Correspondence
[A LETTER FROM OXFORD.] [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
Sin,—On May 19th Oxford at last settled its Bodleian problem. The meeting of Congregation at which the solution was reached was virtually a formal one. The speakers all alike supported the proposals. This brings to an end a long story of conflicting views and rival plans. Both sides have genuinely attempted to find a solution, and the division into two opposed camps has been based simply upon two separate and distinct general policies. The Commissioners who drew up a report, after long travels in foreign countries, were not unanimous. There was a Minority Report. Here the division of opinion was also based upon a distinction of general policy. The Majority Report made its decisions mainly on the assumption that Oxford shall continue its traditional methods of teaching and keep research more or less at the present level. The Minority Report looked forward to a much wider and deeper extension of research throughout the whole University. That, in short, is the rock on which the vessel originally broke. But in the last weeks negotiations between both parties established what is, as far as can be seen at present, an admir- able compromise. And it was that compromise which was presented to Congregation on May 19th. The compromise establishes that the new Bodleian .annexe which is to rise in Broad Street shall be architecturally of such a character that, if at a later time it is found that the needs for research increase and that the demand for it is more loudly expressed, then the building shall be capable of rapid adaptation so as to' provide rooms for special work, with accommodation for special reading and for professors and their classes.
Sir Henry Miers, who spoke on behalf of the Majority Com- missioners, explained-his case with care and lucidity. He also explained the compromise arrived at, and congratulated the Commission on the removal of the whole matter from the region of controversy. But he could not refrain from criticizing the defects of the Minority Report. Herein he showed a strange lack of taste and tact, bringing-in the very controversy from which he had just escaped. Mr. A. H. Smith, who spoke on behalf of those who supported the
Minority Report, did not follow those lines and made no criticism of the Majority Report, but contented himself with expressing his satisfaction with the compromise. But, he explained, the acceptance of the compromise meant that the far-reaching reforms which his party had contemplated would be deferred but not destroyed. How long they would be deferred he did not pretend to know. The University is to be congratulated upon this solution. It means that the Bodleian will in a few years be a larger and more manageable institution, and that five million of its books will now be made far more accessible to students, even if only a very small proportion will be available actually on the shelves for direct shelf-access." There will be an exhibition room in the lower part of the Radcliffe Camera, and the Camera itself will be used as a vast reference library, mainly for undergraduates.
When these rumbling controversies were past the Univer- sity was able to devote itself more happily to its distin- guished visitor, Professor Einstein. On May 23rd he was given a Doctorate. His third and last lecture took place on the same day. The Professor is no recluse, and has made himself known to a large circle of friends, who are by no means only mathematicians, physicists or philosophers. His charming and picturesque figure will not easily be forgotten.
Architectural changes are as numerous as ever. Merton College have now finished their newly modelled pathway to the Meadows, and in a bay of the newly reconstructed wing of the college on this side there will shortly be erected a monument to Irvine, who perished on Mount Everest. The monument will be modelled upon a simple and austere memo- rial which is in the Cerameicus cemetery at Athens, and it will be the work of Mr. Eric Gill.
Hertford College is now expanding along Holywell, but the building is at present only in the preliminary stages. The new wing of Magdalen is, on the other hand, complete and in use. It has the reputation of containing modern and labour- saving devices unknown to past generations of undergraduates.
The decree passed to decide the future of the Bodleian, on May 19th, has had its sequel in the passing without opposition of the subsequent resolutions which embody the main con- cessions made to the original opponents of the Majority Report. These resolutions now will make it possible for the new Bodleian building to be organized on the most up-to-date lines of modern research.
Many are filled with regret that so large a section of the fine old houses in Broad Street will have to be pulled down to make room for the new building. Sir Henry Miers has referred to these houses as if they were of no beauty or architectural worth. Actually, they are almost all fine examples of seven- teenth or eighteenth-century building, and their demolition will deprive Oxford of still further memorials of its ancient beauty. However fine or appropriate the new Bodleian building may be, it cannot improve upon the present aspect of the Broad. The best that can be hoped for is that it will counteract the painful effect caused by the Indian Institute, which must rank for all time as the ugliest building the Univer- sity has ever put up.
Eights Week began in blinding rain and arctic winds and finished in tropical sun and a heat wave. There were, in consequence, almost as many colds in the head in Oxford as there were visitors.
Our traffic is now being regulated by automatic signals, and it must be confessed that, although they have been in operation for only a week or two, they have already con- tributed to the greater orderliness of traffic. At the same time the various coloured signals and warning notices which they involve are hardly an addition to the beauty of Oxford. The lighted sign that is now embedded in the front of Lincoln College in Turl Street, and its counterpart at the east entrance to the Bodleian and Old Clarendon courtyard, resemble only the illuminated night-signs of night-clubs. They must be seen to be believed !—I am, Sir, &c.,
YOUR OXFORD CORRESPONDENT.
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