Page:Convocation Addresses of the Universities of Bombay and Madras.djvu/37

 of the University. Many deductions must be made on account of absence and pre-occupation; and the working residue of a body limited to twenty-six Fellows, which could be present at any one time in Bombay, would be very small indeed. On the other hand, there are obvious disadvantages in throwing the important work of the University, especially that of examinations, on men who have no special connection with the University. It is a noteworthy fact that at the first institution of the University much difficulty was found in selecting fit and proper persons to fill the office of Fellows, but now our difficulty is of the opposite character, and we are forced to select from among those who would be eligible and useful as Fellows, and the necessity has become apparent for fixing some maximum limit to the number of such appointments. The present number on the rolls is 127 Fellows, including those who are Fellows ex-officio, but a large proportion of the whole number is non-resident in Bombay. There are, or will shortly be, ten or twelve vacancies caused by the death or departure of Follows. We have thought it well not at present to make any great addition to the numbers on the present roll. I will briefly state, for the information of the Senate, the claims which seem to us to entitle the gentlemen selected to the high honour.

The Rev. Mr. Beynon is a distinguished Canarese scholar, one of the few who is able to assist tho University in dealing with that great section of tho people of this presidency who speak the Canarese tongue. I trust he will remember that we can not yet boast of a single Canarese graduate. Mr. Coke is a graduate of Cambridge who has long occupied a prominent and most important post in the Educational department of this Government, and I feel assured that, whatever his future pursuits in life, he will always retain a deep interest in the cause of education in this country, to which many of the best years of his life have been devoted. Mr. Dhunjeebhoy Framjee Nusservvanjee has, as I am assured, turned his special attention to the study of the ancient languages of bis race. This is a branch, of learning in which the University of Bombay ought to excel every other University in the world, and I trust the day is not far distant when we may find the Zend and Pehlevic learning of our great German scholars at least equalled by that of the Parsees of British India. Few men have done more for the cause of education in Guzerab than Mr. Hope. His claims to a seat in our Senate are so well known that I will only bid him welcome among us. Mr. Kursou- dass Madhowdaas has, by a long and consistent course of self-