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On Which Side was he Fighting

The following paragraph appeared in the "New Zealand Times" of the 7th July, 1902:—

"Mr. Blair expressed the opinion that an expenditure of £25,000 would provide ample accommodation for four hundred students. In support of this view, he instanced the Bank of New Zealand. This, he said, was erected for £24,000, but at least one-third of that amount was below the street level; so that the part of the building that was seen must have cost only £15,000 or £16,000."

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Then up rose the "Spike" with a gleam in its eye
And a sharp metallic stare,
As it tried to answer the question, "Why.
Oh, why was that gentleman there ?''

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For why? Mr J. R. Blair is a citizen, of repute, a member of the College Council and, moreover, a member of the Building Committee. It seems reasonable to suppose that the College Council did not make a sporting shot at the sum of £30,000, and that it had gone fully into the matter—with Mr. Blair's aid—before the occasion in question. And, presumably with a well considered plan, it was now asking as a responsible body, that the Government should make due provision for an institution which Parliament had established. The uninitiated might think that Mr. Blair had best have stayed at home on such an occasion—when his colleagues had decided to visit the Government with this set purpose. Certainly, the surest way of spoiling the whole work of the Council and of the committee was to do as Mr Blair did. And so we ask, "Why was Mr. Blair there?"

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The sweet reasonableness of the Council's request has been more than once demonstrated—notably by Professor Easterfield—and the fallacy of the comparison with the Bank of New page 34 Zealand seems too palpable for remark—though perhaps not so painfully idiotic as the comparison with the Terrace School. In a letter to the "Post," a gentleman signing himself Richard C. Maclaurin (may his tribe increase !) wrote : —"To expect to educate men to great and noble ideas in mean and ignoble surroundings is to neglect one of the deepest lessons of modern science."

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The sequel is interesting. Mr. Blair's conscience was so much agitated that he "rushed into print with a letter in which he agrees with "much that Professor Maclaurin has written." After a slight arithmetical calculation, ending with £45,000, Mr. Blair asks the question, "Now, is there (num.) any prospect of our obtaining such a sum of money at the present time?" Then he goes on, "I doubt it, and making demands which cannot be granted means delay." Mr. Blair does wisely in "doubting." There was about one way cf making that doubt a certainty—and Mr. Blair took it. Governments don't, as a rule, look upon college grants in the same way as college councils—and a united front is half of the battle. As to' the delay he feared, Mr. Blair's anxiety was evidently an afterthought, for when he spoke the "demands" had been made. Division does not spell despatch. "Why was Mr. Blair there?"

A brilliant idea strikes us. Perhaps Mr. Blair's experience leads him to the belief that Governments are too lavish with their "boodle." Perhaps it was the thought of the Wellington Technical School, or the Duke of York's visit, or of the Bank M New Zealand, or something, which inspired him with the belief that the Government wanted a quiet restraining hand. If that was Mr. Blair's idea, it seems a pity that he did not break out either sooner or later. "The Spike" is not so sanguine on the subject of official generosity in the cause of higher education.

If Mr. Blair was really on the Reputation to put the brake on, we come back to our first question, "On which side was he fighting?"

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Since the above was written the Government has given £15,000 for the building.