OXFORD UNIVERSITY AND A BUSINESS DIPLOMA.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—In view of Lord Haldane's powerful speech at the Mansion House in favour of commercial education, it would be interesting to know his lordship's opinion on the fact that at Oxford the proposal for a post-graduate commercial course and a business diploma has found the obstructions placed in its path by archaic views of the functions of a University too powerful at the first attempt That fact is a matter for regret to those who are profoundly concerned at the handicap which this country must suffer while it is obstructed in the international competition for commercial supremacy by the indifference of the Universities which, through their peculiar traditions and social prestige, attract a large proportion of those who would be the most valuable recruits in such a competition. It is perhaps a matter for still keener regret to those who, in their regard for an "Alma Mater" which might and ought to be so powerful a source of inspiration and guidance in the forward movement of the great Imperial race, cannot but feel a deep regret that their "Alma Mater," under the influence of a gross perversion of fine traditions, should have elected to declare herself nothing but a home of "lost causes." The supremacy of the British Empire, built up on the foundations of a supremacy of Imperial commerce, is no lost or losing cause. And there is no glory or honour to be won by the University of Oxford in opposing it, because it is a winning cause. The ancient Universities of Oxford and Cambridge will have to reconsider their obligations to national life and national needs. They only injure their own capacity for usefulness by delay. The proposal which has now been " blanketed " will soon have to be revived. And there is every reason for believing that, when it is revived, it will have a force of public opinion behind it which will make success
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