Page:Last Will and Testament of Cecil Rhodes.djvu/44

30 I direct my Trustees to establish certain Scholarships and these Scholarships I some- and £125 per annum respectively in order to help them to go to one of the colleges at Oxford and continue the studies they have begun at the Cape. Originally the endowment was of £250 per annum for a single scholarship, tenable for three years at Oxford; but quite recently, by an additional act of generosity on the part of the donor, £50 per annum was added to the value of the scholarship, bringing it up to £300 per annum. At the same time a discretionary power was given to the Diocesan College to apportion the whole sum, pro hac vice, between the first two competitors, if it seemed expedient to do so and if the parents were willing and able to add something of their own. For Mr. Rhodes always thought that a student coming to Oxford should have a thoroughly sufficient, if not good, allowance, in order that he might enter into every phase of University life without the ever-present thought of the 'res angusta domi.' The scholars-elect are still continuing their studies at the college at Rondebosch until such time as they are ready to proceed to Oxford in 1903. Mr. Rhodes made, in the case of the Diocesan College, somewhat the same stipulation as to tests and proficiency as in his subsequent magnificent endowments.”

The Bursar of Christ Church being questioned as to the point whether the £300 a year would close the gates of Christ Church to the Rhodes scholars, Mr. Skene pointed out that it all depended on the question whether the £300 a year was to keep the scholars the whole year through, both in term time at the University and in vacation elsewhere, or merely during the University years of six months. “If the latter,” he said, “then £300 a year will keep them comfortably enough at Christ Church, and will enable them to enter into the social and varied life of the House. But if this amount is also to serve for vacation expenses, the balance left for the University will make it impossible, or, at any rate, inadvisable, for them to come to Christ Church.”

A senior member of Oriel says Mr. Rhodes contemplated that the sum he provides shall be sufficient to maintain the recipients, together with their personal expenses, travelling, clothing, etc., and to enable them to mix freely in the society of the place and take a position amongst men who are well equipped in this world's goods. An ordinary young man at Oxford—I don't say at this college—would be comfortably off with an allowance of £250 a year, and many parents allow