Page:Convocation Addresses of the Universities of Bombay and Madras.djvu/260

Rh shall watch with special interest to see whether the figures of endowments are changed from thousands to lákhs. I shall hope to read one of these days that you are trying to emulate those miners in the quarry at Penrhyn, who though their hours of work were reduced, though they were working only four days a week, still managed to contribute to a college at Bangor in North Wales £1,330. The contributions of those two thousand men were spread over five years, and it was by such means that the College of North Wales obtained an endowment of £30,000. These miners, though not able to be educated at this institution, were convinced of the great benefits which it would indirectly confer upon them. I also shall watch in these proceedings with great interest the results of those reforms which, though officially I was not allowed to take any part in them, I have so often discussed with both the late and present Vice- Chancellors. And I trust also to hear that the graduates and undergraduates of this great institution are more and more realising the very great responsiblity [sic] which the education they have received here imposes on them. I hope to hear that they are always going along the straight line, that in having before them the virtues—and I am sorry to say the vices—of two civilisations. Western and Eastern, they reject the vices of both and blend the virtues of both. Then and then alone can they lead happy and pure lives. I hope to hear that they are doing all in their power to advance both intellectual culture and moral enlightenment among their own country-men. The prayer of this University might well be the motto of one of the European Universities, Sol justiciæ illustra nos.

 

A Special Convocation of the University of Bombay was held in the University Hall on the 18th December 1890, for the purpose of conferring upon Mr. W. Wordsworth,, Principal of Elphinstone College and Vice-Chancellor of the University, the Degree of Doctor of Laws.

The Honorable Mr. Justice Birdwood said:—

Mr. Chancellor and Gentlemen of the Senate,—Early in the year 1884, the Government of India passed an Act which conferred on the Universities of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay the power of granting the degree of Doctor in the Faculty of Law to certain persons, without requiring them first to pass a qualifying examination. An honorary degree may be conferred on the recommendation of the Syndicate, if supported by a vote of the majority of the Senate, and confirmed by the Chancellor, on any person on the ground of his eminent position and attainments. 