1920.1 
University and Scientific News. 
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them in a way that would be of benefit to the country. The members 
of the Institute could say definitely that they had done good work during 
the last fifty years. In educational work they were not training their young 
people in observation work as they should, and he hoped that greater value 
would be placed upon the cultivation of observation in the child. 
Mr. A. Bathgate, the only original member who was present, said he 
felt that he ought to be labelled “ Exhibit A, specimen of the Otago 
Institute of fifty years ago.” The original members had all been young 
men, but none of them were scientifically trained. Still, they were men 
of education who had used their powers of intellect and observation in 
acquiring knowledge of the natural history of the country. He referred 
especially to the work done by Messrs. J. S. Webb, Bobert Gillies, and 
A. H. Boss. 
The Hon. Sir James Allen, who was received with applause, said he was 
very pleased to be present to congratulate the Institute upon its fifty years 
of usefulness. And might he pay his respects to the original member present ? 
He did not think he should be there as exhibit A. He (Sir James) would 
put him down as Al. He had listened to the President’s speech with very 
much interest, and he noted that Mr. Thomson had referred to the four 
subjects which were the original subjects of the Institute. Mr. Thomson 
had mentioned art, and he would call attention to the fact that the war 
was over, and that the time had come for the people of New Zealand to 
set up in the capital of the country a memorial to those who had fallen 
and had thus made the great sacrifice. Whether they had artists in New 
Zealand who could produce a memorial design he did not know, but it 
ought to be an artistic production of the highest type. Then, might he be 
allowed to say, with regard to science, that he quite agreed it would be 
impossible to utilize science as it should be used for the commercial 
interests of the country without young people devoting themselves, in the 
first instance, to pure science. Even during the war-time their thoughts 
had been directed to utilizing science because of the extraordinary develop¬ 
ments that had taken place during the last four or five years. Efforts 
had been made to cultivate among members of Parliament and members 
of the Cabinet an interest in scientific development. They had been 
talking a great deal about research. The question had been discussed 
and proposals made. He hoped, now the war was over, and they had 
settled down again and the finances had become more stable, that the 
Government would consider giving some assistance to scientific research. 
He valued very much the work done in the early days by the original 
members of the Institute. What gave one hope was that those following 
in their footsteps might set up an even more brilliant record. He hoped 
that the influences that had been amongst the people during the last 
fifty years of their early development, which had been so valuable, might 
be with them during the next fifty years. 
Jubilee of Otago University. 
The celebration of the jubilee of the University of Otago, which took 
place during the first week of February, formed a very notable event in 
the educational life of the Dominion. The history of the first fifty years 
