256 SOUTH AFRICA — AND THE UNDERGRADUATE. 



origo ought to be the University itself. Let us be honest with 

 ourselves and bluntly ask: "' Can anyone deny this indictment?" 

 It is no wonder that under such scholastic conditions our Under- 

 graduate is suffering from mental congestion, and that in such 

 an atmosphere as his own College affords, his outlook is in danger 

 of being narrowed down to the interests of his own particular 

 /action. It is no wonder, we say. that he is blind to the wonder- 

 ful metamorphosis his own country is undergoing, and that he 

 regard- sport as the only serious occupation of his life. It is 

 time we got him on to the heights that he may see for himself 

 away on the horizon the restless churning that heralds the onrush 

 oi a tidaJ wave, whose far-flung edge but now idly laps upon the 

 threshold of his door. 



Wanted — One South African University Centre — 



Residential. 



Convinced as we arc that no National effort has yet been 

 made to face our National problems, and that the time is now ripe 

 to place them on the table for all men to see and inwardly digest. 

 and that there exists, as yet. no fount of thought at which our 

 Undergraduate may freely imbibe large and generous National 

 ideals, we maintain it is high time our various Educational fac- 

 tions abandoned a fatuous policy in favour of something truly 

 great, truly National, truly Imperial — something worthy of the 

 high tradition- of the Race. The clamant need of our young 

 undergraduate is one South African University centre — a centre 

 composed not of any one college but of many colleges, all resting 

 beneath the wing oi one inspiring Alma Mater; a University 

 which will afford all young South Africans untrammelled oppor- 

 tunities of knowing one another, of detaching themselves from 

 racial and local prejudices, of forming-independent judgments, of 

 recognising the great truth that all the virtues are not the sole 

 possession of any one people — whether they be Dutchmen or 

 Englishmen ; and oi effecting the solidarity of the two White 

 Races of South Africa; a University which will hold the student' 

 not a- a mere Examination unit but as a sentient being " to be 

 touched to fine issue- " ; a University which is not the outward 

 symbol oi the dry lx>ne- of knowledge, but a temple enshrining 

 the quickening spirit of understanding. 



"Very pretty, and very Utopian," someone will say. We say 

 that our suggestion is not Utopian; in fact, its great beauty is 

 that it is so feasible. The opportunity and the means of laying 

 the foundation -tone have been given us, and it is our duty to 

 lay it; future generation- may add to. and complete the super- 

 structure. But why do we delay ? Would the inauguration of 

 so magnificent a National conception disturb too many vested 

 interests? .Are the needs, the aims, the aspirations of the two 

 great political factions -till distinct and at variance? Is the 

 racial equation still of greater import than the National weal? 

 Are we determined to forget that what is to us merely a personal 



