Page:Convocation Addresses of the Universities of Bombay and Madras.djvu/125

 I will now turn to the Endowments, and present a comparative statement of them of the three Indian Universities:—

The University now possesses and administers no less than 32 separate endowments, which is more than double the number that existed in 1870. Their aggregate value has risen from Rs. 1,15,000 to Rs. 2,47,000, and the annual income stands at Rs. 11,049 as against Rs. 5,110. It is at once highly creditable to the public spirit oi Bombay, and a good omen for the future, that the decade less prosperous, in a mercantile point of view, which began with 1870 has been as fruitful in these gifts of an enlightened zeal as the decade on which that year closed. Much, however, remains to be done, and I trust that this flow of liberality may go on steadily for years to come. The Wilson Philological Lectureship, on the lamented death of Dr. Wilson, assumed its final form, and became the first of what we hope may prove a goodly series of endowments, which are calculated, by the encouragement they give the scholars and the advantages they secure to the public, to be of the greatest service to the development of original literary research in this Presidency. Is it too much to expect that the friendly rivalry between the Arts and Sciences which is making itself heard within our walls may soon take the form of one or more scientific lectureships. The list of benefactions shows no increase. And we may perhaps admit that in the Bombay of our day the University can hardly look for such benefactions from private individuals as the four lacs to which we owe the adjoining magnificent building.

Though I trust that in better days to come we may see, through private beneficence, other academical buildings clustering round these graceful piles, and forming the large open space to