Gratitude due

Sirs, I find it difficult not to be a little sceptical about Mr. Silver's and Mr. Pirie's professed horror of publicity regarding the Chancellors Graduation Speech, when they have both been at such pains to bring it to the notice, not only of those who also received a copy of, or heard, this speech, but to many who would otherwise not have been aware of what Mr. Pirie regards as an "atrocity" and Mr. Silver as a "skeleton." (Salient. April 14, 1967.)

Mr. Silver's concern for his "beloved university" appears to grant him licence for a childish outburst against its senior officials and a severe rebuke to the Administration. Apparently his concern does not extend sufficiently to encompass an interest in its re-cent progress which was the subject of the Chancellor's exposition. (An interest which the Administration obviously and quite naturally assumed) on the part of the graduates when it circulated the printed speech Mr. Silver assures us that the University has a bad name in Wellington. Surely this type of backbiting, together with Mr. Pirie's casual use of the word "plagiarised," and quibble over the exact amount of gratitude due to the administrative staff, shows a petty and unbecoming re-sentment on the part of, senior students towards the Administration which can only aggravate this notion.

That a man of Dr. Lynch's character and achievement and one moreover who (on evidence of his twenty years' 'service as a member of Council elected by graduates, and of his recent election to the Chancellorship) obviously has the support and confidence of both graduates and Council members, should be subjected to Mr. Silver's and Mr. Pirie's "displeasure" and unnecessary rudeness, verges on the ab-surd.