Page:Last Will and Testament of Cecil Rhodes.djvu/54

40 having the control of education in such Colony, Province, State or Territory.

A qualified student who has been elected as aforesaid shall within six calendar months after his election or as soon thereafter as he can be admitted into residence or within such extended time as my Trustees shall allow commence course vote alone. It is provided that the vote of the scholars should be taken by ballot; that the headmaster should nominate his candidate before the result of the competitive examination under (1), or of the ballot under (2) and (3) was known, and the ballot would take place before the result of the competitive examination was known, so that the trustees would have before them the names of the first scholar judged by competitive examination, the first selected for physical excellence and for moral qualities, and the choice of the headmaster. The candidate under each head would be selected without any knowledge as to who would come out on top in the other categories. To this Mr. Rhodes had objected on the ground that it gave “unctuous rectitude” a casting vote, and he said “unctuous rectitude” would always vote for “smug,” and the physical and moral qualities would go by the board. To this I added the further objection that “smug” and “brutality” might tie, and “unctuous rectitude” might nominate a third person, who was selected neither by “smug” nor “unctuous rectitude,” with the result that there would be a tie, and the trustees would have to choose without any information upon which to base their judgment. So I insisted, illustrating it by an imaginary voting paper, that the only possible way to avoid these difficulties was for the trustees or the returning officer to be furnished not merely with the single name which heads each of the four categories, but with the result of the ballot to five or even ten down, and that the headmaster should nominate in order of preference the same number. The marks for the first five or ten in the competitive examination would of course also be recorded, and in that case the choice would be automatic. The scholar selected would be the one who had the majority of marks, and it might easily happen that the successful candidate was one who was not top in any one of the categories. Mr. Rhodes strongly supported this view, and Mr. Hawksley concurred, and a clause is to be prepared stating that all the votes rendered at any rate for the first five or ten should be notified to the trustees, and also the