19 APRIL 1924, Page 3

The death of Mr. A. L. Smith, the Master of

Balliol, last Saturday morning, in his 74th year, removes one df the best known, and we may say one of the most loved, of Oxford figures. Mr. A. L. Smith became Master in 1916, perhaps the most difficult moment in the whole long history of Oxford. He was a Master practically without undergraduates, but in three years time he was suddenly faced with 230 more than the college had ever held • before. It was on him that the task of preserving the continuity of Oxford life especially fell, and there is no doubt that he was one of the men who did most to preserve it. * * * *