London
SIR SIDNEY RUSSELL WELLS used to be troubled when he was Vice-Chancellor of the University of London by the absence of any regulation or practice governing the wearing of academic dress. A student might go through his three or four years of University life and present himself for his final examination without at any time wearing a gown or any other sign or token that he was a member of the University. And this absence of any mark or sign by which the student might be recognized, Sir Sidney held to be one of the reasons why London was not aware of the vast organization of University life and activity that has grown up in its midst during the last century. To recognize students as students and to realize how many there are threading their way daily through the London crowd as they journey to and from their colleges, would, he believed, excite in Londoners a lively interest in their University and its colleges. And this interest would be increased if the badge or mark indicated by some appropriate
distinction the college to which the student belonged. • There are, on the other hand, some who would say that London is only too well aware that it has a University. Its affairs have been debated in an atmosphere of publicity of which the world at large has grown a little tired. Yet, what- ever changes may follow the removal of the central activities of the University to Bloomsbury, it will remain on the internal side a federation of colleges of some of which it may be said that they are of University standing. One of the problems that will face the Court, Senate and Collegiate Council when the new statutes come into operation will be to discover how best to promote the interests of the University as a whole while promoting the welfare of the individual colleges and schools. This will demand a degree of accommodation and good will that will stretch but not be beyond the capacity of the Court, backed as they will be by the moderating and conciliatory counsel of the Principal, Dr. :Sibly, whose recovery from illness is a source of general satisfaction throughout the University. If the same spirit is displayed in implementing the statutes as Lord Justice Tomlin and his fellow-commis- sioners have shown in framing them, the patient work of the Statutory Commission will be fruitful.
It is well to emphasize how essential to the well-being of the University is the prosperity of its colleges and schools. These are, and must remain, distinct and widely separated. University College has for a hundred years flourished in Bloomsbury, while King's College for almost as long has over- looked the river. The School of Economics is on the other side of the Strand, two minutes' walk from King's. East London College is beyond the City, but the Imperial College is in South Kensington. Bedford College is in Regent's Park, and Royal Holloway College is near Windsor Great Park. Westfield College is in Hampstead, and King's College of Household and Social Science is on Campden Hill. Birkbeck College will move to Bloomsbury, but the great Hospital Medical Schools will necessarily remain where they are—St. Bartholomew's, St. Thomas's, Westminster, Guy's, St. George's, London, Middlesex, Charing. Cross, Urn. Nersity College, King's. College and St. Mary's. Nor must the
Theological Schools be overlooked at Hackney, Regent's Park, Richmond and Highbury, nor the London Day Training College and Goldsmith's' College. - The - development on the Bloomsbury site of an adequate University centre stands approved as a worthy and great enterprise ; but the corporate life of the colleges and schools will necessarily continue to absorb the best activities of the students.
A year ago University College celebrated its hundredth anniversary. This year King's College keeps its centenary. These, the two incorporated colleges of the University, have, with the approval of the Senate, issued appeals for increased endowments—University College last year, King's College this year. It is greatly to be hoped that those who have the good of the University of London at heart will see to it that the great work that has been done for University education in London by its two oldest colleges meets with the practical recognition for which they have appealed. K.
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