At Birmingham on Friday, November 19th, Mr. Chamber. lain, presiding
at a meeting of the Court of Governors al Mason College, urged his hearers to make every effort tc raise the £200,000 which it is calculated are wanted tc enable the new Birmingham University to be placed on a satisfactory footing. Mr. Chamberlain thus expressed the ideal they ought to pursue,—i.e., "the creation in Birmingham of a great centre of universal learning, of an institution which should provide for the intellectual cultivation of mind in the broadest possible sense, and which shall maintain for ever in the city the highest standard of intellectual eminence: They desired, he went on, that in this school all acquired knowledge should be taught and explained, and "we further desire that knowledge should be advanced by original research, and by the willing co-operation of those who are engaged as professors and teachers." That is a noble and inspiring ideal, and we sincerely trust that an adequate endowment will be forthcoming. We certainly are not to be counted among those who Mr. Chamberlain says sneer al provincial Universities. We believe that provincial Univer sities may fill a most important place in the national life,– provided only they are not looked upon as "bread-and-butte schools," but local seats of learning.
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