2 70 



NA TURE 



[July 19, 1894 



distinciive lule than to carry into effect the scheme of 

 the Gresham Commissioners." These will sufficiently 

 indicate the Annual Committee's views. 



Convocation's method of conducting business, it may 

 be hoped, is peculiar to itself. Although an extraordinary 

 meeting was convened on April lo " to consider the Re- 

 port of the Commissioners appointed to consider the 

 draft charter of the proposed Gresham University in 

 London, and also the Report of the Annual Committee 

 thereon,' it was debarred from expressing its opinion, 

 either by discussion or vote, on the Commissioners' 

 Report as a whole, and directed to confine itself to such 

 matters as arose out of whichever resolution of the five 

 might be under debate. .After much fruitless discussion 

 the resolutions proposed by the .Annual Committee were 

 unanimously set aside in favour of a motion which, " with 

 a view to the speedy and satisfactory reconstitution of 

 the University," referred " the whole question of the con- 

 stitution of this University to the .Annual Committee with 

 power to nominate members of a Jomt Consultative Com- 

 mittee of the Senate and Convocation.'' 



This motion, agreed upon at the close of a protracted 

 meeting and devoid of any express instructions to the 

 effect that delegates should be selected so as to represent 

 interests and not individuals, and that the Com- 

 missioners' scheme should form the basis of conference, 

 was no doubt unfortunately worded, but the use to which 

 it might be put was certainly not foreseen at the time of 

 its adoption. In its seconder s opinion, as stated in a 

 letter to the Times, " should such a Committee arrive at 

 a workable result, this may be embodied in a new charter 

 which may be accepted without resort to a Statutory 

 Commission, such as the Annual Committee objected to," 

 in other words, the Consultative Committee might be 

 the means of indefinitely postponing the settlement of 

 the question of University reform. And the Annual 

 Committee, having failed to carry its resolutions, must 

 have taken much the same view, since its delegates were, 

 with one exception — that of a theologian — chosen entirely 

 from its own body, while on points of order raised by 

 two of its members in connection with the motion, dis- 

 cussion on the Commissioners' Report at the ordinary 

 meeting of Convocation on May S was again prevented, 

 although a notice of motion expressing general approval 

 of the scheme was allowed to appear on \h^ agenda. 



Tactics such as these not infrequently meet with the 

 reward they deserve. University reform in London has 

 waited too long for an obstructive and dilatory attitude, 

 whether arising out of questions of "dignity" or of 

 inability to take a broad view of the problem, on the 

 part of a few, to be tolerable, and fortunate it is 

 that a salutary change has taken place in Convo- 

 cation itself. A movement in favour of the Gresham 

 scheme took definite shape a few days after the 

 extraordinary meeting on .April lo ; a Committee of 

 Graduates was formed and a circular sent out to elicit 

 from members of Convocation an expression of general 

 approval of its provisions, and a direct vote in Con- 

 vocation on the scheme being prevented, its adherents 

 look the only course open to them, turned out the old 

 Annual Committee on May 8, and replaced it by one 

 almost wholly favourable to the Commissioners' proposals. 

 Although not a direct vote in favour of the scheme, it 

 has with good reason been regarded as tantamount to 

 this, since the meeting which elected the new Annual 

 Committee would certainly have expressed general ap- 

 proval of the Report had not the motion to this effect 

 been ruled out of order by the chairman. 



Since May 8, events have moved rapidly. The dele- 

 gates appointed by the late Annual Committee, with one 

 exception, resigned their seats on the Joint Consultative 

 Committee as a result of the vote adverse to themselves, 

 and the Joint Consultative Committee with its endless 

 opoortunitics for delay has been shelved. _The circular 



NO. I 290, VOL. 50] 



issued by the Committee of Graduates just mentioned 

 obtained S56 replies, many of them from the best known 

 and most influential members of Convocation, expressing 

 "general approval of the Commissioners' Report'; and 

 this fact with a list of signatories was embodied in a 

 memorial praying the Senate to "use all its influence to 

 induce the Government to appoint a Statutory Com- 

 mission forthwith." At its meeting on June 13, the 

 Senate, happy in its opportunity, passed almost 

 unanimously a resolution in which general approval of 

 the proposals of the Commissioners was expressed, and 

 instructions given to its special Committee to consider 

 suggestions for the terms of reference to the Statutory 

 Commission. A fortnight later the .Annual Committee 

 and other invited graduates met the Special Com- 

 mittee of the Senate in conference, and on behalf of the 

 former it was urged " that it is desirable to memorialise 

 Government to take immediate steps for the appointment 

 of a Statutory Commission to frame statutes in general 

 accordance with the Report of the Gresham Commission, 

 with full power to make such modifications as they 

 may see fit, after conference with Convocation and 

 other bodies affected." Further, four delegates from the 

 Annual Committee attended the meeting on June 30, of 

 representatives from nearly all the institutions which, 

 according to the Commissioners' proposals, will form 

 constituent colleges of the reorganised University, and 

 concurred in the resolution of similar character, which, 

 as reported in N.vture (this vol., p. 227), was passed 

 unanimously by those having the right to vote as 

 delegates. .And now the welcome news has transpired 

 that at its meeting on July 11 the Senate passed a 

 resolution urging the immediate appointment of a 

 Statutory Commission with power to modify details of the 

 Gresham Commissioners' scheme if judged expedient 

 after conference with the bodies concerned, and that 

 copies of the resolution were forwarded to the Lord 

 Chancellor, the Lord President and the Vice-President 

 of the Council, and the Home Secretary. 



The unexpected, therefore, has happened. In every- 

 way in which it has been permitted to do so. Convoca- 

 tion, like the Senate, has expressed general approval of 

 the Commissioners' proposals, and the University of 

 London instead of being placed, by divided counsels, in 

 a position deplorable to all friends of higher education 

 in London, is now at the head of the movement for a 

 University worthy of the greatest city of the world. Now 

 that extensive approval of the Report by the great 

 majority of the institutions concerned has satisfied the 

 condition laid down by the Home Secretary as one to be 

 complied with before action could be taken by the 

 Government, it may be hoped that before P.irliament is 

 prorogued an Act appointing the Statutory Commission 

 will be added to the legislative achievements of the 

 Session. W. Palmer Wynne. 



THE OXFORD MEETING OF THE BRITISH 

 ASSOCIATION. 



SIN'CE the last account of the preparations for the 

 meeting of the British Association on August S 

 appeared in these columns, the local arrangements have 

 made steady progress, and the arrangements for the 

 Sectional and other meeting rooms are nearly complete. 

 It may be well to explain that only a few of the Sectional 

 meeting rooms can be darkened for the use of a lantern. 

 It has been found impracticable to darken the large 

 writing rooms in the Kxamination Schools in which 

 Sections K and K will meet ; and the s.ime may be said 

 of Hertford College Hall (Section C) and Keble College 

 Hall (Section F;. The Clarendon Laboratory Theatre 

 (Section A), the Anatomical Theatre and Laboratory 

 (Sections D and H), and the Physiology Theatre, are 

 provided with dark blinds ; and the large Lecture Theatre 



