Other formats

    Adobe Portable Document Format file (facsimile images)   TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

SMAD. An Organ of Student Opinion. 1931. Volume 2. Number 3.

Odd thoughts on the Calendar

page 9

Odd thoughts on the Calendar

1.There are more things in Heaven and earth than a fresher can thing of. says our Professor of Philosophy. Imagine a fresher thinking of a thing like this: "The Arms are vert on a fesse engrailed between three crowns or a canton azure charged with four estoilles argent (in the form of a Southern Cross)." This sounds like one of the Registrar's bad dreams. Has he been psycho-analysed?
2.And must the Registrar be condemned for all that appears in the Calendar? Perish the thought! "The College seal is lozenge shaped"—what a sweetly poetic conception! One can almost hear the gum drop. Ponder this exquisite piece of burlesque: "a figure of Queen Victoria crowned and sceptred with the legend...." How picturesque it sounds. And the cunning legend apparently does two things at once. No wonder the Registrar does not feature it pictorially in the Calendar.
3."Seal of the Victoria University College. Wellington, New Zealand. 1897." This is the legend we've read so much about. But what is a legend? It would be more in keeping with the spirit of the University to ask what is not a legend; for our present purposes, however, we may regard a legend as a tale that was once believed, but is so no longer. In the childhood of the race it might have been found possible to credit the statement that Wellington was in New Zealand in 1897. But geography has made such tremendous strides since then that we may be pardoned for saying that we know better. It is not unreasonable to expect that increased familiarity with the effects of earthquakes will in course of time cause us to revise hitherto accepted notions as to the validity of geographical facts. "Wellington was in New Zealand in 1931. Disappeared 1932. Reappeared 1910. and so on." The legend also refers to "the Victoria University College." (Beware of imitations.)
4.The archaisms of the sealozenge achieve their apex in a motto. This is a form of advertisement which was very popular in mediaeval times, when (as our Professor of English has delightfully remarked). "knights were bold." As a modern advertisement, the affirmation "Sapientia magis auro desiroranda" (which, according to our Professor of Classics, is in the Latin tongue), leaves much to be desired. Even in the excellent English translation which is in vogue, it is plainly out of harmony with modern needs. The terms "wisdom" and "gold" are out of date. (They represent institutions which, like all institutions except University Colleges, have outlived their usefulness.) In our own time, wisdom has been superseded by knowledge, which is an altogether different thing and much more highly thought of. If the Man in the Street were asked what was taught at Victoria University College, he would unhesitatingly answer, "Bunk." For the Age of Knowledge (our age) is indubitably the Age of Bunk. As for the second term of our pair, how much commerce have we with gold?—not gold medals (for these are common), but gold coin? As our Professor of Economics emphatically declares, it simply isn't done. Monetarily, we live in an Age of Paper. The impracticability of our motto is clearly evident when we substitute for its terms their modern equivalents: "Bunk is more to be desired than Paper Currency"! But how immorally modern it is as the Higher Critics would have it: "Bunk is to be desired for more Paper Currency."
5.A University College is, of course, too deeply rooted in the past to be modern. Tradition is its life and soul. It is in the world but not of it. Therefore we hold fast to the original significance of our slogan —"Wisdom is more to be desired than gold." Our students do not come to Victoria University College to acquire the art of making money. Our professors and aspirant professors are superbly indiifferent to thoughts of stipends. And our Registrar scorns any solicitude for fees. Let the Government say "Cut"— who runs? Who cares? Isn't wisdom more to be etcetra?
6.A final thought. The knave who described the Calendar as "the Unchristian Year" uttered a canard.

Faddle.