New Zealand with four small children and so she was, from the beginning, immersed in the cares of a large and growing family; but even in those early strenuous days she loved to welcome the students to her home in Karori and the students used to delight the youngsters by practising College hakas on the front lawn. One student in particular, whose untimely death she ever regretted, was Alan Macdougall-and the Mackenzie home became for him a second home. When the family moved to the house opposite College, Mrs. Mackenzie's hospitality was offered to generation after generation of students and staff. She was able to give what was so much needed, gentleness and sympathy, tact and understanding to practice which requires unselfishness and strength of mind and body.
As her own children grew old enough to go to the University, she became more actively associated with V.U.C. and she thoroughly enjoyed going to many different types of entertainment. In the early days, she was one of the chaperons, and was always keenly interested in the Basketball Club, of which she was Patron.
It was always in the individual student she was interested, and in her own drawing-room she would gather them round and even the quietest and shyest would soon find, seated by Mrs. Mackenzie, that his voice would begin to function.
It was in her home, too, that many a student would have an opportunity of meeting and listening to people who were actually taking part in the wider life of affairs.
We are grateful for what she has done for V.U.C. Her impulse was always to mother us. She knew we needed it-and so we did-and do.
It was with sincere feelings of regret that we learned of the death early in the year of Professor
Towards the end of the third term in
Professor Sommerville was born in Bewar, Rajputana, India, in
Gaining a grant from the University Courr in
Of him, Professor R. Scott Lang, Regius Professor in Mathematics at St. Andrews, said, "He was undoubtedly the ablest and most distin
Professor Sommerville's ability was widely recognised, and despite the calls on his time demanded by his teaching duties, he still continued to do a considerable amount of original work, contributing papers to many societies, and writing no fewer than four books on the subject of geometry, in which he was deeply interested.
A thorough teacher, Professor Sommerville at the same time brought to his teaching an artistry, which can only be fully appreciated by those students who have attended his lectures or read his books. He was an understanding teacher, and was fully aware of the difficulties confronting the young student, and his kindly and helpful advice was greatly appreciated by all.
Professor Sommerville was Chairman of the College Library Committee for a number of years, doing much valuable work whilst on that committee, and the College Mathematical and Physical Society too owes much to his interest and support.
Professor Sommerville was gifted with his brush, and exhibited a number of times at the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts. By his death Victoria College and New Zealand have lost a mathematician whose brilliant work, extending over thirty years, had gained him international recognition.
The large attendance, including many of his old scholars, at his funeral service, was indeed a testimony to his loveable personality. His death robbed the College of a very able teacher, and an old and valued friend.
A white-jerseyed figure crashing down the British line to beat the stalwart Bassett's tackle and score a magnificent try in the corner amidst the deafening applause of a vast crowd—that is the first impression I have of Jack Ruru, and to-day it still lingers clearest in my memory.
Though it is now four years since that great match, the New Zealand Maoris versus the British Team, was played on Athletic Park, Jack Ruru's try is as clear to-day as if he scored it yesterday.
Picturing that well-built figure in the clean white jersey I can still remember the surprise I felt when I was introduced to a smiling stocky lad with an engaging friendly face, anything but the big white-clad footballer who had so nearly won the game against Britain.
Jack Ruru was, above all, a 'Varsity man. He could have achieved even greater fame had he played with a stronger team, yet Jack stuck to the green jersey through four years of 'Varsity football failure, and never let the cheery grin of good humour and hope fade.
"We'll come again," he said, and he believed it.
Four games only with 'Varsity sufficed to gain him a place in the New Zealand University team for Australia, a tour on which he gained the name of being one of the most promising backs to visit Sydney from New Zealand. He played in each 'Varsity Test with Sydney, and his great game marking such a world-famous footballer as Cyril Towers in the New South Wales match showed that Jack Ruru was a player of the very top class. New Zealand won 28 to 10, and Jack Ruru had a great hand in winning that game so magnificently.
His record for the 'Varsity side has been truly great. Try after try which he has either scored or earned, call to mind the picture of this fine Maori. It was only a matter of time before such ability received its true reward, but death intervened when the goal was in sight.
Through Jack Ruru's keenness and ability the first fifteen was moulding into a team that next year might have brought 'Varsity football into its own once more. Jack will not be there to see the triumph that is his due.
Next season when on a fresh winter's day the College fifteen files out on to the field, there will be missing from the line one who by his dash and
The late Mr.
The post and the man were eminently fitted for each other. It brought him into touch with the many eminent University men who were our external examiners and to whom his scholarship and character made him persona grata and with his knowledge of New Zealand University life he was able not only to make clear to the examiners our circumstances and requirements but to gain their sympathy and interest. He naturally became a member of the Executive of the Imperial Universities Bureau on which he was able to do good work. The constant stream of post-graduate and travelling scholars kept him in touch with University life and thought. As University agent he had time in which to contribute Magazine and Newspaper articles on literary subjects. Although 80 at the time of his death in
A somewhat gruff and apparently brusque manner concealed a warm and sympathetic heart and he was always interested in students and their activities, as his gift of the Scroll for Debating indicated. He had been no mean speaker himself, as his gold medal for oratory at Trinity College proved.
With his intimate knowledge of the Classics was combined a sound knowledge of modern languages and literature. He was an enthusiastic student of Italian, examiner for a time to the University in Modern Languages and lectured in German at Victoria College. A lover of music, he gave support to our Musical Societies and he founded the Shakesperean Society in Wellington.
I welcome the opportunity of paying tribute to the memory of a friend so closely associated with our University and Student life.
To Mr. J. W. JoyntSung at a Dinner Given by the Victoria College Graduates' Association in Honour of Mr. Joynt
Chorus
The orator must be able to infect his audience with his own passion. Oratory is not likely to be found where real feeling is not present, and the audience will refuse to be bluffed by the stock in trade of imported emotion.
"Searching for the truth" was the whole of life to Socrates, but to Mr. Scott's audience it might merely have been the motto of the Free Discussions Club; and if Mr. Scotney had been able to capture Simon Bolivar's passion for liberty, he would have stirred his listeners, who, as it was, noted the interesting fact that Bolivar was very keen on liberty.
Here is where Mr. Larkin scored. His sympathy with his subject, Robert E. Lee, was unaffected, and his telling of the story of the Confederate general found a responsive feeling in the audience. Mr. Larkin well merited the award of first place. His choice of words was very pleasing, and his voice was easy to listen to.
It was unfortunate for Mr. McGhie that he had to speak first. The unusual character of the speech would have been thrown into relief if it had been given later in the evening. The unrelenting torrent of scorn which Mr. McGhie poured on that very bad man Judge Jeffries made the audience share the righteous indignation of the speaker. It was not difficult to visualise the loathsome judge "leering in gloating anticipation."
Beside Mr. McGhie's robust peroration the opening of Mr. Brown's speech seemed a little pale. He warmed up to his subject as he went along but did not succeed in carrying conviction, and one was left to wonder whether John Balance did lead the return to prosperity or whether he was merely just in front.
Mr. Tahiwi commenced talking about the Duke of Wellington in a quiet conversational tone, which, if it had been a prelude to an outburst of high oratory would have been very effective. His hearers waited keenly, held on, doubted, and, finally gave themselves to disappointment as he continued evenly to catalogue the career of the Iron Duke. Mr. Tahiwi's voice and his cultured manner of speech make a pleasing recollection.
Mr. Scott came next. On paper his speech would be destined to go far, but, lacking power in its delivery, it failed to reach the level of an oration. Mr. Scott gave us some striking phrases. Who will forget: "Woe unto him who would teach mankind faster than it can learn."
Atahualpa, the last of the Incas, Mr. Campbell's subject, aroused considerable interest, and he was keenly listened to throughout. The strange Inca names might have been a source of danger, but, as pronounced by Mr. Campbell, they sounded pleasantly musical. His was a good speech, but marred by incessant gesture and restlessness on the stage. A little less of it and his gesturing would have been good, for unlike the others he did not confine his action to wrist movements.
Mr. Sceats had a good subject in T. E. Lawrence and he did not fail to give a good account of himself. His voice is rather highly pitched, which, with his very quick delivery, tended to make the tense moments almost too exciting. His voice would start ascending long before the climax was near and one wondered sometimes if he would make the grade.
Mr. Sceats was followed by Mr. Larkin and Mr. Scotney was the last to speak. He gave his audience a convincing impression of the magnitude of the man, Simon Bolivar. Mr. Scotney lacked in not giving his speech enough light and shade. He pressed on and on to his conclusion and sacrificed the opportunity to lull and then to startle his audience into greater interest.
The judges were Mr. Justice Smith, Mr. Walter Nash, M.P., and Mr. L. du Chateau, and they were unanimous in awarding the Plunket Medal to Mr. Larkin. Mr. Scotney was placed second with Messrs. Campbell and Sceats third equal.
In announcing the decision Mr. Justice Smith said that the judges had endeavoured to test the speeches by reference to the subject matter, the composition, delivery, and the general emotional appeal. He had a few words of kindly advice to give, and expressed the congratulations of the judges to all the speakers.
Sponsored by numerous organisations in America, Mr. Robert K. Burns and Mr. Lyle M. Spencer are conducting an extensive world tour, debating with the principal Universities and Youth Groups in the countries they visit. At the same time they are giving lectures on a wide range of subjects. Both visitors come from Washington University, Seattle.
Mr. Burns, a major student in the economic class of
Mr. Lyle M. Spencer, secretary of the tour, is a major in philosophy, and has had three years' experience in inter-collegiate debate. A graduate of the class of
It was New Zealand's misfortune that Mr. Lyle M. Spencer was forced to undergo an operation in Sydney, leaving Mr. Robert Burns to tour New Zealand alone. New Zealand's misfortune, we think, must have been a great relief to our debaters for although unaided except by a local debater at Canterbury College, Mr. Burns won every debate he took part in. This feat necessitated three speeches of 20 minutes, aproxi mately, for each debate. To maintain the same high standard throughout required ability of an order that is very rarely possessed; and it is significant to note that it was usually his second or third speech which the judges declared to be the high light of the debate.
Arriving in Wellington on the morning of Friday, August 3rd, Mr. Burns was easily recognised by the select band on the platform by the artistic setting of his hat and by his broad and cheery smile. Soon he was in the middle of things. At mid-day the English Speaking Union gave a luncheon in his honour at which he delivered an excellent speech on Pacific Problems. The reception recorded this speech can best be judged by the congratulatory remarks made afterwards. One person hailed (or heiled) him as a second Roosevelt. Another offered him the dictatorship of New Zealand; we hasten to assure our politicians that he declined—with thanks. During the course of the afternoon and evening he gave two short talks over 2YA on American Youth.
On Saturday evening was held the first debate in the Town Hall. The subject was "That the United States should agree to the Cancellation of Inter-Allied War Debts." Prof, von Zedlitz was in the chair and H. H. Cornish, Esq., acted as judge. A. H. Scotney and C. M. P. Brown represented Victoria and were beaten in a very interesting debate in which Burns' per-suasiveness and ready pointed humour was much more convincing than their heavier methods of "dragooning" the audience.
A. H. Scotney opened the debate for Victoria and, after pointing out that the debate was taking place on the 20th Anniversary of Britain's entry into the War, he proceeded to propound "six deadly delusions" in the current American conception of this subject. The vigour of his presentation was rivalled by the force with which he slammed one sheet of notes on the judge's table at the conclusion of each point. The table squirmed at each blow; we could hardly bear to imagine the effect on Mr. Burns. With a stirring peroration he sent the table down for the count and we shifted our eyes carefully, fearfully to what must be by now the mangled corpse of his opponent. To our relief Mr. Burns was still alive; he hardly seemed hurt! Smiling and conciliating he came forward and told us two jokes -one about his little sister's prayer, "Good-bye, dear God, I am going to New Zealand."
Then, miracle of miracles, he told us—and we believed—that the Allies could pay and that they had all expressed willingness to pay.
Max Brown, seconding the motion, pointed out that America had not really received a cent in payment and that if she were to accept payment it would mean greater unemployment, greater distress in a country already suffering a terrible strain. Justice and equity, he seemed to think, also demanded cancellation.
Mr. Burns, in two speeches, and Mr. Scotney then proceeded to exchange blow for blow on the subject material already presented, till Mr. Cornish was forced to intervene and award the palm to Burns.
On Sunday afternoon Mr. Burns was the guest of the Institute of Pacific Relations, and in the evening he addressed Weir House, suggesting the formation of a Youth Movement for Recovery and Peace similar to one already functioning in America. Definite action has been taken towards the formation of such a movement and it is hoped that it will soon be doing active work. The aim of the movement is purely educative; it is definitely non-partisan and aims rather at the hastening of reform through the education of public opinion. Once a body of opinion is created policies will take care of themselves.
The movement has also started at the other three Universities and it is hoped to organise it on a national basis early next year. Meanwhile the local organising committee is going ahead.
On Monday Mr. Burns was the guest of the American business colony at lunch, and in the evening was held the second debate, in the College gymnasium, on the subject "That the political salvation of the world depends on Dictatorship rather than Democracy."
Victoria were represented by A. T. S. McGhie and I. D. Campbell, who had finally to bow before the all-conquering career of their opponent. The debate was extremely good and the interjections at times of a very high order. Mr. Burns again showed himself a master at controlling humour and subordinating it to his arguments; this combined with his lucidity and conciliating manner made him much more convincing than the frontal attacks of Mr. McGhie's declamation and Mr. Campbell's massed statistics.
On Tuesday, after delivering a speech to the Rotary Club, he sailed South to complete his victorious tour. He paid us a short return visit during the vacation before he left for Australia, during which more details of the Youth movement were settled, the soul was solaced and the "light fantastic" trodden.
It seems a great pity that the Joynt Scroll Debating Contest had to be withdrawn from the list of Tournament events. All the available evenings are now, of course, fully taken up with Boxing, Swimming and the Tournament Ball, so that it would now be impossible to restore this historic event to the Tournament programme. At present, therefore, the Debating contest seems to be an "orphan" in the programme of Inter-University contests.
One way of restoring this contest to the fold would be to commence a Winter Tournament comparable to the Easter Tournament, but even wider in scope and variety. A programme of winter sports could easily be arranged. At present the Inter-University Hockey Tournament is held alternately in Christchurch and Wellington, about the King's Birthday. Later in this year, largely due to the efforts of the V.U.C. Harrier Club, the first Inter-University Harrier Championship was held in Wellington and it is also intended that the venue for this event should alternate in the same manner.
Here, then, is an opportunity for Victoria College to take the initiative as she did in the Inter-University Tournament. Already there are three Inter-University contests in existence, all three being held during the winter, namely, Hockey (about the King's Birthday), Debating (usually about July), and the Harrier Championships in August. With the addition of Rugby matches between the four University centres and the addition of golf there would be a wealth of sporting attractions during the day-time. Golf is growing in importance and it would be an easy matter to arrange a University Golf Champion-ship with the number of students now playing golf. The idea of a University Rugby Tournament similar to the Inter-Collegiate (Secondary Schools) Tournaments would also have much in its favour. Selection of the New Zealand University Rugby team to meet our friends across the Tasman would be simplified. This would also prevent the tendency of players to take lectures for one year and thus qualify for selection when there is the prospect of a New Zealand University Football Blazer and/or a tour to Australia in view and then to abandon lectures when this object is attained.
There are further arguments in favour of the proposal. A New Zealand University XV. could be selected and the Tournament rounded off by this team playing against the representative team in the centre where the Tournament is held. Failing this, the XV. could play a team from "the Rest." Either match would prove one of the outstanding events of the Rugby season, so that, to reduce matters to a sordid basis, finance would be simplified. Furthermore, a New Zealand University XV. would always be available and New Zealand could then fall into line with England and South Africa in providing a match against a university side for Overseas touring teams.
With Rugby and Hockey Tournaments and Harrier and Golf Championships, outstanding performers in these sports would have an opportunity of competing against their peers and, best of all, in meeting in fellowship which is so valuable a feature of the Easter Tournament. Incidentally, speaking of the social side, perhaps it might be advisable to transfer Basketball, really a winter sport, from the Easter Tournament and include it in the Winter Tournament with the Women's Hockey Tournament.
The evenings could be devoted to the Joynt Scroll Debating contest, a University Drama competition comparable to the exceedingly popular British Drama League Festivals, Fencing (which is growing in popularity with University students) and a Ball to complete the social round.
Scoffers will probably condemn the proposals as a far fetched ideal impossible of realisation.
The most effective reply to these jeremiads is to point to V.U.C.'s part in founding the Easter Tournament. In this connection the proposal mooted by Canterbury College in
Difficulties undoubtedly exist, but they will never be overcome if resolution is not brought to bear on the problems we have to face. With the experience of successful Easter and Hockey Tournaments and of the more recent Harrier Championships behind us, surely a little hard work and native wit will produce the eminently desirable result of a Winter Tournament; a Tournament intellectual as well as athletic.
We of Victoria may take legitimate pride in our connection with the Easter Tournament when we remember the size of the College. If other Centres have wrested the laurels from us they have at least known the strength of our opposition, and even if they have beaten us sometimes a: least we have taken more than our share of the organising of the contests.
We owe a debt to the past and have a responsibility for the future. Let us pay the former and meet the latter in a manner worthy of both.
Sir George Grey Scholarship.—
James Macintosh Local Scholarships.—
Lissie Rathbone Scholarship.—
Sir Robert Stout Scholarship.—
Post-Graduate Scholarship in Arts.—
Senior University Scholarships.—
Bruce Dall Prize.—
The Chief Justice's Prize.—
Butterworths Prize.—
John P. Good Memorial Prize.—
German Consul's Prize.
Following on his appointment to the Supreme Court Bench and removal to Auckland, Mr. A. Fair, K.C., has resigned his seat on the College Council. Mr. Justice Fair, as he now is, graduated from Victoria College, and during his student years here showed a keen interest in College affairs. He was Editor of
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The vacancy on the College Council caused by the resignation of Mr. Justice Fair was filled when Mr. H. F. O'Leary was elected by the Court of Convocation. Mr. O'Leary had a distinguished record as a student at the College; elected Secretary of the Students' Association in
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It was with mixed feelings of congratulation and regret that we learned of the appointment of Professor H. H. Cornish to the office of Solicitor-General. During his term as Professor of English and New Zealand Law at Victoria College Professor Cornish has shown great interest in the students, both in the lecture room and in outside activities.
The Debating Society had in him a valued friend, but his interest has been centred more particularly on the Cricket and Football Clubs, and members of these two bodies are well aware of the many kindnesses the Professor has shown them.
His actions in hiring the Winter Show Buildings and Drill Hall for early cricket practice, and of giving a dinner to the Senior football team before the match with Oriental, will serve to show this enthusiasm.
We wish to congratulate him on his oppointment to the office of Solicitor-General, and on his recently taking silk. We know that his interest in the College will long continue.
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On Professor Sommerville's death, Mr. F. F. Miles was appointed to take charge of the Mathematics Department for the
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We take this opportunity of welcoming two new members of the College Staff, Messrs. N. A. Foden, M.A., LL.M. (a graduate of the College), and H. R. Fountain, B.Com., who were appointed lecturers in charge of the Accountancy Course which was re-instituted at the College this year. This action by the College Council was greatly appreciated by the Commerce Society, members of which had taken a leading part in stressing the desirability of such action by the Council.
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We have also to welcome Miss Ruth Reid, M.A., a former student, who was appointed as an additional Library assistant in view of the extra work occasioned by :he Carnegie grant. Room has now been made in the College for a valuable Art Collection included in the Carnegie grant.
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The interest of former students in the College is well exemplified by the gift received by the College Library of "The American Aborigines" from the author, Mr. Diamond Jenness. Mr. Jenness is at present Head of the anthropological section of the National Museum at Ottawa and one of the most distinguished of the many distinguished scholars the College has produced. His kindly thought in forwarding his latest work was deeply appreciated.
Three Science graduates of Victoria College, Joan Anderson, Mary Line, and Keith McGavin, have left for overseas. We wish them all the best luck, but at the same time note with regret the necessity for so many of our Science Scholars to leave New Zealand, where it seems, judging by events, that little use can be found for their ability and training.
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The popularity of Weir House as a place of residence for men students has been so marked that this year the domestic staff were transferred to new buildings in order to provide further accommodation and thus reduce the waiting list. The Council has also erected a Recreation Room in the grounds which has proved very popular with Weir residents; the billiard table purchased on very advantageous terms from the University Club being most popular. Accommodation at the House is fully taxed and there is already a "waiting list" for
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Another graduate of the College has sought further learning in the Ancient Halls of Cambridge. George Joseph, LL.M., for years a keen worker for the Boxing Club, and a College Boxing Blue, who gained a Senior Scholarship in Roman Law in Spike sends the best wishes of the College.
We heard with regret of the departure of Dudley M. Pilcher, a student of the College, for Melbourne to take up a position on the Melbourne Argus. Dudley Pilcher was Business Manager of Spike in Smad in
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It is to the Biology Department that praise must be given for their very gallant effort to foster a College Tradition that is fast dying through neglect—we refer to the College Songs.
Already, through the enthusiasm of Professor Kirk and his able assistant, Dr. Wildman, there has been a revival in this direction. At regular intervals, we learn, a short meeting for the purpose of singing College Songs is held before lectures, and there the student voices swell to the strain of "Wikitorian" melodies. To the gentlemen who conduct this gallant enterprise we trust that every success will ensue.
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The N.Z. University Students' Association (to give it the new title adopted last Easter) is beginning to make its presence felt in the student world. Under its former name of the National Union of Students (N.Z. Branch) the Association's status was not perhaps clear to all students. In fact on one noteworthy occasion, the name occasioned confusion with the Evangelical Union! However, with the change in name and a more solid support by the various University Centres, the Association has been able to achieve a good deal since the Annual Meeting of Delegates held in Christchurch at the time of the Easter Tournament. Regulations concerning the award of N.Z. University Blues are being standardised, as is also the design of the N.Z.U. Blues' Blazer.
Valuable hotel concessions have been obtained for students who, travelling in New Zealand, produce identity cards, and through its world-wide affiliations the Association is able to arrange foreign travel concessions for those students who obtain identity cards before leaving New Zealand. Perhaps the most important question at present is that of Student Representation on College Councils. It will no doubt be recalled that the Reichel Tate Commission on University Education recommended that students should have direct representation on the governing body of the institution they attend, and it is hoped that the Association will be able to carry this recommendation into effect. The Association also conducts the Joynt Scroll Debate and a Student News Service, and in many ways has done much to improve the welfare of the University student in New Zealand. The present Headquarters are at Otago University and will be situated at Victoria College following the Easter
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It is interesting to note that Mr. Malcolm Macdonald, who is visiting New Zealand after the Melbourne Centenary in his capacity of Under Secretary of State for the Dominions, was last in New Zealand as a member of the Oxford Union team of Debaters in
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The prize of one guinea offered by the Students' Association for the best literary contribution by a present student to this number of The Spike has been awarded by the judge, Professor G. W. von Zedlitz, to Miss Irene Cornes for her poem "Inconstancy."
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A further prize of one guinea, offered by the Association for the best contribution not being a literary subject, has been awarded to Mr. Carl Watson for his cover design for this number, incorporating many of Miss F. L. Irvine Smith's original sketches in the early numbers of The Spike.
We acknowledge exchanges from various con-temporaries in New Zealand.
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A. F. T. ("Tony") Chorlton, who won the Union Prize for Debating in
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This year's contest for the Joynt Scroll for Debating was held on July 25th. In order to make the venue of the Debate conform to the Tournament rota and thus have the Debate in the centre in which the headquarters of the N.Z. University Students' Association are for the time being, it was decided to hold the Debate in Dunedin for the second successive year. The motion for discussion as chosen by the Judges, Dean Cruickshank and Messrs. Anderson and Patterson, was "That it would be in the best interests of the British Empire to enter into an alliance with Japan." Canterbury College affirmed the motion in the first debate of the evening, and were opposed by Auckland. Otago University took the affirmative in the final debate, and were opposed by Messrs. K. Tahiwi and R. J. Larkin from Victoria College. Newspaper reports described this as a much better debate and the difficulty that the Judges had in deciding on the winners of the Scroll is indicated by the fact that the services of an arbitrator were required. The placing of the individual speakers in the two debates, Mead of O.U. being 1st, Larkin 2nd, and Tahiwi bracketted equal third with More of Otago, also shows how close our representatives were to adding another success to the College's already impressive record. On their return from Dunedin our representatives spoke in the highest terms of the hospitality they had received from their hosts and, may we add, hostesses. This is quite understandable, for "hospitality" and "Otago" are synonymous. We would like once again to place on record the thanks of the College for the kindliness accorded our representatives.
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Three or four years ago the students of Massey Agricultural College approached the N.Z. University Tournament Committee with an application to take part in the Easter Tournament. Their application was not granted by the Committee as it was considered that the time was not opportune but at the meeting of the Tournament Committee held in April this year further representations were made by Massey College. As Massey College is now an affiliated College of the University of New Zealand it is desirable that they should
With a view to overcoming these difficulties it was suggested that outstanding athletes from Massey College should be permitted to take part in the trials for the V.U.C. Team and to compete as representatives of V.U.C.
This proposal was given full consideration by the V.U.C. Students' Association, but from Victoria's point of view difficulties of such an arrangement are just as great, and although our sympathies are with the Massey College students it was found necessary to reject the proposals. At present it therefore seems unlikely that Massey College will be a competitor in the N.Z. University Tournament for some years yet.
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This year's Rhodes Scholarship nominees are C. M. P. Brown and K. J. McNaught, of the Arts and Science Faculties respectively, and both Weir residents. Their academic records should stand them in good stead when the final seelction is made. We wish them every success.
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We are indebted to Miss Agnes Cole for her line drawing of the College which appears above the article "Thirty-five Years."
The frontispiece and the photographs of the Main Stairway and of the War Memorial Window in the College Library are the work of R. S. Odell, a present student of the College.
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One problem which has been exercising the minds of College Club executives greatly in the past few years, is the problem of "Blues." With the growth in the numbers of V.U.C. Clubs, and the increase in their playing strength, it is only natural that more "blues" should be gained yearly, but there is no doubt that at Victoria College too many "blues" have been awarded in the past, and the value of a Victoria College "Blue" is being cheapened.
One solution to the problem, out of the many suggested appeals most. That is that there should be awarded at V.U.C. a "half-blue" as well as a "full-blue." The "half-blue" would be awarded in the case of the average player, who at present gains the "full-blue" merely through playing throughout the year in the senior team, and the "full-blue' would be given only in cases of undoubted outstanding merit. The "half-blue" could also perhaps be awarded to men who, through lack of top ability or some other circumstance, have not reached the ' Firsts" in the sport, but over a period of years, both on the field and off, have laboured hard for the Club in question, and whose services under the present system receive no recognition. The "half-blue" would certainly give recognition to such outstanding workers for a College Club, and it is not here suggested that such "half-blues" should be scattered around haphazardly, and the Blues Committee should demand some standard of athletic excellence, which after all is the main test governing the award of a "blue."
However, with two such distinctions available the Blues Committee would then have to examine closely the records of anyone nominated for a "blue" or "half-blue," and with a conscientious Blues Committee there should not be the wholesale grabbing of "blues" by Clubs oblivious whether or not their performances warrant it.
As an example of the way in which "blues" and more "blues" are sought, this year the Tennis Club despite the fact that their representatives
Show recognition to your senior team by all means, a "half-blue" will do that as well as give due reward to a faithful Club worker, but don't cheapen the one distinction that in 'Varsity sport should be most sought after.
The following have been awarded Blues for
Athletics—S. G. Eade, A. S. Henderson, J. E. D. Kerr, H. M. Mcintosh, R. C. Morpeth, T. A. Rafter, F. H. Stephenson, J. B. Stephenson.Basketball—Misses M. O. Bell, M. H. Line, I. M. Morice, M. Mules, J. Watson.Boxing—A. H. Armour, J. B. Kent, R. J. Meek, H. G. Murray, M. O'Connor, R. A. H. Russell, W. M. Willis.Cricket—J. A. R. Blandford, D. S. Dean, R. W. Edgley, L. M. Pacey, B. A. Paetz, J. R. Stevens, W. Tricklebank, W. F. Vietmeyer.Football—E. Blacker, G. K. Claris, J. C. Deck, R. E. Diederich, C. E. Dixon, S. G. Eade, W. A. Edwards, C. P. Feltham, J. H. Ruru, J. B. Thurston, J. Wells.Swimming—Misses M. M. Price, N. M. Webber, Messrs. C. I. W. Archibald, R. C. Bradshaw, M. J. Mason.Hockey—Misses A. Davidson, M. C. Gibbons, M. A. Harding, J. S. Scott, Messrs. C. G. Camp, L. H. Davis, D. W. Foster, F. New-combe, K. N. Struthers, W. F. Vietmeyer, H. Williams.Tennis—Misses T. R. Gill, S. S. Phillips.
The Blues Committee comprised Mr. R. J. Nankervis (Chairman), Miss J. M. Dunn, Messrs. T. G. Hislop, C. B. Allan, W. S. Harris, H. R. C. Wild and D. M. Burns.
Thy flaming ardour is quickly spent;Soon thy last company is gone,And leaves thee—with thyself—alone.— Walter de la Mare.
I saw the curtain make its final fall and I felt the melancholy air that bade farewell to the players. Scarce had the last voice spoken when the romance and the glamour that gave life to the temple fell like a cast off cloak, leaving only a heap of painted canvas and rough hewn timbers. It was as if the spirit of the stage had died and all that was left to us was this empty husk.
So must it always be; for the show lives only when the footlights gleam and the strains of music come thickly through the murmur of the peopled hall, and the tensed faces loom hazy out of the darkness—with eyes that watch the players weave their subtle make-believe of tangled plots and gay romance.
But I must tell my story—I must not dwell upon regrets, but live again, the days of "Baby Bliss" and the gay courts of "Sheba," and of those gentlemen of "Unquestioned Righteousness" who tried to solve the mystery of the "Poisoned Mind."
Back to me come recollections of Mice and Magii, of the physic atmosphere of that Investigation Committee, whose only reply was "We are out of touch," and the Karitane Nurse who invoked the shade of Euripides, while a devastating "Medea" in red claimed kinship with another planet. I can still see the Oracle who came forth from the Temple, and the "Patriarchial Parasites" whose
Such sights and sounds still live in the corridors of memory and their recall is tinged with the mingled sweet and sad that is felt when thoughts of past joys are awakened.
There was a book too—that held much strange knowledge between its covers. A portion of it was devoted to a programme of the Revue, and the rest ranged far and wide, from an invitation to the "Waitangi Razzle" to a course on the art of playing the "Gazoo." But of this I will say more in a moment.
I now propose to offer an opinion on the actual plays themselves, and make some small criticism of what seemed to me to be weaknesses, as well as to offer praise of their particular excellences.
There is no doubt that the general impression created by the performance was favourable, though I am inclined to think it was perhaps rather long-it seems to me that a production is better appreciated if it can be brought to a close with the audience still eager for more, and yet satisfied with the thought that they have been given a good entertainment.
Another question that comes to mind is whether the Revue should be presented as a single play, or as a series of two or three shorter plays. Of the alternatives, it seems as if the latter is probably the more satisfactory, since the type of entertainment usually offered has in it a definite element of the burlesque, and the enjoyment of this can best be maintained by a continual variation of the theme. A study of the method adopted in any of the successful musical plays seems to demonstrate clearly that when length of performance is desired, the element of burlesque must be carefully controlled.
The actual structure of the type of play suitable for Revue production is also a matter of some interest. From an examination of a number of typical College Revues it was found that they could be divided into three main classes; the play that has been constructed similar to a given model, the play that endeavours to be pure burlesque, without any particular attempt to follow a plan, and the play that is simply a parody. I think It will be generally admitted that the last two types of play are unsatisfactory, for not only do they restrain the individuality of the writer, but they detract greatly from the artistry that serves to
Space will not permit a discussion of the actability of any particular play, nor is it possible here to go into details concerning methods of production. These questions have often been aired by those in contact with the activities of Dramatic Societies, so that I will not try to add further to the fruits of their labours.
The
I think that of these plays "Murder in the Common Room" was the one I appreciated the most, both from the point of view of the original treatment of the theme, and of the artistic nature of the ending. The play was well staged, the cast suited to their respective parts, and the continuity was beautifully preserved throughout the two scenes.
The first scene was perhaps a little faulty. It seemed as if the characters were made to adhere too closely to something impersonal. I mean to say, they seemed to lack that smoothness that comes from a satisfactory backgrounding of ideas, and hence they behaved as if they were thinking mechanically.
The second scene, however, was a very finished piece of work indeed. The characters were definitely more than mere puppets. They were living, and they carried their ideas forward powerully to a conclusion that was not an ending, but the beginning of a tale of a blind and helpless groping for something out of reach.
The satire of the play was very well handled. It was not directed at persons so much as at institutions, and some of its keener shafts were tinged with humour in that delicate way that seems to lay open the weakness of the opponent's armour and let the barb sink deeper.
The major play of the series, "Medea and Soda," was another excellent example of "Laughter with a moral in it," though at times the inner meaning of the play was rather obscure. I cannot yet tell where its chief virtue lay. Perhaps it was in its quaint mixture of "Politico-Classics," or its "Modern Antiquity," or in the finished performance of the players. But I think it is only fair to say that all three of these factors played theit parts and the enjoyment of the audience came from the play's "Harmonious Heterogeny."
It might be suggested by way of criticism that perhaps the first act was too complete in itself, and this made one feel as if parts of the second act could almost have been left out, without a great deal of harm being done. But all the same, it was undeniable that its tale of "Senile Sophistry" was entertainment of a high order.
Another point upon which I would like to make an observation is that there seemed to be a tendency for the purely dramatic, and the musical sides of the play to stand apart from each other. The fault here manifested, if fault there be, cannot be traced to any one group of circumstances, but it seems desirable that all the elements of a play should be blended in order to make it a complete unit. However, these criticisms are not intended to be destructive, but are rather an attempt to examine some impressions of the Revue which still remain with me.
The music was well suited to the play and the ballets splendidly arrayed-particularly that of the "Patriarchial Parasites" in the second act, which was a really brilliant piece of burlesque. I think that perhaps the words of the songs could have been improved upon a little, but even as it was I found them most enjoyable, and declare that they served well to heighten the jollity.
The opening play of the show was entitled "Sheba." It presented another aspect of "Modern Antiquity," and in many respects was all that could be desired as an example of the successful application of an historical background as a vehicle for humorous allusion to a number of modern problems. I do not propose to make any comments either upon the actors or the production, except to say that both adequately presented an able interpretation of the theme.
It might be said of the play itself that a variation of the emphasis on certain of the situations, and of the rapidity of the unfolding of the story, would have made it even more enjoyable than it was. But this could only be decided by an actual trial, so that the criticism is offered with some reserve.
There is really no need for me to speak about the Capping Book. The manner in which it was received by a legion of readers is surely ample proof of its success. I must admit that I enjoyed
Before we leave the play, we must remember those unseen actors who walked like sprites amid the backstage gloom and made possible the rapid changing world of make believe, and those whose magic fingers turned the mundane coloured cloths of trade into garments of Greece and Rome and Babylon.
A last memory must we recall; and that is of the Orchestra, whose gallant work contributed so much to the success of the show. Sometimes we seem to forget this little band, and do not always realise how big is the task that falls to them. They are the ones who make the bow when the curtain quivers ere the show begins, and bear the story down the acts, on wings of melody, till all the words are spoken and the footlights fade amid their farewell notes.
And so too must I also bid farewell to the past. I was part of it once, and I tasted of its cup. I have tried to recall its bitter and its sweet, but only a few faint memories linger of—
"Comic, tragic, and compromising."
The Executive reverted to the former practice of commencing Capping Week with the Procession. Although it was doubtful until the last minute whether the police ban on processions of any description would be relaxed and many were precluded from preparing stunts owing to their nights being fully taken up with Extrav. rehearsals, the Haeremai Club rose to the occasion. Considering these difficulties and the fact that the Procession had had to be abandoned during the past few years through no fault of the College, the Procession, shepherded rapidly through the city by the police, was a success and provided valuable experience for next year. If the Procession was not as exciting as in most years, the traditional speeches in Post Office Square were definitely Elizabethan. Perhaps next year's speakers will rely less on the bludgeon and more on the rapier when preparing their harangues. This year's Procession proved that selling "Cappicades" is a jolly sight more enjoyable than taking part in an elaborate stunt, and much easier, except perhaps on the feet.
The Supper this year, as in
Even a drenching downpour could not prevent a large attendance at the ceremony in the Town Hall. The speech of the evening was made by Professor Easterfield who, to quote "The Post," "was the first speaker in recent years to earn the distinction of finishing his speech." Oh, Granny! When a speaker is audible and speaks to the point Victoria College undergraduates usually hear him through, even at a Capping Ceremony. The Haeremai Club were well in evidence with alarm clocks and motor horns and bouquets (mainly from the back garden), just to show the women that they cannot have things all their own way. The sensation of the evening was the arrival of "Mr. Laurel" and "Mr. Hardy," who solemnly placed a lei round the shoulders of the astonished I. D. Campbell, much to the consternation of the Registrar. That dignitary was later completely overcome by the solid phalanx
The Mayfair was the scene of the climax of what are generally known as Student Festivities. The Ball itself went off with a swing and if there were some pallid faces and dark circled eyes at the Presentation Ceremony later in the morning, the general feeling must have been that it was worth it. All honour to those who worked so hard to make Capping,
It seems that you, like other editors of College magazines I have known, tremble beneath the printer's lash, and brook no delay in collecting your pound of copy. But for that, I should have chosen another morning to comment on the literary efforts you sent me for criticism. To-day is wet and cold, and I've just read a magazine article of my own with misprints such as "utterly destroy the meaning," like Dean Alford's comma. Not a great disaster; but for the moment one wants to hit somebody, and here are your contributors to hand. At this time of year, it is not surprising that the number of entries should be small, and perhaps not that the quality should be disappointing, in comparison with the "Clay Patch," and much good poetry and bright verse that has appeared in your columns since then. The examination virus is seasonal, and V.U.C. students about extravaganza time are different beings from the hunted and harrassed wretches
When the month is the month of October
In the wet-towelled studies of Weir.
More than that, I am convinced that an incubus like our education system, an examination-spewing Frankenstein—nobody's fault exactly, chiefly force of circumstances, cannot exert its influence in the community for a generation without a lowering of standards. Now that my spleen has been vented, I can think kindly of the promise and merit of some of these contributions. Two of them, signed E.F.H., not entered for competition, seem to me much better than those entered above the same initials. The poem I liked best was "Inconstancy"; it contains a thought, even though not a very exciting one; it maintains its rather pedestrian rhythm and its metaphorical trappings with coherent consistency. Next I should place "Crater Lake," which might have come first, having a rhythm and some evocative power, but for two or three ill-chosen words—too many for so short an effort. Then P.P.P. must be praised for a perfect mastery of what is now rather an old-fashioned sense of rhythm; delightful to me, because I feel sure that he or she—whether ever destined to be a poet or not—can at least enjoy poetry and appreciate the magic of words. There are few better gifts the kind fairies can bestow. That is where "Silences" is less successful. I feel sure that the writer would have avoided the conspicuous weaknesses by choosing a less ambitious form. In the sonnet it is particularly difficult to manage enjambement without ear-shattering breaks in the rhythm, and to avoid the impression that "la rime amène l'idèe," as Victor Hugo puts it. I have said nothing so far of the one prose contribution, simply because I can't compare prose with verse; it seems to me that in the absence of an outstanding superiority, the poem that demands the higher qualities of ear and of word-appreciation must win. But the prose piece is good, I should say as good in its field as any of the others. It made me laugh, it was well written, it reached a good climax and even a "mot de la fin." Macte virtue, puer! You can and will write.
Now, Mr. Editor, let me apologise for the scrappiness of these criticisms—partly your fault! and remain
Cairns, Laura Alice (2nd Class in History).
Feltham, Joan Embury (2nd Class in English).
Fieldhouse, Arthur Esmond (2nd Class in Education) o
Harding, Olga Estelle (2nd Class in History). (From Auckland University College.)
Nielsen, Bernice Ola (2nd Class in History).
Paetz, Bernard Arthur (2nd Class in Latin and French).
Patterson, David (2nd Class in Latin and French). (From Auckland University College.)
Perry, Kathleen Mary (2nd Class in English andFrench,
Porteous, Ailsa Maire (2nd Class in History).
Rawson, Joan Whiteley (2nd Class in English and French).
Watson, Clement Gordon (2nd Class in Latin and French.)
Grey, Evelyn Helen Patricia (2nd Class in History).
Francis, Vivian Frederick Odem.
Hadfield, Ernestine Mirian.
Le Petit, Eric Norman.
Liddell, Clive Gerrard.
Mills, Stanley Matthew.
Saker, George Thomas.
Murray, John Richardson.
Prideaux-Pridham, Marie (1st Class in French).
Briggs, Winifred May.
Browne, Christine Mary.
Coup, Ngaire Elizabeth.
Dillner, Dorathea Marie.
Eggers, Isabella Margaret.
Forde, Catherine Stalker.
Francis, Arthur Charles.
Gambrill, Mollie Dilnot.
Gibson, Arnold Tracey.
Gibson, Thomas William Roy.
Grono, Robert Noel.
Hardinge, Rachel Katherine (nee Reynolds).
Harley, Mary.
Hunt, Brenda Eden Hyland.
Lyons, Lawrence Michael.
Marshall, Jean Frances.
Martin, Mildred Sarah.
Miller, Evelyn Mary (from Canterbury College).
McClymont, Doris Anne.
McElwain, Donald William.
Neill, Margaret Melrose.
Nodwell, Alfred Edward.
Read, Harry Cameron.
Sage, Clive Bateman.
Sansum, Harry Maynard.
Scott, Kenneth John.
Thurston, John Benjamin.
Wilson, Heather Pinnell.
Bishop, Cecil John.
Geaney, Humphrey.
Hercus, Allan Gordon.
Sellers, John Nesbitt.
Singleton, Joan.
Christie, Andrew Leslie Munro (1st Class in Zoology).
Hoby, Katharine Enid (1st Class in Zoology).
Mcintosh, James Colin (1st Class in Physics).
McKenzie, Margaret Kemp (1st Class in Zoology).
Nash, James Archibald Delacourt (2nd Class in Chemistry).
Salmon, John Tenison (1st Class in Zoology).
Seelye, Cassilis James (1st Class in Mathematics, 2nd Class in Physics.
Stevenson, Ian Douglas (2nd Class in Physics).
Anderson, Joan Alice Thama (1st Class in Zoology).
Brandt, Carl William.
Hawthorn, Harry Bertram.
Lambert, George Stanley.
Mandeno, John Leighton.
Tyer, Gilbert James Wilson.
Andrews, David Ernest.
Benson, Norma Beatrice.
Boyd, Mary Mackay Macdonald.
Bydder, Edith Constance Gwenydd.
Clare, Norman Trevor.
Darroch, Ian Francis.
Ford, Walter.
Gibbs, Helena Florence.
Harrison, Thomas Frederick Grattan.
Jackson, Barrie Edward.
Kaberry, Alfred Charles (from Auckland University College).
Kerr, John Ernest Douglas.
Lauchlan, Cecil Gordon.
McGregor, Archibald Andrew David.
McNaught, Kenneth John.
Preston, Lucy Jean.
Rapson, Alan Morris.
Rees, Stewart Grace.
Smith, John Holmes.
Wall, Grace Edith.
Woodford, Alfred Walter.
Hoben, Ernest Cormac.
O'Connor, Myles.
Young, Frederick Thomas.
Jackson, Maurice Reginald (2nd Class in International Law and Conflict of Laws, Contract and Torts, Negligence, Mistake, etc.).
Joseph, George Israel (2nd Class in Roman Law, Contract and Torts, Negligence, etc.).
Kennard, Allan Edward.
Maciver, Andrew Henderson.
Neal, Matthew Gilbert.
Alston, Donald Victor.
Armstrong, Colin Norman.
Beaumont, Rex Ryerson.
Birks, Walter Richard.
Campbell, Ian Drummond (
Cotton, Edward Patrick Hugh.
Kember, Frederick John.
O'Brien, Raymond.
Pettit, Ralph Lancelot.
Phillips, Brian George.
Raskin, Owen.
Scholefield, Jack Hardy Bree.
Shanahan, Foss.
Smith, Eric Brabazon (
Thomson, Noel McNair.
Wicks, Arthur Gordon.
Wild, Herbert Richard Churton.
Charters, John Leslie.
Kent, John Bassett.
Rosen, Harry.
Grant, Lewis Claude.
Bradshaw, Robert Colville.
Bright, William James.
Broughton, Winifred Alice.
Connell, John Andrew.
Crawford, John Power (from Auckland University College).
Haigh, Sidney Archer Murray.
Heggie, Eric Gwilliam.
Orwin, Donald Leolin.
Smith, Frank Ebeling.
Wansbrough, Alexander Osborn.
Bryden, William Arthur.
Carlyon, Clement Ian.
Davies, George Henry Lloyd.
Raine, Thomas.
Seward, Robert John (from Auckland University College).
Bogle, Helen Bertha (from Otago University).
Smith, John Holmes (Civil) (
Wallace, Sinclair Banks (Electrical and Mechanical) (
Cook, Henry George.
Fieldhouse, Arthur Esmond.
Edwards, Albert Owen.
Gosnell, Wallace Burdett.
Gunter, Cecily Margaret.
Huntington, Elizabeth (
Le Petit, Eric Norman.
Daniell, Myra Deane. Fisher, Eric Hayward.
Gill, Horace Claude.
Garner, Edward Hector Legassicke.
Hogg, Ralph.
Huntington, Elizabeth.
Levy, lima Maude.
Macdonald, Margaret Mathie. '
Garner, Edward Hector Legassicke.
Grover, Kenneth Frank Russell.
Barford, Cecil Dudley.
Barnett, Alfred Arnold.
Blackman, Frank Joseph.
Bullock-Douglas, George Arthur Hardy.
Fleming, Robert Neal.
Fowler, Henry Arthur Douglas.
Gover, John Frederick.
Hill, Raymond Colin Walter.
Keys, Lillian Gladys.
Kilpatrick, Robert Alexander.
Maciver, Donald Edward.
Ross, Douglas McLean.
Stonehouse, Bruce Embleton.
Taylor, Allan Wilton.
Although we have failed badly in certain branches of College sporting activities, the past season has certainly not been without its successes. For although Victoria University College's representatives gained but one trophy at Tournament—the Wooden Spoon-to offset this, two of our lower grade football teams, the Third C's and the Fourth Grade, won championships, these being the first lower grade Rugby sides ever to win their divisions.
The Football Club was also fourth in the Wellington Rugby Union Club Championship, no mean achievement when the size of the clubs above them on the list is considered.
For one thing alone we can find no consolation—the death of Jack Ruru, captain of the First Fifteen, following an injury on the football field. To his people we can only say that his death was as saddening a blow to his fellow-students at Victoria College as it was to the members of his family.
At Tennis the Third Grade Women's team has won the division championship, this being the second year that a women's tennis team has won a grade, which augurs well for future Tournaments.
The First Eleven of the Cricket Club are to be congratulated on their good showing, at least in the field and with the ball, Tricklebank and Dean proving a most dangerous combination. It is years since the first eleven has gained the equivalent of 36 championship points.
Another important sporting event this season was the first New Zealand Inter-University Cross Country Championship race. Victoria's representatives performed very creditably in this event, which should grow in importance with the years.
There is now a very full University sporting programme and even so the tendency is to have still more clubs. Therein lies the peril. Under the present system of the one guinea Students' Association fee, it is very easy for a small group of students to form a club, apply to the Students' Association for a grant, and start merrily on their way.
The inevitable result of this mushroom growth of clubs, unless it is carefully checked, will be that there will be at Victoria College a great number of small clubs, none of them strong enough to prosper. At the same time the serious drain on the Students' Association finances of so many small clubs, is a definite problem. Had many of these new clubs been compelled to seek finance themselves as did the V.U.C. institutions of the Foundation years, it is more than likely that they would never have sprung into existence.
This House was Built in1932 for Students of Victoria University College through the munificence of William Weir."—Inscription Plate.
With the second year of its infancy all but gone, Weir House is able to look back at the past with satisfaction, and to the future with feelings of confidence. With our initial difficulties and uncertainties overcome, and the whole machinery of the House running smoothly and strongly, we may, with our domestic peace assured, turn our attention to the conflict in the world without.
To gauge the influence which Weir House exerts on the life of the University is a difficult task, nor is it our endeavour to attempt an estimate thereof. Suffice it to say that our number now totals 88, and that it is the earnest desire of most of this number to enter as fully as possible, both individually and collectively, into the various phases of College life.
Within the portals of Weir House dwells every species of University man. We have in our midst the athlete; the debater; the "social" man; the scholar; the musician; and finally, that strange incomprehensible being, usually a hybrid combination of some of the foregoing, called the "intellectual," whose principal claim to eminence, it seems, lies in the undue frequency with which he breaks forth into violent and ungoverned bursts of protest against the functioning of the present social structure.
On reading the April number of Smad this year, we found that we had indeed a viper in our bosom, to wit, one who cringingly sheltering behind the pen-name of "Junius" attacked, in a thin undergraduate wit, entirely devoid of effervescence, the "facile flippancy, childish chaff, boyish bull, and smirking smut which he alleged pervaded and discoloured our lives and conversations. After a long silence, we feel it our duty to re-assure all fond mothers who read Smad that the impressionable minds of their sons have no occult and harmful influences brought to bear upon them at Weir House and that the writer of the aforesaid article is merely one of the more unhinged type of "intellectual whom the House condescendingly humours in the cherished hope that by contact with the more enlightened of his fellows, the error of his ways may ultimately be brought home to him.
We record our gratitude to the College Council for the fine billiard room which now graces a portion of the ruins which "depression laid upon the land." So well has the billiard table been patronised that we feel confident that the efforts of some of our members are already throwing the shadow of Lindrums coming eclipse across the luminary. Bridge, poker, and such languid indoor games also furnish a strong attraction in this room, and for those who desire rest for the weary body and peace for the tired mind, the cosy, drowsy fireside offers an irresistible lure. Despite sterling efforts on the part of several residents, the hand of Woman has as yet piloted no ball across the velvet surface of the table. Will you, fair reader, be the first?
On the social side, Weir House has provided several enjoyable functions. Mention should be made of our Annual Dance, which was held in a joyous spirit of bonhomie, the only drawback being the difficulty, prior to the Dance, of approaching a prospective partner, owing to the stringent restrictions imposed by the tyranny of the "Misogynists' Club." A bridge evening also seemed to find popularity with the damsels of V.U.C. We must also refer to our sumptuous Xmas Dinner at the end of last year, for which we have to thank the Matron. Finally, we may tactfully make mention of the informal little entertainments which bring so many visitors to Weir House on Sunday afternoons, and such joy to the hearts of the residents.
On the sporting side, Weir House claims to hold its own. Residents take their place in the various Varsity Clubs, in many cases not without distinction. But with all due deference to the parent bodies, we find that the happiest games are those of our own making. The North v. South football and cricket matches; Wrestling and Boxing in the Gym.; the victorious southward journey of the Weir House XV. to Rolleston House; but paramount our Sunday excursions to Maidstone Park, where, after a languid morning s cricket in the sunshine, we troop joyously in to find refreshments have been provided "on the spot."
Another recreation worthy of mention, is the Saturday evening sing-song round the piano, to the mournful accompaniment of a saxophone. The wealth of latent vocal talent in the House is incredible, and far down the road one may hear the rousing voices in their virile rendering of "Old Father Thames" and "The Last Round Up."
Modesty forbids that we should dwell upon our academic prowess. We may, however, fittingly mention that we have in our midst several mark hunting geniuses of note, to say nothing of a select few would-be orators, whose performances have earned them merited recognition. We also number among the residents several humorists of the highest order, whose constant chaff and ready repartee at debates have caused many a confident and sophisticated speaker to falter and fall.
The observant passer-by will no doubt have noticed the improvement in the appearance of our grounds, largely due to the activity and foresight of our Warden. Where yesterday stood bare nothingness, to-day may be seen neat lawns and a profusion of shrubs. These have continued to flourish, despite the vigorous treatment meted out to them by some of our golfing enthusiasts, who, forgetting all in their ardent zeal for the grand old game, turned these pleasant surroundings into extensive golf links, the lawns and gardens doing service for fairways, and the shrubs for bunkers. After having duly disturbed portions of the landscape, and themselves
No record of Weir House life would be complete without reference to The Food Question. Of the many arguments, academic, social and frivolous, which take place in the House, no point is argued with greater zest or more meticulous thoroughness than this patent problem; and although the authorities get many "Noes" and perhaps a few "Ayes" they are never rewarded with a single "Ear! Ear!" for their efforts on our behalf.
It will perhaps interest our readers to know that we have now formed ourselves into an association, "The Weir House Association," and with travail and peine forte et dure the House now carries on under a constitution. What with the constitution and "The Vigilance Committee," the latter a self-appointed body of detectives whose object is to check the movements of the House Committee, the latter unfortunate body lives in perpetual dread of the oft threatened motion of no confidence which awaits them upon the commission of any error.
Any gentle reader who, after scanning these notes, feels a mild interest in our activities, is respectfully urged to procure a copy of the Weir House History, a pithy volume full of quips and cracks and wise saws and sayings, and written more especially for those who, though they admire from afar, have not the advantage of residence at Weir House. Amid the tortuous and divergent paths of the narrative, they will doubtless elicit sufficient information as to our mode of life to cause them to strive to attain that pre-eminent academic moral and athletic standard which may qualify them to be granted the honour of residence at Weir House.
The 30th Inter-University College Tournament was held at Christchurch during Easter this year. The brilliant weather which favoured our visit and the splendid arrangements made by the Canterbury Col-lege authorities combined to make Tournament thor-oughly enjoyable for all of us, though on this occasion Victoria was not able to bring away its fair share of the trophies. The Tournament Shield was retained by C.U.C.
A large number of students assembled at Thorndon to welcome the Auckland representatives who were to travel down with us. The College hakas were zestfully rendered, and the freedom of the City and a raspberry presented to the northerners by Mr. Bernard Pshaw who had been specially engaged by the Haeremai Club.
Our representatives had a rousing send-off at the Ferry wharf on the Thursday night, and then settled down to make the best of the conditions for a stormy trip to Lyttelton. The huge barn directly over the ship's propeller in which the men of the party were expected to spend the night was not popular, to say the least, and many of us grinned and bore it lying on the seats on the deck, on the hatches, or possibly even in the bar. We advise next year's representatives to dodge that Black Hole at all costs. On arrival at Lyttelton we received a warm welcome at the hands of the C.U.C. "Naztys," and were duly conveyed to our several billets.
At 3 p.m. the usual official welcome was tendered to all the visitors by Mr. C. T. Aschman, the Chairman of the C.U.C. Council, and Dr. Hight, Rector of the College.
Tournament commenced in earnest on the Saturday and continued until the early hours of Wednesday morning.
The first event to be concluded was the Rowing Race which took place on Lyttelton Harbour on Saturday afternoon, and resulted in a handsome win for Auckland with their new boat from Australia. Victoria, not being able to borrow a boat were not starters in the race, but we note with pleasure that our Club has now acquired an eight of its own.
The Boxing was again remarkable for the ill-luck which dogged Victoria. Once again we had five men in the finals for the seven championships to be decided, and once again we had not a single winner. Our team was a strong and evenly balanced team, and a summary of the results will show how unfortunate we were.
In the bantam-weight, Murray had a good win over last year's champion, Cotton, but the fight was so strenuous that he was not at his best against Williamson in the final, and after a very even bout, the decision went against Murray.
O'Connor knocked out his opponent in the feather-weight in the morning, but last year's winner, Steele, was too strong for him in the final. This match will be remembered by those who saw it for the magnificent gameness of O'Connor, who though knocked down several times would not give up, and had to be led from the ring by the referee.
In the light-weight we expected great things from Meek and he had a comfortable knock-out win in the morning. However, he had to meet the ex-champion Dudley in the final, and again the decision went against us.
In the welter-weight our champion, Kent, had a thril-ling bout with last year's light-heavy-weight champion, Kean. After four hard rounds Kent was declared the winner, but he was in no condition to meet the heavier Canterbury man Glover in the evening. The fight was very willing, and very close, and was awarded by the Judge to the Canterbury man.
In the middle weight, Willis fought a hard fight with Wills, but the decision went against him by a narrow margin of points. Russell, also was out-pointed by Malcolm in the light-heavy-weight preliminary.
Armour had a comfortable win in the morning, and met last year's champion, Benson, in the final. This match aroused great interest—it was the last match of the evening, and on it depended the fate of the Boxing Shield. Also, all Victoria supports were keen to see Armour break the run of misfortunes which had followed our own men. The bout, however, was not inspiring, and the decision went to the Otago man by a small margin of points.
On Sunday there were two official Church services and a very fine drive round the Lyttelton Harbour.
Monday was brilliantly fine for the Athletics at Lancaster Park, and the standard set was probably the highest in the history of Tournament, as is evidenced by the fact that no fewer than seven records were shattered. C.U.C. with a very fine team were successful in retaining the Shield with 24 points, and Victoria came away with the Wooden Spoon with 5½ points. We gained second places in the Mile Flat (Rafter), 100 yards (Stephenson), 220 yards (Stephenson), and three miles (Morpeth), and a deadheat for first in the mile walk by Eade. Our points seem very meagre when compared with C.U.C.'s but we can definitely record that in no event were we quite out-classed. C.U.C. s standard was just too high for us; had the standard been average, we should certainly have had our share of wins. For example, Henderson was third in the 880, Birks in the mile, Mcintosh in the Javelin throw, Kerr in the Long Jump, being beaten for second by 4/1 inch. We heartily congratulate Eade on winning a N.Z.U. Blue for Athletics.
The Swimming Shield was won by C.U.C. by a narrow margin from O.U. and A.U.C. Victoria was pretty well out of the picture, but the indications are that better results may be expected in the future.
The tennis was played under perfect conditions at Wilding Park. V.U.C. met with fair success, winning all their first round matches in the combined doubles and men's singles and doubles. Miss Cook and Page and Miss Edwards and McCarthy put up very good fights, and did very well in their semi-final matches.
In the Basketball, V.U.C. played in all 3 games the results of which were as follows: v. A.U.C., lost; v. O.U., lost; v. C.U.C., won. All these games were keenly contested, especially the one against A.U.C. who won the Shield. By beating C.U.C. our team scored our only point for the Tournament Shield.
The Shooting, which in accordance with the Rules was carried out at each College s home range, was won by Otago who won every match. A proposal from our own Club that all teams shoot at the centre at which Tournament is being held, and another that shooting should be with aperture sights, were both rejected by the Tournament Committee.
We record the congratulations of the College to S. G. Eade and Miss Mary Mules, the only V.U.C. representatives to win N.Z.U. Blues.
This year's Tournament was not remarkable for any great number of the usual public scandals. A bright encounter with the Police in which a prominent Canterbury man was the chief offender against the law (or was it against the fence?) created a mild sensation; but the venturesome sportsman who Threw The Kitten brought notoriety on the students of the N.Z. University, and gave newspaper correspondents all through the country material for a controversy that lasted till well after Easter. Our Delegate, Mr. Bums, in a tactful and reassuring message to the Press, was able to convince the Wellington public that the behaviour of our own team was irreproachable.
We conclude this review with an expression of our very hearty thanks to C.U.C. for the care with which they looked after us, and in apologising to posterity for the presence of Victoria's initials on the
"The flag at half-mast on the gym. reminded us that the College must have been disappointed in our showing but we can truthfully say that our standard was never weak, though never quite as high as the winners. If we may make a forecast it is that the keenness of our Clubs, particularly in athletics, swimming and rowing must necessarily bring success sooner or later, and it will not be long before the Tournament Shield is in the old glass case again."
This year the Basketball Club has increased its membership and we were able to enter three teams in the Association championships, Senior A, Senior B. and fifth grade. The A team has done well despite the loss of their strongest player, Mary Line. We welcomed Janet Grainger, an excellent all-round player. Despite the good coaching and helpful criticisms of Miss Edna Bell, to whom we are very grateful, neither the B nor the 5th team have played particularly well in their matches.
At Tournament, although our team played well, we were unable to retain the shield, and we congratulate A.U.C. on their victory. Our one N.Z. Blue was Mary Mules and we regret she will be unable to play for us next year.
Our former club captain, Mary Line, is now married and living in England. We miss her very much but wish her the greatest happiness in her new life.
We are proud to report that we have four repre-sentative players, two from each of the Senior teams. Clare Turner (forward) and Janet Grainger (forward) were the A representatives, and the Wellington team was successful in the recent Dominion Tournament at Dunedin. Our Senior B representatives, whose team was also successful in its match, were Joy Chappell (forward) and Jean Roberts (centre).
We wish we were able to describe this as one of the most successful seasons in the history of the Club, but all the joy in our success has been lost for us by one tragic blow. On September 2nd we were shocked by the terrible news that Jack Ruru had lost his life. As a member of our Senior team for four years and out brilliant captain for this season he, with one or two others, had been largely responsible for bringing our Club once again to a leading place in Wellington football, and we had looked forward to further honours next year with him as our leader. In the years he has been with us at Victoria he had, by his ever brilliant play and gentlemanly bearing, won the admiration of all Wellington footballers and the affection of his own team-mates. We had come to know him as the finest of footballers and the fairest of sportsmen. May his spirit journey safely to Hawaiiki.
As to the Club's performances this season, we record with satisfaction that for the first time since
At the beginning of the season this team lost five prominent players, who saw fit to transfer to other Clubs, but despite this, the other old members with R. E. Diederich at their head stuck together, and with a sprinkling of new blood the team played splendid football. The result was that at the end of the first round it merited promotion to the First Division, whence it had been demoted at the end of
This team has again had a lean year. The forwards have been a rattling good pack, but have apparently been let down by the backs. Mr. T. G. Hislop took up the coaching of the team later in the season and thereafter great improvement was shown. Bradshaw was the captain. 16 games were played; 2 won; 14 lost; points for 96; against 247.
This team has had a successful year and attained quite a good position on the ladder. The forwards played solidly all through, especially Wilson, Hansen and Thurston, but the backs often failed to finish off their movements. The captain was Wilton, and Mr. L. Bansgrove the coach of the side. Played 13; won 8; lost 3; drawn 2; points for 94; against 62.
Like the Juniors, this side had a fair season and held its own on the ladder, though more games were lost than won. Of the forwards it can be said that they all played well and Holderness and Lee were prominent in the backs. The captain was P. Buddie and the coach Mr. R. Roberts. The team's record was: played 13; won 5; lost 8; points for 111; against 128.
It seems the Third B's misfortune always to have a bad season. There is no reason why any lower grade team should not do well, as witness the performance of the Third C's. More regular attention to training would give the Third B's better results. The team was coached by Mr. Beaumont and captained by B. Campbell. The team's performances showed marked improvement towards the end of the season—Kelly and Watson in particular showing keenness. 15 games were played; 4 won; 9 lost; 2 drawn; points for 63; against 114.
This side, comprised almost entirely of Weir House men, some of whom had been on the bank for years, showed remarkable spirit. With a series of wins at the beginning of the year, they found that they were expected to win, and set to and trained well, with the result that they kept up their record, and ran out winners of their grade by a good margin. The captain, organiser and manager was Birks, though several others took a hand when the team got on the ground; but all the players are to be congratulated on sticking together to win. Their record is an impressive one—played 14; won 12; lost 2; points for 138; against 27. Redwood and one FitzGerald were outstanding in the backs; and Birks led the forwards well with Sage always in support.
For several years our policy of keeping the under 19 men in the Fourth grade has shown good results, and with some particularly fine players this year it has brought us the Championship. The team began the season with some amazing wins, and with the careful coaching of Mr. H. E. Moore was able to keep up its record to the end, playing fine football all through. We are glad that this team has done so well and look to its members to take prominent places in the higher teams in the next few years. Of the forwards Gibbons, Akel, Armour, Boyd-Wilson and Broad have been prominent amongst a very solid pack; in the backs Overton, Simm, Tricklebank and Te Punga have played outstanding games. The team's record speaks for itself—played 16; won 14; lost 1; drawn 1; points for 354; against 36.
We would congratulate the members of the Club who gained places in representative trials and teams. J. Ruru played in the Wellington representatives, and R. Burke was chosen to train for the side. Marshall and Wilson were selected for the Junior reps., and Hansen and Tugwell for the trials, and Wallace, Hercus, Redwood and FitzGerald for the third grade trials, Wallace and Hercus being emergencies for the Wellington third grade reps., Gibbons, Boyd-Wilson, Akel, Simm, Overton, Te Punga and Tricklebank for the Fourth trials. Overton gained a place in the Wellington Fourth grade reps., Simm and Te Punga being emergencies.
This year a home and away game was played with Massey College. On June 3rd they came down and met our Senior B team on Kelburn Park. The game was a good one, and our men played solidly though beaten by 15 to nil. The Massey men were entertained at a dinner after the game and afterwards at a musical comedy show.
On June 15th we sent up a team with mostly Senior backs and Senior B forwards which played at the Palmerston North Show grounds. The game was considered one of the best in Palmerston for the year. Our team finally won by 15 to 11, when a spectacular last-minute try was scored by Hislop and converted by Ruru. We were later entertained at a dinner and the College Capping Ball, which was again a splendid show.
Canterbury came up for the annual game at Athletic Park on August 1st this year. The game was interesting but rather dull with flashes of good play. Victoria avenged last year's defeat with a win by 16 to 7.
As usual a team of players of under 21 made the trip for the popular game with Te Aute at Waipukurau on August 18th. Our team was captained by Wilton and managed by Blacker and were successful in retaining the Pickett Cup with a win by 9 to 7. Once again the game aroused interest throughout Central Hawke's Bay and was brilliantly contested. We thank Central Hawke's Bay for arranging the game and for theit splendid hospitality again.
The Club s annual Dance was held at the College on June 30th, and though we were able to make a small profit, that is not the fault of the members, as most of those present were outsiders. However, the dance was most enjoyable.
This function was held on the 16th September last year and proved immensely popular. It is proposed to hold a similar function this year on the 15th September in conjunction with the Haeremai Club.
On the same day it is proposed to play the first of what it is hoped will become an annual fixture between Weir House and the rest of the University. It is possible that there will also be games between different grade teams.
This record of the Club's activities for the season would not be complete without a reference to the interest taken at all times by our President, Professor Kirk. We would assure the Professor that Club members have appreciated what he has done. We would also record our thanks to numerous others of our supporters in various grades whose encouragement has done much towards our success.
There is really no doubt about it. This, the youngest of Varsity Clubs, born with a clash of steel in the debris of extravaganza rehearsals, is a lusty infant. In April last a few enthusiasts, under the tuition of Miss Zena Clarke, formed a fencing class; now the Club has men's and women's representative teams, which have performed creditably in matches with the Wellington Swords Club and the Naval Reserve Club, who are considerably older in experience. There are prospects also of Victoria representatives being entered in the Wellington championships in October.
As Spike goes to press, the Club is considering its constitution, and is applying to the Stud. Assn. for affiliation. It is to be hoped that next season will see a greatly increased membership. Any member of the Club will assure you that it would be difficult to find a more useful winter sport; for fencing is of great assistance to tennis and cricket players, and even to devotees of other winter games. It was recently and with reason said that "no other sport is more conducive to the perfect co-ordination of brain and hand." As an aid to good footwork for the tennis player it is invaluable. Apart from these material advantages, it is in itself exceedingly enjoyable, and the Club members, as the guests of other Wellington fencing clubs, have had several exceedingly pleasant evenings.
It is to be hoped that, in the near future, fencing will be included in the Easter Tournament, as both Otago and Canterbury have flourishing clubs. An increased membership will bring that time appreciably nearer.
The
Failure to make runs proved the downfall of the 1st XI., only three scores passing the 200 mark. That the team scored two 8 point wins, and four 5 point wins to four losses speaks volumes for the bowling, which headed by Tricklebank and Dean, was always excellent. The former, by taking 60 wickets, easily headed the list of outstanding bowling performances in Senior Cricket. The batting improved somewhat in the second round and with 36 points Victoria led the second section of the Championship Table. The following were awarded "blues"—Blandford, Cooper, Dean, Edgley, Pacey, Paetz, Stevens, Tricklebank, Vietmeyer.
The performances of the 2nd XI. were disappointing. Of nine games played, five were lost, three won and one drawn. With a few exceptions the batting was most unreliable, and the bowling though steady lacked sting. Macdonald with 32 wickets at an average of 21.2 had most success with the ball.
The Junior B 1 team did not keep up the form of the Junior B2 team of the previous season, losing five matches and winning four. Moore was outstanding with the bat, scoring two centuries, amongst other good scores. The Middlebrook brothers shared the bowling honours with 29 and 27 wickets respectively.
The Junior C's. did not win any matches, but they profited from the experience against stronger teams, and towards the end of die season made some good scores.
The Christmas tour was according to the reports of the Manager, Mr. Carey, "a most successful and enjoyable one in every respect." Although the summary of results was three drawn games and one loss, some very exciting and sporting cricket was played. A few headlines from the local papers indicate the type of cricket; v. Wanganui, University defeated. Visitors' Sporting Knock; v. South Taranaki, Victoria Six Wickets for 325, Blandford makes 184; v. North Taranaki, Game's Exciting Ending, win missed by 2 runs; v. Manawatu, Visitors' Big Score, Paetz makes a century.
A tour to Wanganui and Marton at Easter replaced the Speight Trophy match against A.U.C., Auckland being unfortunately unable to send a team. Two very enjoyable holiday matches were played. In the first, Wanganui Technical Old Boys won by 110 runs, but in the game against a Rangitikei XI. Victoria scored a meritorious victory.
Early in the season Mr. J. Carrad suggested forming a N.Z. University Cricket Council, the main objects of which would be to arrange and control N.Z.U. Cricket matches, arrange for the selection of N.Z.U. teams, and recommend for the award of "blues.' Steps were taken to ascertain the opinion of the other Universities on, the scheme, and Otago, Canterbury, and Auckland were enthusiastic. A Conference was arranged during Tournament week and a draft constitution was drawn up. Certain matters have still to be decided but it is hoped that the Council will be formed during this season. The team selected will probably not play at first, but the day is not so very far distant when games both in New Zealand and abroad will be arranged.
The Club has to thank its Patron, Professor Mackenzie, and its Vice-Presidents for their interest and assistance, and particularly its President Mr. Cornish for hiring the Buckle Street Drill Hall last season for some invaluable practice before the grounds were opened.
This year, the third year of the Harrier Club's existence, shows a further advance in its strength both as regards increased membership and the general standard of running. It can safely be said that the Club is now on a firm footing, and henceforward we will be able to aim at greater success in the inter club racing events. That is not to say, however, that this season has been empty of success in outside competition. We have done more than sufficient to make our presence felt among other clubs, and our record augurs well for the future.
Up to date we have entered teams for all the inter-club events, the Dome Cup, the Vosseler Shield, and the Provincial Championships. This year for the first time we entered a team for the Vosseler Shield race, over a course of ten miles, and we are pleased to be able to say that one of our men, A. G. Bagnall, came in 8th. Our team for the Provincial Championship race consisted of A. G. Bagnall, D. Cairns, A. Garn ham, F. B. Shorland, D. R. Scrymgeour, and D. Viggers, and our first man home came 15th in a large and experienced field.
Our own events have been well and keenly contested. Good fields entered while the handicappers gauged the winners' capabilities to a nicety. As usual, the Novice race was the first Club event, and was held near the beginning of the season. This was the third of these races and was held over the same course as in the former years. A. Henderson came in a good first from D. Scrymgeour and F. B. Shorland. Times were slightly slower than the previous year, but the race was held nearer the beginning of the season and there was less opportunity to get fit. The next race was that for the Sherwood Cup, held four weeks after the Novice. This was a sealed handicap event and the revised times gave the race to D. McFadyen, with N. Clare second. F. B. Shorland made the fastest time. Better form was shown than in
On August 18th the Club Championships were held also at Lyall Bay, but over the Provincial Championship course. A sealed handicap race was held in conjunction with the Championship. M. O'Connor ran in the best of form and carried off both the championship and the handicap events. G. Bagnall came a good second in both events, with F. B. Shorland third in the championship and R. J. Murray third in the handicap.
The Club Championship ends the Club races for the season, but this year was held the first inter-University championships. This—really the most important event of the season—was sponsored by the Victoria College Club, and henceforth it will be an annual fixture to be held during the second term vacation alternately at Wellington and Christchurch, but provision is made, if desired, for the event to be held at either of the other two centres. Each of the Four University Centres sent a team of six men and in addition there were three individual runners. No effort was spared to give the visitors a really good time while they were in Wellington, and every moment almost of their four days' visit was filled. The team were given Friday morning to rest and in the afternoon they were taken over the course and made familiar with it preparatory to the race the next day. On Saturday evening after the race, a dinner was held at the Duke of Edinburgh Hotel, after which the party spent the evening at the picture theatre. On Sunday the visitors were driven round the district and shown as much of the neighbourhood as possible. The visiting teams were farewelled on Monday and thus ended a most successful event.
The race itself was indeed a thrilling one, the conditions under which it was run almost beggar description. Wellington weather did its worst. "The race was an historic one," says the "Press" "and will remain outstanding in cross-country running in New Zealand. ' The exposed coast-line round Lyall Bay was subjected to one of the worst south-westerly storms for years, the wind sweeping round the shore in a veritable hurricane. A greater test of endurance could hardly be imagined, and the runners were practically all completely exhausted at the end of the 6¼ mile run. High tide and a heavy surf drove the runners on to the road after a few hundred yards and then they had to batde for over two miles against a wind that almost brought them to a standstill. Going up the Vosseler Hill with the wind in the rear, permitted fast time to be made, but at the top of the ridge some of the runners were almost carried off their feet. Descending into the valley was hazardous proceeding with the unsecure foothold and the force of the gale. Coming out on to the road again, the runners had to face the wind a second time and fight their way against a blending combination of wind, sand and spray for two miles to the finish.
From a fast start, Bagnall and O'Connor (Victoria) gradually came to the front and led to Moa Point, where Stewart (Otago) came to the fore and set a smart pace up the Vosseler Hill. Shannon and Smith (Canterbury) came up into second and third places, leaving Bagnall fourth and O'Connor sixth. The finish was one of the most exciting and one of the finest pos-sible, when Bagnall who had steadily moved up, challenged Stewart over the last mile. There was a neck-and-neck race to the tape, but Bagnall could not quite do it. A. Stewart (Otago) finished first, G. Bagnall (Victoria) second, followed by A. Shannon and L. D. J. Smith (Canterbury), A. Sutherland (Otago), M. O'Connor (Victoria) and H. T. Jellie (Auckland). In the teams championship the results were: Otago (23 points) 1, Victoria (29 points) 2, Canterbury (36 points) 3, Auckland (53 points) 4.
The V.U.C. team was D. Cairns, A. G. Bagnall, R. Garnham, M. O Connor, D. R. Scrymgeour and F. B. Shorland.
"The event was undoubtedly a classic,' writes "Whipper In" in the "Dominion," "and there is no evidence to show why it cannot rank large in the national sporting progress." Such unsolicited praise as this most certainly shows that the event was worth while, and, whether it becomes of importance in the sporting progress of New Zealand or not, at any rate it deserves a very high place in the interest of the University. Such events as this show that the true University spirit does exist between the four Centres and interest and the sporting feeling of rivalry between them is thus kept alive.
After this worthy conclusion to the V.U.C. Harrier Club's season, it remains only to express the Club's sincere addreciation to the hostesses who have helped the social side of the sport. To Mesdames D. Cairns, J. S. Oliver, J. O. Shorland and Mr. and Mrs. G. F. Dixon our best thanks are due for their generosity and kindness in entertaining us after runs. Such friendly gatherings in no small measure help to foster the Club spirit between individual members of the clubs.
During the past year, the activities of the Club have been steadily maintained. The usual series of energetic week-end trips were carried out at the conclusion of the examinations, outstanding among these being the visit to the Wharepapa and the crossing of the range north of Papatahi to the Orongorongo. The two Xmas trips to the Spenser Mountains, and Pelorous Sound, respectively were particularly well patronised. Eleven members proceeded up the Wairau Valley to the Rainbow River where a base camp was established at a height of 3000 feet. Five of the party completed a 3 day round trip from the Begley over the Main Divide to the Travers from where a high saddle led into the Sabine. The Main Divide was then recrossed into the Rainbow. After following down the Clarence to Lake Tennyson a detour was made to the Waiau, the tramping portion of the trip finishing at Hanmer. Bad weather prevented any attempt on the peaks of the district, snow falling unusually low for the season.
Fred Eggers ably captained his team of 30 into the quiet shelters of Tuna Bay, Pelorous Sound in the environs of which many spent the best holiday of their lives. The manifold attractions which the Sounds offer their visitors were exploited to the full, launch and track carrying all rapidly through the 10 days. Mt. McLaren was ascended by the whole party but an attempt of similar strength on Mt. Stokes was broken off a short distance from the summit by bad weather. The afternoon and night attack upon Havelock will be remembered for long by both visitors and inhabitants. Six of the party completed the trip by descending into the Rai Valley over McLaren Peak and travelling to Nelson via the Mangatapu Track.
During Anniversary week-end C. J. Read led nine optimists from Eketahuna to Levin via Schormann's track, Ruapai Dundas and Te Makawai Hut. A westerly cloudbank precluded any chance of a view on the Sunday but the descent of the Ohau river was very pleasant under a belated sun.
Shortly afterwards C. J. Read and brother did some very snappy work in the Hermitage district a record ascent of Mt. Cook being the most outstanding achievement. About the same time W. and R. J. Scott broke new ground in a first ascent of Dan Peak in the Lord Range.
Easter was passed quiedy at Kapiti by the official party, four girls shaming erstwhile energetic males by a spirited crossing of the Tararuas via Crawford, the Waiohine-iti and McGregor.
The approach of winter aroused the usual hopes of splendid snow trips in the Tararuas and during a July weekend 24 trampers carrying memories of better afternoons and healthier weather reports trekked up to Field Hut. Conditions on the Sunday were such that 6 only braved a strong westerly for the doubtful satisfaction of treading on the summit of Hector.
The Winter crossing people were far more fortunate in their choice of a weekend. A starlight night made the long stretches of the Marchant bearable for a few, while a cloudless morning carried promise of a successful day. Snow conditions were on the whole excellent and frequent; stops were made out of respect for a view extending from Egmont and Ruapehu to the Kaikouras.
During August, 16 individuals waving the flag of the Victoria College Tramping Club visited National Park. Claude Coup was in charge and overcame, after a hard struggle, the demoralization that seems to overtake trampers when too close to the charms of civilization. Much ground was covered, the most enterprising trip being a 2½ day excursion to the Mangatepopo Hut from where Ngauruhoe and Tongariro were climbed. Good snow conditions were encountered on the former peak but Tongariro called for much axe work from the leader. The six who did the round trip were amply rewarded for their energy. Ketetahi besides being taken in the stride of the six was visited by the main body. Tokaanu held a strange attraction for some, a car load twice visiting this far off haven. On the last day Jean Shallcrass and Chris made a strenuous traverse of Ruapehu to the Ohalcune Hut, under soft snow conditions rejoining the homeward party in the train.
As usual the Opening Day was celebrated this year by a Mixed Doubles Yankee Tournament, Miss L. M. King and Mr. Sivyer being the winners.
Besides a Mixed Doubles Yankee Tournament on this day, Bridge and Ping-pong helped to make a very successful entertainment, and enabled the "freshers" to meet older members of the Club. The winners were Miss C. Childs and Mr. M. H. Oram.
The standard of the players on the men's ladder is higher at present than it has been for some years past, while the competition for positions, especially in the lower rungs, has been intense. There has not been quite as much interest shown in the women's ladder, although a fair number of challenges have been issued. The top six on the ladders at the close of the season were:—
Women: T. R. Gill, D. Briggs, M. Briggs, S. S. Phillipps, P. M. P. Edwards, M. E. Bell.
Men: R. McL. Ferkins, J. J. McCarthy, W. B. Gosnell, J. B. Black, P. E. Webb, G. D. Whitcombe.
The Club has had satisfactory results in the inter-club matches this year. In all, seven teams were fielded, and none had reason to feel ashamed of their effort. In the lower grades, the fourth division team came second equal, in its division, while the A team of the two university teams playing in the sixth division came third equal. Two teams were entered in the men's first division competition, and of these the A team finished runners-up to Brougham Hill A, which Club alone was able to inflict a defeat on it. The second division men's team suffered from being a feeder to the higher teams, but did not disgrace itself. Our highest women's team played in the third division, and succeeded in winning the contest for that grade. Results in detail are as follows:—
Ferkins (Capt.), J. J. McCarthy, Gosnell, Sykes, P. McCarthy.
Won 2 matches, lost 6. Players for this team were:—Whitcombe, P. McCarthy, Black, Webb (Capt.), Page, Plank and Donovan.
2 wins, 3 losses. Team: Black, Donovan (Capt.), Hutchison, Withers, Nankervis and MacDuff.
Winners of competition for this division.
Thorndon by default
Roseneath by default
The team responsible for this consisted of Misses Phillipps, Edwards, Bell, Cook (Capt.), Gill and M. Briggs.
The 4th Division won 3 matches and lost 2, while the 6th A Division won 5 and lost 3.
Once again, in spite of persistent efforts, the Club Championships have not been completed. Those decided are given below:—
Women's Singles: T. R. Gill.
Women's Doubles: M. Briggs and S. S. Phillipps.
Combined Doubles: Miss N. Cooper and J. J. McCarthy.
It is perhaps not surprising that results were some-what disappointing in the Tournament this year, when we consider that only three of our team had represented our Club at a Tournament before. The absence of Misses Line, Longmore and Gill, and J. J. McCarthy, who have been so successful in the past, was a considerable handicap.
We have pleasure in congratulating the following members of our Club to whom College Tennis Blues have been awarded for
Misses T. R. Gill and S. S. Phillipps.
Messrs. W. B. Gosnell, J. J. McCarthy, P. A. McCarthy, E. F. Page, W. D. Sykes and G. D. Whitcombe.
Old Boys' Day was held on a somewhat bigger scale this year, the teams each consisting of ten players. The Old Boys, who won the day by a small margin, fielded a strong team containing Messrs. R. R. T. Young, H. N. Burns, N. A. Foden, C. Evans-Scott, A. M. Cousins, H. Putnam, P. Cook, S. Eichelbaum and Mr. Justice Fair. Those playing for the College were R. McL. Ferkins, W. B. Gosnell, P. E. Webb, C. S. Plank, A. Hutchison, R. J. Nankervis, H. Sivyer, R. D. Webb, J. Kissel and E. G. Budge.
Great regret was felt at the death of Professor Somerville, who, in
Since the earlier part of these notes were written we learn with regret that Professor F. P. Wilson has decided not to offer himself for re-election as Club patron. It is fitting, therefore, that a tribute should be paid to the work which he has done for this Club during his connection with it. That connection has been very long as those who have read the history of the Club published elsewhere will realise. As mentioned there, Professor Wilson was a member of the special committee set up to consider the question of excavating courts on the present site. Prior to that date he had acted as a committee member in
We wish him a very pleasant retirement.
A meeting of students interested in the formation of a Labour Club was called early in the year, and, in spite of persistent opposition by the usual group of noisy students, the proposed Constitution was considered and adopted. A motion that the Club should apply for affiliation to the Students' Association was then passed, and officers for the year were elected. At the conclusion of the meeting Mr. A. Katz gave a short address on "America Under the Blue Eagle."
Affiliation was granted by the Executive, and our first public meeting was held near the end of the first term, when Mr. H. I. Forde addressed us on "Karl Marx and the Present Crisis." At our next meeting we were fortunate enough to have Mr. H. D. Dickenson, who spoke on "Why a Labour Club?" In the second term we heard Major Pharazyn speak on "Planned Wealth or Planned Poverty?" and Max Riske give a lecture on "Women in Russia," illustrated by some very enlightening lantern-slides.
During this term we also held weekly study groups, where we discussed some very interesting articles on the meaning of events in Austria and Germany during the past year.
Our grant of two guineas was spent almost entirely on books and papers for our library.
Our most important activity during the year, however, has been the inaugurating of an Anti-War Movement in the College. We realised that the only way to begin doing anything definite in fighting war was to bring the various anti-war elements of the College together into one united body. So we called a meeting in the Gym., and several of the other College Clubs gave their support by sending speakers to give their point of view on the subject. An address on "Modern Chemical Warfare" was also given by Mr. Monro. The first result of this meeting was the passing of a resolution to be sent to the Minister of Finance, opposing the war preparations of the N.Z. Government. The second result was the formation of the V.U.C. Anti-War Movement, which is now a strongly-supported Club.
As in the past years a number of lectures of general interest, even to those with only an elementary knowledge of science, were given under the auspices of the Science Society.
The first of these was the Presidential Address by Mr. J. A. D. Nash. This was followed at approximately fortnightly intervals by lectures on the various aspects of "Evolution." These were delivered to quite large audiences by Mr. G. A. Peddie, Mr. L. C. King, Professor Kirk, Dr. A. B. Wildman and Dr. I. L. G. Sutherland.
The annual football match between Chemistry-Biology and Physics-Maths, held on Athletic Park on August 1st resulted in a draw, 8 all. A really classical game of rugby was provided for those spectators who managed to reach the ground on time. After the match Professor Kirk descended from the stand and presented the cup to the holders—Physics-Maths.
The Society conducted two visits to the "Evening Post" and on both occasions the parties were too large. Much data and information was obtained and much pleasure derived in being able to walk away with a free paper which one had seen in the process of being printed.
The year started with an outburst on the subject of freedom of speech. At the Annual General Meeting a motion was passed expressing agreement with the action of the Court of Convocation at its recent meeting; this action of the graduates was deeply appreciated by the Society. A letter, approved by the meeting, was sent to the Professorial Board in an attempt to bring about a change in the Board's attitude, but so far there has been no change in the position and the lively controversy that monopolised the correspondence columns in the daily papers for some weeks has died out. It is our hope that the ban will reach a similar oblivion.
The subjects debated at ordinary meetings have been very varied and the syllabus as a whole well balanced, though it was unfortunate that all the political topics were placed near the beginning, leaving the more philosophical and cultural subjects to the end of the year.
The first three debates were all on topical problems: the desirability of Dictatorship, Japanese expansion and the League of Nations, and Cancellation of inter-allied war debts. As well as the four principal speakers, there were 13 speakers from the floor at each of these debates and more would have spoken had time allowed; the evenness of the speaking may be judged from the fact that only two people secured placings in two of these debates and no one was placed in all three. The audience averaged about 90 for these debates, although two of them were during the May vacation.
The fourth debate was a humorous one—"That the discovery of America is to be deplored"—and the humour was maintained throughout. The audience of 140 was the largest during the year, except for the Annual General Meeting. Following this we tried the innovation of debating the Joynt Scroll subject as an aid to our Joynt Scroll team and we believe it was a big help to them in preparing their case.
The next debate included one humorous one—"That the good old days were bad"—and three subjects of general interests: Doctors in the employment of local authorities, utilisation of leisure and the cultural aspect of university training. The attendances and number of speakers have fallen off considerably in these later debates. This is a common end of the year phenomenon, but it has been more marked than ever this year and is being experienced in every activity at Victoria College. Swotting seems to have a harder hold on us. Nevertheless, the debating was of a very even standard as witnessed by the result of the Union Prize; Miss M. Shortall winning with a total of 20½ points from Messrs. McElwain and Sceats with 15 points and 14½ points respectively. Miss Shortall's performance is particularly meritorious as she did not commence debating until late in the session and this was her first year as a debater at V.U.C. In view of these circumstances Miss Shortall's achievement in being the second woman to win the Union Prize (Miss C. S. Forde being the first in
Due to the work and initiative of A. F. T. Chorlton, a separate committee was elected to arrange New Speakers' Debates; the result has been startlingly good as far as speakers are concerned, though audiences have not been large. Perhaps the most promising new speakers this year are Miss Shortall, I. D. Campbell, McElwain, Meek, Osborne and R. S. V. Simpson. Of these Miss Shortall (winner), Campbell and McElwain are all high up in the ladder of Union Prize placings. Miss M. Shortall also won the New Speakers' Prize with 34 points with Messrs. McElwain and Osborne in second and third place.
Messrs. R. J. Larkin and K. Tahiwi were our Joynt Scroll representatives and were placed second to Otago University in a debate so close that an Umpire had to be called in to help the judges. We congratulate Otago on their second successive victory.
The present year has seen two very interesting Debating tours. A. F. T. Chorlton accompanied Ian Milner, of Canterbury College, on a tour of American Universities, of which at the moment we have not many details, and we held two debates against a visiting American debater, Mr. Robert K. Burns. Mr. Burns' colleague, Mr. Lyle M. Spencer, was unfortunately detained in hospital in Sydney but we are glad to hear he is now recovered.
The Plunket Medal contest was very even and interesting, with R. J. Larkin achieving a well merited victory with Robert E. Lee as his subject.
The Visitors' Debate was on the subject: "That the British Empire can best promote world peace by strengthening her defences.' This was moved by Mr. Martin M. F. Luckie, seconded by L. R. Sceats, and opposed by Mr. Peter Fraser, M.P., seconded by A. Katz. The debate was extremely animated and interesting and our thanks are due to these gentlemen for the time they devoted to this debate.
The Society wishes to thank the judges who have sacrificed evenings to help it with advice and criticism.
The purpose of the Womens' Gymnasium Club is to teach to the women of the College Eurythmics and correct posture as defined by Dr. Renfrew White. The membership is now fifty-five and under the able tuition of Miss Nancy Webber, the girls are making excellent progress. Good attendance is recorded at both Advanced and Beginners' Classes, held every Monday evening of the first and second Terms. The Club did not give a Display this year, but intends that in successive years the function be held as formerly.
A cloud was cast over the Annual General Meeting of the Mathematical and Physical Society by the recent death of Professor D. M. Y. Sommerville. Professor Sommerville was one of the founders of the Society and had, in no uncertain manner, helped to raise it to its present position. His kindly manner and disposition will cause him to be remembered by all who came into contact with him.
The meetings held during the
The first paper of the year was given by Mr. C. J. Seelye, M.Sc., who spoke on "Wave Mechanics." He indicated how the theory of the electron had arisen and how knowledge was still indefinite as to whether electrons were particles or waves. Their general properties were described in terms of wave mechanics. The lecture assisted materially to clarify any vague notions of the subject.
Mr. J. C. McIntosh, M.Sc., presented a most interesting paper on "The Upper Atmosphere." He had a comprehensive knowledge of every branch of this wide subject and described the methods adopted for obtaining the data regarding this very important yet fully unexplored region. Mention was made of the recent balloon ascents into the stratosphere and the probable effect this region has on the earth's weather. A radio sonde balloon (from the Ellsworth expedition) was exhibited.
Mr. I. D. Stevenson, M.Sc., read a paper on "Square Root of—1." He explained that primitive man was aware of positive numbers but chafed at not being able to subtract 2 from 1. The concept of "— 1" then arose followed by imaginary quantities—e.g., "Root of — 1." Mr. Stevenson demonstrated many applications of this remarkable number and also several interesting fallacies.
Mr. N. R. Palmer, B.Sc., delivered an address on one of the most recent advances of modern physics, viz-,"Heavy Hydrogen.' The speaker explained the nature of isotopes and the fundamental importance of the discovery of the heavy isotope of hydrogen. After he had described its preparation and properties (including those of heavy water) there was an extremely interesting discussion on other applied aspects of the subject.
After the supper at this meeting a presentation was made to Mr. C. J. Seelye (Travelling Scholar in Arts) who was about to sail for Scotland. Mr. Mcintosh, in making the presentation, mentioned Mr. Seelye's out-standing ability and wished him, on behalf of the Society, every success. Further eulogistic remarks were made by Professor Florance, Mr. Miles and Mr. Stevenson.
The final lecture was given by Dr. E. Marsden on "An Outline of Technocracy.'" The speaker showed how the idea arose and illustrated how chemical processing and mass production had upset the relationship between man hours per unit of output and wages. Certain American scientists had thus been led to propose energy as a fundamental basis of value instead of the conventional money.
The Society is indebted to Mesdames Florance and Miles who so kindly provided the suppers which are a feature of the Society's activities.
"In Christo Vivimus Vincimus"
The activities of the E.U., which during
During the last season the Club has had the largest number of active members for the past six or seven years. Lately the number of active members has been slowly decreasing but for the season under review the number has risen to over 30 men and from present reports next season will be even better. It was not, however, only in the "turn-outs" that there was an improvement but the performance of the Club in open competition reflected great credit on the members of the Club. For the past season the Club was runner-up in the Dewar and the Kitto Shields and third in the Wellington Provincial Championships. For these performances the Club's thanks go to our Deputy Captain and Coach, C. B. Allan, who spent a tremendous amount of time and energy in the interests of the Club. His enthusiasm and that of S. G. Eade, the Club Captain, was mainly responsible for the wonderful turn-outs we have had throughout the season.
With the opening of Weir House last year there came greatly improved training facilities, as we had the use of the gymnasium with mats and also could use the hot showers. These were very much appreciated and helped in no small way to the Club's success. Immediately after the November about 10 of the keener members commenced training and carried on right until Easter. The number doing this was an improvement over former years and the benefit resulting from it was apparent when the results of the Club are referred to. The Dewar Shield results are particularly gratifying as we had teams only in the one grade while other clubs had junior teams to support them. For this result every member has to be thanked as I think everyone represented the Club in one team or the other.
In the Provincial Champs, we did particularly well, the following gaining points for us: A. S. Henderson, T. A. Rafter, F. H. Stephenson, S. G. Eade, R. C. Morpeth, H. Mcintosh and W. R. Birks. Five of our members represented the province in the N.Z. Champs.— Rafter, Stephenson, Henderson, Eade and Morpeth.
The Inter-Faculty Sports were held on Kelburn Park and attracted quite a good attendance, both of performers and onlookers. Very good results were recorded by Bowie, Henderson and Rafter.
The Tournament at Christchurch was definitely not for Victoria as we received the Wooden Spoon both for the whole Tournament and for Athletics. Our team was really a strong one but the others were just a litte better. We must congratulate F. H. Stephenson, Eade, Morpeth, Rafter, and Bowie (running for Auckland) who gained points and also Kerr who very narrowly missed a point in the long jump.
An innovation this year is the Cup presented by the older members of the Club for competition in a series of Club meetings to be held on Kelburn Park. These are really training meetings and attracted large fields and some very good performances were shown.
The following members have been presented with Cups for the season:—
Dunbar Cup—most points during season: T. A. Rafter.
Heineman Cup—most improved athlete: L. S. Black.
Ladies' Cup—best performance at inter-faculty: A. S. Henderson.
Oram Cup—most points at inter-faculty: P. Bowie.
Old Members' Cup—most points at Club meetings: T. Bush and F. Donovan.
The Athletic Club is one of the oldest in the College and we want it to become one of the strongest-as it has been in former years. To do this we want new members and increased support from the old members. Last year we got several members from Weir House and this year we want even better support. You don't need to be a champion-come along and we will do our best to make you one!
The past season has been a quite successful one for the Women's Hockey Club. Two teams, Senior A and Intermediate, were entered in Wellington Ladies Hockey Association Competition. In the Senior team the standard of play was consistently good, both stick-work and combination improving as the season advanced. As a result the team held a consistently good position in their grade. The Intermediate team played many hard fought games and the natural talent shown by some of the members will soon develop them into outstanding players. Mr. Foden, our coach, did much to improve the play generally.
This year the Annual University Hockey Tournament was held in Wellington. Our representative team beat Auckland but lost to Otago, who again carried off the honours. Socially the Tournament was a great success.
The Club wishes to congratulate Misses A. Harding and N. Webber on winning their N.Z. University Blues and also for winning a place in the Wellington repre-sentative team. The Club also wishes to congratulate Misses P. 'Walker and P. Price for winning Intermediate Grade Representative Honours.
The Club has had a successful year although the number of functions run were not as numerous as in the past but such entertainments such as "saveloy evenings and "bob hops seem to have fallen from grace and do not receive support from the students.
On the morning of the 29th March the Citizens of the City were awakened to the sounds of sweet music and those enterprising enough to investigate ascertained that the culprits were members of this Club proceeding in a procession headed by the special Haeremai Silver Band to the station to welcome the Auckland Tournament Team. At the station the speech of welcome was given by our one and only Bernard Pshaw and was greatly appreciated by our guests. The remnants of the band and those members who were not travelling South were at the Ferry Wharf to give the Tournament Teams a send off but were considerably hampered by not being allowed on to the wharf.
Those members who were lucky enough to get away to the Tournament are not likely to forget it. Our Haka did much to spur our representatives on, and it was not our fault that Victoria did not finish up with a better record. We are glad to be in a position to report that the social representatives did not disgrace them-selves and were able to hold their own with the other Colleges.
The next activity of the Club was the Capping Procession. This was the first Procession that we have been permitted to run for some years and owing to the shortness of notice it was not as large as it has been in the past but what it lacked in numbers was made up in quality. The Speeches in the Post Office Square deserve special commendation and were fully appreciated by the large crowd that assembled there.
The Club once again ran its Fancy Dress Dance in conjunction with the Basketball Club and the function was a great success. The Hall was artistically decorated with red and black streamers which, together with the many weird and colourful costumes, gave the Hall a truly carnival spirit.
Again the Club combined with the Football Club in running a Smoke Concert and we are glad to report that the function was once again very popular. Every one left in the best of spirits and there were no serious casualties reported.
This is the first year of the Photographic Club's existence, and considering everything it has been fairly successful. As regards membership, there is no cause for dissatisfaction, although the Club has been, so to speak, just finding its feet. The Club has a membership of over thirty and an average attendance at meetings of about a dozen.
Meetings: On Tuesday, March 27th, the inaugural meeting was held, a constitution discussed and passed, and officers elected. The business was concluded as quickly as possible and Mr. A. S. Mitchell gave an instructive and enjoyable lecture on portrait photography, illustrated with many examples of his own work. The next meeting was not until May 2nd, when Mr. C. P. S. Boyer, the well-known Wellington photographer, gave a beginners' lecture, dealing with exposure, development, printing and with composition in a simple way. Mr. Boyer also had some of his own fine pictures. Composition and harmony in photography was also the subject of Mr. J. W. Chapman-Taylor, who addressed the Club on May 29th. In this very interesting talk pictorial technique was fully dealt with and explained by a man who has had wide experience and many years of pictorial photography. He strongly advocated purism in photography, for, he said the convincing truthfulness of the tonal values of the picture produced entirely by photography was its chief justification for photography as an art.
On the 19th of June, Mr. J. W. Johnson gave a demonstration of enlarging. He wasted no rime in words but asked his audience to gather round the enlarger, and as he made his enlargement, he explained every step in the process, giving as he did so many practical tips. Time passed very quickly, and after making half a dozen 12in. x 10in. pictures, Mr. Johnson concluded by showing one or two after-treatments of enlargements.
The last meeting up to the end of the second term was addressed by Mr. E. F. Hubbard, of the Railways Laboratory at Lower Hutt. Mr. Hubbard spoke on a subject on which he is well qualified to speak, Micro-Photography.
A Field Day has been held this year by the Club, and a visit was paid to the Butterfly creek for the purpose of photography. The weather on the day decided upon (22nd July) was rather unsettled, and showery rain spoilt the afternoon somewhat, although no one could complain that the skies lacked the pictorial necessity of clouds. Indeed some very fine cloud effects were to be obtained at times.
The only other activity of the Club has been in connection with the dark-room. Thanks are due to the Geology Department for the use of their dark-room, which has been fitted out by means of the Students' Association Grant with all the apparatus necessary for developing, printing and enlarging. Any member of the Club may make use of the dark-room, and it is to be hoped that it will be of benefit to some who have previously lacked the amenities of a dark-room. If it induces some to do the fascinating after-processes of photography themselves, instead of sending their films to the chemist, then its purpose has to a great extent been achieved.
It is significant that just twenty years after the outbreak of the Great War an Anti-War Movement should spring into being at Victoria College. The protest against militarism and militant imperialism has suddenly become organised and vocal, instead of scattered and muffled. Perhaps something of this is due to the fact that the generation of
It is thus little surprising that a V.U.C. Anti-War Committee elected in the Second Term has been strenuously active and has now successfully organised a new Club to carry on the anti-war campaign in the university.
At the meetings so far held, two members of the staff have spoken—Mr. A. D. Monro and Professor T. A. Hunter—and many students have participated. Indeed, although the Movement aims at combatting militarism and all forms of war propaganda, it has an equally vital function in providing a forum for the interchange of ideas between pacifists and communists and all other shades of opinion within the anti-war movement itself. Incidentally, it is to be regretted that the Official Opposition at our meetings seems scarcely to have heard of any such expression as "interchange of ideas," and is able to offer little else than good old-fashioned backbench abuse.
The Movement is indebted to Mr. R. Semple, M.P., who made available for one of its meetings his fine collection of lantern slides of scenes from the Great War.
Arising from a press report of our first gathering, at which speakers from the Labour Club, the Debating Society, the Free Discussions Club, and the Student Christian Movement addressed the meeting, the Committee became involved in lengthy controversy in the correspondence columns of the Press. In addition, the Committee published a Manifesto calling upon students to join with them in the furthering of anti-war activity.
During the vacation the work of the Movement will, of course, go on, and students interested should make enquiries from the Secretary as to proposed activities. In the meantime the Committee have the following books which they will be glad to lend to V.U.C. Students, whether they be members of the Movement or not:—
Cry Havoc (Beverley Nichols).
Young Oxford and War (A Symposium).
War on War (Collection of photographs).
The Bloody Traffic (Fenner Brockway).
The Secret International.
Patriotism Limited.
The increased popularity of the Swimming Club during the past summer augurs well for the coming season. The past policy of the Club in holding weekly handicap races was adhered to. It was indeed gratifying to see the numbers who participated in these races and the "fields compared more favourably with the clubs of larger memberships. The standard of swimming has progressed gradually during the three years of the Club's existence and although our Tournament representatives did not meet with any great success, they were by no means disgraced.
Two teams were entered in the local water-polo championship and attained a fair measure of success, particularly the "A" team, which secured third place. This phase of the Club's activities aroused much enthusiasm among members and has done much to put V.U.C. before the swimming public. Four of our members played in the Wellington Possibles v. Probables match and one of these was selected to represent the Centre at the National Championships. A team was entered for the Peck Shield Harbour Race for the first time and it is hoped that in future the Club will always have representation in this event.
Members took full advantage of the competition and experience offered by inter-club carnivals, the Club being well represented at all local meetings. Miss Peggy Price was successful in annexing both the Wellington Centre and New Zealand Ladies' Diving Championship.
The Inter-Faculty Swimming Sports conducted at Thorndon Baths were attended by a large crowd of both competitors and barrackers. A dance concluded a very enjoyable programme. The Club again accepted the invitations of the Hutt Valley Club and some very pleasant evenings were spent at Riddiford Baths.
Victoria College swimmers are placed at a disadvantage to other Colleges in that tepid bath facilities for training are denied them. Consequently, the Committee is strongly supporting the measures taken by the Centre to secure the erection of modern baths.
The activities of the Victoria University College Dramatic Club for the year ending
But next year . . .
Could we not, in fine, evangelistic fashion, cast our lot on some blasted heath in the wilds of Newtown, and there delight the natives with cacaphonic comedy or murky melodrama? This would be the means of gauging our public nearer home, for what Newtown will applaud yesterday, Victoria will devour whole to-morrow.
And so, while critics gibber and fools belabour, the Dramatic Club, vigilant, omniscient, with one eye on the Muses and the other on Exile, has gone silently about its work of rehabilitation. For its programme of
And so we pass out of the doldrums into a great expanse of artistic endeavour; impressing on a certain illustrious traducer, that what he had come to regard as our twilight sleep, was in reality the hush before the dawn.
Although no finals were won by our Club at the Inter-University Tournament in Christchurch at Easter, we can congratulate ourselves upon as successful a year as the Club has experienced.
The second Annual College Tournament was held early in the first term before a large attendance and some excellent bouts were witnessed. The trophy for the most scientific boxer was awarded to R. J. Meek.
A strong team made the trip to Christchurch and although it did not succeed in winning a final, all members acquitted themselves with credit and several of the decisions could easily have gone the other way. The team was as follows:—
Bantam: R. Murray; Feather: M. O'Connor; Light: R. J. Meek; Welter: J. B. Kent; Middle: M. Willis; Light-Heavy: A. Russell; Heavy: A. Armour.
The Club has suffered two severe losses this year—one temporary and one permanent. Jack Kent left for a trip to England shortly after the Tournament and his influence has been sadly missed. His absence, however, is temporary only and we hope to welcome him back before the first term of next year.
Our other loss is that of George Joseph who has been secretary and treasurer of the Club for some years past. He left to continue his studies at Cambridge and carried with him the best wishes of all the Club. His enthusiasm and capacity for hard work makes the vacancy a difficult one to fill adequately.
The weekly classes during the winter term were discontinued this year owing to the general lack of enthusiasm displayed by members. The weather contributed no little bit to this apathy as Monday nights were invariably the wettest of the week. Our thanks are due to our trainer, Mr. Roy Brien, for his enthusiasm and encouragement to the younger members.
With the available talent at present in the College the prospects for next year are most promising and our chances of once again collecting the Boxing Shield must be regarded as being particularly good.
The Commerce Society was established early in
During the early part of the year there arose a cry that Commerce has no rightful place on the curriculum of a University, that it is too sordidly mundane and is far removed from academic learning. Those who made that cry were, possibly, earnest folk, but they had failed to realise that the standards of the modern University have widened and that the old idea of purely classical or scientific precepts being all that the University must teach, has been outgrown. "Smad," through its corre-spondence columns, has discussed this matter and the effective reply of one writer that the function of a University is to serve the community by leading it, by providing men with a breadth of view and a depth of vision in all walks of life and not burying itself in a mass of philosophic and scientific teachings, is the ideal that Victoria as well as all Universities must ever seek.
The lectures arranged during the year, by which it is endeavoured to foster interest in current affairs, have been unfortunately few. A most informative and enlightening address was delivered by Mr. J. L. Griffin on the new Companies Act of
Professor B. E. Murphy has consented to deal with the activities of the Tariff Commission. Presented in the inimitable style of our worthy Dean this should not only be most instructive but promises to be highly diverting. Later it is hoped to arrange an address on Government Accounting. The awakened interest displayed in Public Finance and the fact that our numbers include a considerable sprinkling of officers of the Civil Service has indicated the desirability of a clearer understanding of the Public Accounts.
To Mr. E. Budge the Society extends its thanks for the valuable services rendered by him during his term of office as secretary.
This year arrangements were made through the Society for the sale of sets of reference notes on the Accountancy Law subjects which should be of considerable assistance to students.
Suggestions and criticisms as to lectures or specific work in which students may be interested are warmly welcomed by the Committee, who are anxious to foster a spirit of keener interest in the work of the College and, in particular, the activities specially appertaining to the Commerce Faculty.
The Rowing Club this year has more to offer than in any previous year. For the past two years V.U.C. has not been represented in the Tournament owing to the impossibility of obtaining a boat. This has been due firstly to the low standard of rowing, and secondly to the fact that the Inter-Provincial eights have been held in Wellington at the same time as the Varsity race.
This year, however, V.U.C. will again enter the lists. An eight has been purchased by the Club and the problem of the boat is solved. All that is needed now is a crew. We are in need of active oarsmen—men who wish to see V.U.C. rowing at the top again. Newcomers are especially welcomed and it is hoped that this year will see the beginning of a new era as far as Varsity rowing is concerned. But remember that rowing is a man's sport. Only by training and assiduous practice can you become competent. We want members who are keen and who will train consistently throughout the season. If you desire to take up the sport leave a note in the rack for the secretary.
The committee is at present endeavouring to find ways and means of erecting a Club-house of its own. It is our desire that in the very near future the Club will be able to stand on its own feet and to enter in regattas as a separate club.?
The V.U.C. Student Christian Movement has throughout this year had a fairly full programme. Four Week-end Camps have been held, and we have been fortunate in having at these Camps such people as Miss W. Mather, who spoke on the recent S.C.M. Conference at Java, and Rev. and Mrs. A. M. Richards, who have just returned from an extended trip abroad.
There have also been six addresses at the College. The opening address was given by Rev. L. J. Boulton-Smith on "What we have to tell the World." Other speakers have been Mr. W. Nash, M.P., "World Affairs through Christian Eyes," Mr. A. E. Hurley, "This New Nationalism," Mr. W. Peacock, "The Oxford Group Movement," Rev. Alun Richards, a talk on his experiences in Europe, and Miss Grace Patterson, a missionary in India, "Missions in India."
During the August vacations a Conversazione was held at S.C.M. Headquarters, where Deaconess Spencer Smith spoke on "The Churches and Unity," and led the following discussion.
Five Study Circles have met during the year to study Rev. W. Bullock's book, The Dominant Design, a brief introduction to the modern use of the Bible. In Weir House there has been a daily meeting for prayer and Bible reading, and there have been two weekly prayer groups, one meeting at Varsity, in the evening, and the other at the Student Christian Movement Bookroom, Woodward St., in the lunch-hour.
The World Student Christian Federation Day of Prayer was observed as usual. A Communion service was held at 10 a.m., and tea at 5 p.m., followed by a special service at 7 p.m. All these meetings were held in Wesley Church, Taranaki St. Rev. F. H. Wilkinson spoke at the tea, and Mr. A. E. Hurley at the evening service.
Poor Relief has again been one of our activities. Three families have been given some financial assistance, and what is more, friendship. Further particulars of this work may be had from Miss K. Hoby or Mr. T. Price, the trustees of the Poor Fund. Subscriptions to this work may be placed in the box on the letter-rack.
Mention must be made of the Second-hand Bookstall, which was again run by us, and which is proving more and more of a service to students.
The
This year the Club has been trying out a new policy concentrating as far as possible on speakers from within the College, whose task has been merely to introduce the subject providing the way for the discussion to follow. For some years now the Club's activities have been drifting to something more in the nature of a public lecture followed by a few polite questions, and it was felt by the committee that a return to the methods in vogue some years ago would enable it the more perfectly to carry out its true function. The result has been smaller meetings but keener discussion, but the latter is after all what we are aiming at.
Operations commenced with an address by Dr. A. C. Keys, his subject being "French Universities." That this short talk aroused lively interest was shown by the discussion which followed. The next venture was a lecture on Russia by Dr. W. B. Sutch. The speaker was most eloquent and delivered one of the most popular and well received addresses for some years. He reviewed the present Russian outlook as regards religion, sea, and work, fearlessly tearing aside the veil of mystery which usually hangs over the conditions he was describing; coming as it did after so much interest in Russian affairs had been engendered in the College, his address provided a welcome and important summary of what is a very difficult problem. The next speaker was Dr. Sutherland, the President, who had some astonishing revelations to make as to the "Inequality of Man." His talk was followed by a very free and easy discussion which caused much amusement and enlightenment to those present. A novelty performance characterised the following meeting, the speaker, a gentleman of note in America, not being present in person, but represented by a record of his voice kindly provided by Professor Hunter, who placed us further in his debt by coming along and joining in the discussion, the subject being "Rationalism or Religion. A short debate was next staged, Messrs. Alun Richards and C. G. Watson coming to grips on the question of Christianity in the changing world. The general consensus at the conclusion was that neither side had a leg to stand on. Mr. D. W. McElwain followed, his subject being "Property—Why?" His idea is that we are wrong in having a right to anything and after hearing him we are inclined to agree with him. Mr. K. J. Scott closed the activities of the Club for the year with a talk on the psychology of intolerance, a subject into which he has made considerable researches and a subject which merited much more interest being taken in it than the somewhat sparse audience would indicate was the case.
This year has been very successful as far as the Chess Club is concerned. The season was opened by a Free-for-all Tournament with a time limit of ten seconds an each move. This was most enjoyable as by the end of the evening everybody had played everybody and some good games were played. We were lucky enough to obtain the use of the Geology Lab. this year for our practice nights, but unfortunately the great enthusiasm displayed at the General Meeting waned during the latter half of the second term, and the attendance at the Monday evening practice nights became poorer and poorer as the term went on. However, there was one place in the College where enthusiasm did not falter—in the Honours Chemistry Lab., where one could observe a game in progress at any hour of the day or night.
We entered a team in the "B" Grade Championship Competition of the Wellington Chess League and this has been the Club's main activity for this year. The strongest team the Club has shown for several years was available theoretically, but somehow it was able to be played only once, the rest of the matches being played with teams of varying calibre. In spite of all this we were only able to win the easiest of our matches—the bye, but some very fine individual games have been put up against the other clubs. The detailed results are:—
There were fewer matches this year as the "B" grade was divided into two sections so that our opposition was narrowed somewhat, but we were fortunate enough to be entertained away from the College in three out of four of our matches. Although we solved the problem of a clubroom this year the problem of equipment is still being wrestled with, but the Executive of the Students' Association did not see eye to eye with us about the purchase of good match equipment so that we are still using our old men and boards for matches against our visitors, but anyway we can get a good game with them.
To finish off the season, negotiations for a match Staff v. Students are under way, and it is hoped that all interested will turn up to see it, or at least try next year to swell the numbers of the Club.
Anti-War Movement.—Secretary-Treasurer, D. Freeman; Committee: Miss O. Harkness; Messrs. R. Heenan, A. H. Katz, K. J. Scott.
Athletic Club.—Club Captain, S. G. Eade; Deputy Club Captain and Coach, C. B. Allan; Secretary, R. C. Morpeth; Treasurer, J. Bennell: Committee: J. B. Stephenson, F. H. Stephenson, C. H. Redwood and A. S. Henderson.
Basketball Club.—Club Captain, Miss M. Line (resigned), Miss N. McLaren: Vice-Captain, Miss N. McLaren (resigned), Miss I. Morice; Secretary, Miss S. Eraser; Committee: Misses M. Lancaster, E. Irwin, I. Graham.
Boxing Club—President. Earl Stewart; Club Captain, R. J. Meek; Deputy Club Captain, R. H. C. Wild; Hon. Secretary-Treasurer, A. F. Wilton; Hon. Medical Adviser, Dr. Douglas Brown; Trainer, Roy Brien; Committee: A. Armour, J. Ilott, M. O'Connor, A. Russell.
Chess Club—President, Mr. L. C. King; Secretary-Treasurer, D. Kerr; Committee: Messrs. D. Andrews, K. McNaught, J. Nash, A. Hutcheson.
Commerce Society.—Chairman, R. S. Odell; Secretary, D. F. Anderson; Treasurer, W. H. Thodey; Committee: H. Halstead, R. J. Nankervis.
Cricket Club.—Club Captain, L. M. Paccy; Secretary, J. C. White; Treasurer, D. K. Carey; Committee: H. W. Osbom, B. A. Paetz, A. G. Wicks, H. R. C. Wild. (J. R. Stevens was elected to the Committee to fill the vacancy caused by L. M. Pacey's departure.)
Debating Society.—President, G. W. Von Zedlitz, Esq.; Chairman, A. H. Scotney; Vice-President, K. J. Scott; Secretary, C. M. P. Brown; Treasurer, A. T. S. McGhie; Committee: Misses Z. Henderson and M. Shortall; Messrs. R. J. Larkin and K. Tahiwi.
Dramatic Club.—Chairman, D. G. Edwards; Secretary, Miss D. Tossman; Treasurer, M. I. Aimers; Committee: Messrs. C. Wright. R. B. Phillips, C. N. Watson, R. J. Larkin; Misses N. Caughley and G. Gallagher.
Evangelical Union.—President, K. W. Moore; Secretary, Miss M. Boyd; Treasurer, E. Missen.
Fencing Club.—Club Captain. J. H. Holderness; Secretary-Treasurer, Dorothy Souter; Committee: Gwenda Norman-Jones, H. Turnbull.
Football Club.—President. Professor Kirk; Club Captain, R. E. Diederich; Deputy Captain, L. Bansgrove; Secretary. R. Wild; Teams Officer, W. R. Birks; Treasurer, D. K. Carey; Committee: E. Blacker, R. C. Bradshaw, P. Buddie, A. F. Wilton.
Free Discussions Club.—President, Dr. I. L. G. Sutherland; Chairman, Mr. K. J. Scott; Hon. Secretary, Mr. A. T. aS. McGhie; Hon. Treasurer, Mr. M. J. Mason; Committee: Misses M. McLaren and M. Hursthouse; Messrs. A. E. Campbell, C. M. P. Brown and K. Tahiwi.
Gym. Club.—Patron, Mrs. A. D. Monro; Chairwoman, Miss M. Butler; Secretary-Treasurer, Miss J. Preston; Committee: Misses H. Gibbs, M. McKenzie. F. Smith.
Haeremai Club.—President. Professor B. E. Murphy; Chairman, W. R. Birks; Treasurer, R. P. Ha'I; Secretary, G. S. Sainsbury; Committee: Messrs. R. Roberts. C. M. P. Brown, K. Keating, R. Edgley, A. T. S. McGhie.
Harrier Club.—Club Captain, D. A. Viggers; Secretary, K. G. Reid; Treasurer, J. Y. Dixon; Committee: Messrs. F. B. Shorland, J. G. Oliver, A. G. Bagnail.
Men's Hockey Club.—Club Captain, K. N. Struthers; Secretary, K. Tahiwi; Treasurer. I. Mcintosh; Committee: C. S. Plank, K. J. Scott, J. S. Withers.
Labour Club.—Secretary, Miss I. Cornes; Committee: Miss G. Neen; Messrs. C. G. Watson, D. Jenkins, A. Katz, M. Williams.
Law Faculty Club.—Chairman, R. J. Larkin; Secretary, Miss G. A. Gallagher; Treasurer, D. A. Wilson; Committee: J. H. B. Scholefiekl, J. White, W. M. Willis, A. Wicks.
Literary Society.—Chairman, C. M. P. Brown; Secretary, A. Katz; Treasurer, A. T. S. McGhie; Committee: Misses Joan Ostler and L. M. Puckridgc; Messrs. P. Macaskill and C. B. Sage.
Mathematical and Physical Society.— President, Mr. J. C. Mcintosh; Vice-Presidents: Mr. C. J. Seelye, Mr. G. Searle; Hon. Secretary-Treasurer, Mr. H. J. M. Abraham: Committee: Mr. R. J. Meek, Mr N. R. Palmer, Mr. C. N. Watson-Munro.
Photographic Club—Chairman, &v S. Odell; Secretary-Treasurer, H. L. Whitworth; Committee: Miss F. Smith; Messrs. J. T. Salmon, J. S. Reid, N. Ashenden.
Rowing Club.—Club Captain, C. E. Dixon: Hon. Secretary, W. M. Willis; Hon. Treasurer, H. M. Mcintosh; Committee: Messrs. S. I. Kidd, B. Webb, R. J. Larkin.
Science Society.—President. J. A. D. Nash; Vice-Presidents: Miss M. McKenzie, Mr. K. J. McNaught; Secretary, Mr. C. W. Stewart: Committee: Miss B. E. Ardell and Miss S. Downe; Mr. R. J. Lancaster.
Student Christian Movement.—President, Mr. J. A. D. Nash; Vice-President, Miss K. Hoby; Correspondence Secretanr, Miss K. Wood; Recording Secretary, Miss D. Dillner; Committee: Miss N. McLaren; Mr. W. G. Patterson, Mr. N. Clare (to
Swimming Club.—Men's Club. Captain. R. C. Bradshaw; Women's Club Captain, Miss M. M. Price; Hon. Secretary, J. G. Oliver; Committee: Miss N. M. Webber; Messrs. C. I. W. Archibald, H. E. Grover and M. J. Mason.
Tennis Club.—President, R. J. Nankervis; Chairman and Club Captain, C. S. Plank; Secretary, E. G. Budge; Treasurer. L. O. Desborough; Committee: Misses M. O. Bell, E. D. Cook, T. R. Gill and H. K. Hurley; Messrs. D. M. Burns, F. J. Donovan, P. E. Webb and L. Withey.
Tramping Club.—Secretary-Treasurer, A. G. Bagnall; Committee: Misses H. Christie and J. Singleton; Messrs. C. Coup, J. F. Eggers. A. R. Perry, C. J. Read, D. Viggers.
Weir House.—President, H. R. C. Wild; Secretary. R. W. Edgley; Treasurer. J. P. Mules; Committee: W. R. Birks, M. J. Mason, A. T. S. McGhie.
Women'S Hockey Club.—Club Captain, Miss A. Harding; Secretary, Miss M. Gibbons; Committee: Misses J. Scott, G. Norman-Jones and N. Webber.