47

I. —13a.

PROFESSOR LABT. |

College. I will test that by consideration of some of the science subjects. You will see in the appendix, page 20, to Mr. Hogben's report the list of periodicals taken a< cur College. There ure two periodicals there which relate solely to physics, two others relating partly to it. I may mention that there are fourteen hundred journals published that relate to physics, yet the way in which we provide for that in Wellington is that wo take four. The effect of tfiat you may think will not be very serious. One of the effects is that you prevent many good students in science from accepting a New Zealand professorship. When I appear on behalf of the Reform Association to give you evidence I propose to actually show you letters in which it is said by the writers they wouid not accept a New Zealand appointment. I withdrew from an appointment in South Africa because 1 found there were no libraries there, and that in accepting this appoint ment I was misled as to the libraries in New Zealand. 12. Who misled yout —Quite unintentionally the committee in London, consisting of the High Commissioner, Professor Rutherford, and Professor Callendar. I asked them what libraries there were in Wellington, and they stated that they believed the Parliamentary Library contained a number of scientific periodicals. Be that as it may, the point is that we are supposed to teach science in University colleges without being acquainted with the progress of it in the world. Science is a subject which progresses rapidly, and if a teacher is unable to keep in touch with its progress I venture to say that his teaching will become valueless. The remedy that we have found is to buy our own scientific periodicals. There are Professors of Science at Victoria College and in other parts of New Zealand who spend from three to four times as much on their own scientific libraries as the national University library spends—l regard Victoria College as the national institution —and it seems scarcely worthy of a national institution that it can do so little. I know of one professor who spends about £'4(> a year on science books, and the expenditure at the College on the same subject is about £12 a year. Thus the absence of the periodicals tends to prevent the professor from keeping in touch with the progress of knowledge, while if he does keep in touch it becomes a charge on his salary : he is made to pay for things which the State ought to pay for. Further than that, the position of the libraries in New Zealand is such with regard to science that it is impossible to find in any of them throughout the length and breadth of New Zealand the books which record the progress of thought and discovery. Being a professor you may think that I take an extreme view on this subject, and that 1 am interested in things that have no practical importance for the people of New Zealand. I have here a little pamphlet called " The Interpretation of Milk Records." It was submitted to me by the Agricultural Chemist for my opinion as to whether the conclusions in it were correct. The purpose of the author is to find out how a farmer can tesi a cow during its first year of milking, and from the results that he obtains in the milking during thai year to argue as to the yield of milk that the cow will give later in its life. So you can see the obvious utility of it to all dairy-farmers in New Zealand. It was awarded the gold medal for research by the Royal Agricultural Society of England. The footnotes contain references to the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, " Biometrika," the American Analyst, and a number of other journals. Dutch as well as English. Now, the obviously utilitarian result that this pamphlet arrives at cannot be adequately tested or understood unless you have access to the literature referred to in the footnote —unless the reader does that it is impossible to test the accuracy of some of the conclusions, because the writer of the pamphlet merely mentions the conclusion and gives the footnote in order that you can g<l all the material supporting it. The paper is unintelligible unless you can get access to that material. Of the papers referred to I do not think we have one-half. The starving of our libraries is actually foolish from an economic point of view, even if we leave out of consideration that Xew-Zealanders should at least desire to be acquainted with the progress of thought in various subjects. There are only two matters further that I should like to refer to, and I wish now to give evidence on my own account and not on behalf of others. You will notice that in Mr. Hogben's report no provision is made for research at all in any college. By his reduction in the amount of the grant for libraries h< , would injure research, and there are no means provided to encourage it. One recommendation was put before the Education Department by the professorial conference, but I do not think any action has been taken on it. It was this : " That it be a recommendation from the professorial conference to the Minister of Education that the Government research scholarships be not restricted to subjects which are of immediate economic value, and that in cases when the scholarship lapses for one year the value of the scholarship for the following two years shall be increased to £150." The purpose of that was to enable research to be carried out in subjects which are not of immediate economic value. At the present time there is no provision for research in any subject which is not of an economic character in science, and if our teaching-work in New Zealand is to become of a really university character then some provision should be made for research which is not of an economic character. As far as I am aware the Government and the Education Department have taken no notice of the recommendation of the professorial conference on the subject. Presumably the professors' recommendation is not worthy of consideration. Practically all the science teachers in New Zealand were present when that recommendation was made. I would just like to call your attention to a personal experience of my own in the matter in which I think I have been unfairly treated. With a view to encouraging research in pure science T offered £50 to the Victoria College if they would establish a research scholarship in physios, on condition that the Government paid a £50 subsidy. I paid over the £50 to the College, but the Government up to the present have not paid the subsidy over. I will put before you a letter dated .lOth October, 1912 which I wrote to Mr. Herdman on the point: "Victoria College has been endeavouring for the last eighteen months to obtain a subsidy from the Education Department on a donation it has received. As repeated applications for the subsidy have been unsuccessful, may I ask you, as member for the district in which the College is situated, to obtain from the Education Depart-