23 MAY 1874, Page 3

Lord Edmund Fitzmaurice asked Mr. Mowbray (M.P. for Oxford University)

on Tuesday whether he would lay on the table of the House of Commons a copy of the trust-deed mentioned in the preamble and in Section 6 of the Hertford College (Oxford) Bill, to which Mr. Mowbray replied that no trust-deed is referred to either in the preamble or in Section 6 of the Bill, and that no trust-deed is in existence relating to the £30,000 mentioned inthe preamble. -"Thirty thousand pounds has been transferred by the donor to the Chancellor of the University, and now stands in Lord Salisbury's name solely upon trust to hand over the same to the collegiate body to be incorporated by the Bill, and to be used for the endowment of fellowships in Hertford College. No further conditions can be imposed by the donor, and if the Bill passes, the money will be placed entirely beyond his control." This is, so far as it goes, satisfactory, and we understand that one of the working tutors of Magdalen Hall is to be made a fellow of Hertford College. It would seem, then, that the gift is substantiall,y unfettered, and that the only equivalent which the donor has conditioned for, is the right to name the first fellows of Hertford College. We trust, however, that if the college is to become one of the regular University group, the fellowships will be conferred by competition, and not by virtue of any secret tradition as to the wishes of the donor.