NA TURE 



THURSDAY, 



NOVEMBER 27, 



1919. 



THE ROYAL COMMISSION ON THE 

 UNIVERSITIES OF OXFORD AND 

 CAMBRIDGE. 



OEVERAL months ag-o, Mr. H. A. L. Fisher, 

 *^ President of the Board of Education, made 

 the important announcement that the Government 

 had decided to appoint Commissions to inquire 

 into the position of the Universities of Oxford and 

 Cambridge. At both Universities the existing re- 

 sources have proved inadequate to meet the in- 

 creased cost of maintenance of the various 

 departments, and the authorities of each inde- 

 pendently appHed to the Government for financial 

 aid. It was understood that in due course com- 

 prehensive inquiries into the whole resources of 

 the Universities and their colleges, and the use 

 made of them, would be instituted ; and pre- 

 liminary grants of 30,000/. to each University 

 were accepted on this condition. With recon- 

 struction in the air and Government inquiries in 

 the fashion, it is not surprising, therefore, that 

 a Royal Commission (under the chairmanship of 

 Mr. Asquith), with separate Committees for 

 Oxford and Cambridge, and a further Committee 

 dealing with estate management, has now been 

 appointed to inquire into the financial resources of 

 the two Universities and of the colleges, into the 

 administration and application of these resources, 

 into the government of the Universities, and into 

 the relation of the colleges to the Universities and 

 to each other. 



It is more than foitv \(;;n>, since the last Royal 

 •Commission on the Universities of Oxford and 

 •Cambridge was appointed, and the advisability of 

 a new Commission has frequently been suggested 

 in recent years. The question was debated in 

 the House of Lords in 1907, but it was believed 

 at the time that it would be better for the I'ni- 

 versities to institute reforms from within ; and 

 at Oxford the Chancellor, Lord Curzon, made an 

 ■extensive inquiry into the possibility of such 

 reforms, following it up bv an open "letter" 

 addressed to the University, containing a number 

 of valuable suggestions. Some ot these have 

 since been acted upon, but others, such as the 

 abolition of compulsory Cireek in the entrance 

 examination, have temporanlv succumbed to the 

 'Conservatism of certain members of the Univer- 

 sity, more especially the non-resident members of 

 Convocation. Still other questions, such as that 

 relating to degrees for women, have been post- 

 poned owing to the war, but they are likely to 

 come up for consideration in a very short time. 

 NO. 261^, VOL. IO4I 



Hence there would not have been any very cogent 

 grounds for the immediate appointment of a fresh 

 Commission, had it not been for finance. At 

 Oxford, whilst the income of the University has 

 fallen, its expenses have greatly increased. 

 Science in particular, owing to the increase in the 

 number of its students and to the range of their 

 studies, has been forced to make special demands 

 for further laboratory accommodation and for in- 

 creased grants for teaching purposes. 



Considering the special needs of science, the 

 composition of the Oxford Committee is not alto^ 

 gether satisfactory. Of the nine members of the 

 Committee, only two are men of science, whilst 

 in the Cambridge Committee science has been 

 assigned twice as great a representation. Hovi'- 

 ever, there can be no cjuestion of the suitability 

 of the scientific representatives themselves. One 

 of them, Sir Henry Miers, when professor of 

 mineralogy at Oxford, was of invaluable assist- 

 ance, by his moderation and persuasiveness, in 

 l:)ringing the just claims of science before the 

 resident members of the University. Prof. W. H. 

 Bragg will bring to the inquiry the freshness and 

 width of outlook of one who has had experience 

 of research and professorial teaching in two hemi- 

 spheres. Miss Penrose, the principal of Somer- 

 ville College, is a worthy exponent of the claims 

 of women, while Labour is presumably represented 

 by Mr. A. Mansbridge. 



The Cambridg'e Committee is one to which, at 

 any rate as individuals, and from the point of 

 view of the University itself, little exception' can 

 be taken. It contains one woman (Miss Clough), 

 one representative of Labour (Mr. Arthur Hender- 

 son), six (or, including Miss Clough, seven) 

 members of the University, and four distinguished 

 fellows of the Royal Society, namelv, Sir W. 

 Morley Fletcher, Sir Horace Darwin, Dr. H. K. 

 .A.nderson, and Prof. A. Schuster. It Is, however, 

 a pity that the younger generation should be so 

 inadequately represented. The Committee has an 

 average age of about sixty years, and although 

 there are many really distinguished members of 

 the University between the ages of twentv-eight 

 and forty-three, and it is these men who will have 

 mainly to bear the brunt of the next twcr.iy years, 

 there is nobody on the Committee to emphasise 

 their point of view. The absence also of an 

 expert in finance, industry, or econcmnics is 

 noteworthy, and — one would imagine will make 

 the task of tlie Committee more dilhcult. 



.Apart from these objections, however, it is clear 



that Cambridge has nothing to fear, and may 



have much to gain, from its Committee's activities. 



The four scientific members are known as men of 



sound judgment, wide knowledge, and an enthusi- 



