Although basically similar, the practical training requirements for the Civil Electrical and Mechanical Institutions' membership have varied. They require that, during any period devoted to the study of professional engineering subjects, students shall either be attending a university full time or shall be in approved employment where there is an undertaking by the employer to provide training.

The final evidence required by these institutions to show that adequate training has been obtained has taken different forms. The New Zealand Institution, perhaps because it was originally the New Zealand Society of Civil Engineers, has followed the practice of the British Institution of Civil Engineers. This requires that, after all examinations are completed, and after specified lengths of time in suitable employment, the candidate attends an interview. At this “professional interview”, candidates are required to present evidence of education and training, to present samples of their work in the form of plans, calculations, engineering quantities, or scientific theses, and to appear in person before two interviewers. Generally speaking, it is impossible for an engineer to present himself successfully until he has spent at least seven, and usually eight years, in engineering studies and employment. Four years at university plus three years in planned employment represent a minimum for university-trained men. Candidates who are successful in passing the professional interview may then apply with confidence for associate membership of the New Zealand Institution of Engineers.

Although less and less patronised as the years pass, particularly in New Zealand, the institution examinations continue to provide an alternative means of qualification for those who find it impracticable to attend university full time.

Owing to the high standard set for the examinations, some full-time study is highly desirable and, as most technical colleges in this country withdrew their professional engineering courses on the introduction of the New Zealand Certificate in Engineering, some candidates attend university classes for a year's sessions or longer. The Universities do not provide courses for institution examinations, but attendance at selected lectures in the degree course covers requirements fairly satisfactorily. Attendance at university has the additional advantage of enabling candidates to do some laboratory and practical work.

Notwithstanding the difficulties, some candidates succeed in completing the examination with the sole aid of part-time instruction at technical college or by correspondence. In this way, employment is uninterrupted, although experience shows that the candidate does not benefit fully from his practical work until he has completed his examinations.

The examinations of the Institutions of Civil and Mechanical Engineers, and of the New Zealand Institution of Engineers, are divided into two parts. The Institution of Electrical Engineers adds a third part to these. Part I is devoted to mathematics and physical sciences, with the addition of engineering drawing which is not studied by degree students until their more advanced years. Part II is akin to the professional section of the degree course in that the preparation for it is directed towards the application of science to engineering problems. The high degree of specialisation in the modern engineering world is recognised by the provision of many optional subjects in the Part II examination.

The New Zealand Institution of Engineers now prefers that those who seek membership should undertake full-time university studies rather than institutional examinations. Of the university courses available for the Bachelor of Engineering degree; chemical engineering takes five years, and civil, mechanical, electrical, and mining take four. The curricula for these may be found in the calendar for the universities where the engineering schools are situated.

National institutions arrange examinations to suit the requirements of the three basic fields of engineering. Aspirants in unrelated special fields — such as chemical or mining engineering — are admitted to membership if they possess an approved university qualification. There are also several specialised fields which are derivatives of the basic three: structural is a branch of civil engineering; electronics and radio are similarly associated with electrical engineering; while heating and ventilation are allied both to electrical and to mechanical engineering. This growth of specialised groups, with their tendency to break away from the established institutions, is symptomatic of the developments that have taken place over the past 50 years. In Britain, these groups have established institutions of their own, and, while this may be a healthy sign in some respects, it has tended to narrow educational horizons within the profession as a whole. In New Zealand the Institution of Engineers is trying to prevent this tendency to subdivide and it seeks to accommodate all professionally qualified engineers within its membership.

With this institutional background, it will be clear that engineering education has aimed at combining academic study with practical training. All aspirants for British Institutions' examinations must undertake approved practical training while they are studying. An exception to this requirement has been the acceptance of university degrees as being equivalent to institution examinations and in this case the provision relating to practical training is waived until after admission. The New Zealand Institution of Engineers has become convinced that, under modern conditions, where instruction by masters or employers has been replaced by courses of study in schools, practical training is more valuable after the essential examinations are completed. For this reason it is currently proposed that aspirants should undertake three years' approved practical training after the completion of their qualifying examinations. The New Zealand Institution has not yet made a final decision to require that training must follow examinations. It has represented this opinion to the Commonwealth group and there is every likelihood that it will be adopted in New Zealand. This period of practical training is already demanded from those who have completed a university degree. Those who take the institution's examinations would have to be employed for five years in engineering work and during this period they would complete their papers. In almost all cases this will be followed by three years of organised practical training and experience.

The Institution of Civil Engineers was formed in London in 1818 and was incorporated by Royal Charter in 1828. The Institutions of Mechanical and Electrical Engineers separated from their parent body in 1847 and 1871 and received their charters of incorporation in 1930 and 1921 respectively. These are generally regarded as the three great engineering institutions and the whole pattern for professional qualifications in the British Commonwealth has been built around their requirements. The Home institutions have encouraged the establishment of national institutions in Commonwealth countries; but, whereas in Britain the original Institution of Civil Engineers split into three separate institutions, in New Zealand and Australia all the specialised forms of engineering are catered for by one institution. Membership of the British institutions, or of national institutions patterned on them, has become the recognised qualification for professional engineers in Commonwealth countries. Every four years the national institutions hold a Commonwealth conference where policies are discussed and reasonable uniformity is assured.

The terms “engineer” and “engineering” have become so widely used that it is now necessary to adopt qualifying terms to identify the type of engineering meant — electrical, civil, mechanical, chemical, and so on — and also to distinguish between the manual skills of the artisan-engineer (be he fitter, boilermaker, steam engineer, or electrician), and the academic and mental skills of the professional engineer. The term “professional engineering” is increasingly used to describe the applied science which is engineering. In addition, there is a newly emerging and very important group — the “technicians” – who occupy an ill-defined position between the artisan and professional engineers.

One hundred years ago professional engineering was divided into two simple categories — military and civil. At that time civil engineering embraced the whole field of engineering now generally separated into civil, electrical, and mechanical. Young men received their training by pupilage. Under this system an aspirant became articled to a practising engineer who undertook to instruct him and to provide him with practical experience of his craft. In Britain, one of the earliest attempts to offer organised classes for engineers was made by a small society which met in John Smeaton's house about 1780. This group eventually formed the Smeatonian Society which became the forerunner of the Institution of Civil Engineers (London).

The Child Welfare Division of the Department of Education is the main service for social work in the field of child care. The Division, first known as the Branch, was established by the Child Welfare Act of 1925. This Act, in the words of its preamble, was designed

During the years that have followed, many amendments have extended the authority of the principal Act and have brought it more closely into touch with present requirements. Other important obligations on the Division are imposed by Part V of the Infants Act of 1908, the Adoption Act of 1955, and the Child Care Centre Regulations of 1960.

The Division's field officers, known as Child Welfare Officers, investigate and report on all cases involving children under 17 (or under 18 in some cases) who come before the Children's Court either as a result of an offence (except murder or manslaughter) or following a complaint under the Child Welfare Act that they are neglected, indigent, not under proper control, delinquent, or living in an environment detrimental to their physical or moral well-being. With children committed by the Court to the care of the Superintendent of Child Welfare, Child Welfare Officers are responsible for their subsequent care in foster homes or in institutions. If children are placed under supervision by order of the Court, child welfare officers, through home visits and office interviews, keep in close contact with the parents and child. An attempt is made, through advice and practical help, to alleviate problems which have led to a child's misconduct or to parental neglect or mismanagement.

A most important aspect of the Division's work is that of prevention. There are many children in the community who, because of illegitimacy, orphanhood, immigration, physical or mental defect, harsh, unwise, or indulgent parental control, truancy, immoral example, neglect or ill treatment, or some other cause, are likely to be prone to delinquency or, more frequently even, to grow up to become immature and socially inadequate adults even if they do manage to keep within the law. It is the Division's task, in conjunction with other agencies and services in the community, to see that children who need care and protection or treatment that their parents cannot or will not provide, do in fact receive it. Help is provided at the earliest possible stage, preferably before the more obvious signs of misconduct, maladjustment, or deterioration of family relationships or standard of care, have become apparent. This work is often precipitated by complaints or appeals for help from parents, neighbours, teachers, police, public health nurses, and other sources. Short-term work only may be involved, or the situation may require longterm preventive supervision. Funds are available to provide financial assistance in special cases.

An important extension of preventive work was brought about by the establishment of the Juvenile Crime Prevention Section of the Police Department. Specialist police officers and child welfare officers cooperate in considering effective preventive measures for those less serious cases where it appears reasonable to avoid prosecution and, consequently, a court appearance for the child or young person concerned. Officers carry out a wide range of duties connected with the welfare of children. For example, advice is frequently given to parents on problems of child care and behaviour, or on educational, medical, specialist, or institutional facilities for handicapped children. Counselling help may be offered in cases where parents and children are in conflict with each other or where marital discord threatens the stability of a family. Assistance is given to deserted wives who seek help in securing maintenance payments for their children. Holidays may be arranged for mothers or children where necessary.

Child Welfare Officers are required by statute to investigate illegitimate births to ensure that adequate provision is made for the child and for the mother where necessary, to report on applications for the adoption of children, and to license and supervise foster homes where children under six years of age are maintained away from their parents for more than seven consecutive days.

In order to ensure that adequate standards are maintained, the Division inspects privately conducted children's homes and licences and inspects child care centres (more generally referred to as “day nurseries”) operated by private organisations. Such homes and centres are registered under the Child Welfare Act and visits to staff and premises are carried out at regular intervals.

The public have access to the services of the Division through district offices situated in cities and larger centres throughout the country. These offices are staffed by men and women field officers (Child Welfare Officers) and by clerical officers. Quite a wide range of institutional facilities is available to the Division. There are 12 “short stay” institutions which provide for children who, for example, are on remand from the Courts, are newly committed to care and awaiting more permanent placement, or are requiring accommodation to meet some temporary family crisis. Three training centres provide long-term social training for more difficult or delinquent children. In addition, there are five residential special schools, two catering for deaf children, two for mentally backward children, and one for children who are emotionally disturbed. There are also 28 “Family Homes” established throughout the country. These are large specially designed houses built by the Division and let to foster parents who receive board payments for the group of five or six children in their care. The majority of wards receive their training and care in private foster homes in the community.

In the discharge of their duties, the Division's officers work in close cooperation with other social work agencies in the community, both Government and private or voluntary. Close liaison is maintained with schools, visiting teachers, police, public health nurses, vocational guidance officers, and many other services working in the field of child care. Full use is also made of medical, psychological, psychiatric, and other specialist services.

by C.E.P.

Massey University of Manawatu, which became autonomous on 1 January 1964, provides courses in agriculture, horticulture, and veterinary science, as well as courses in arts and science. It also provides extramural tuition in a number of subjects to students throughout New Zealand.

The University of Waikato at Hamilton was formally established on 1 January 1964 under the University of Waikato Act of 1963.

by Leonard John Wild, C.B.E., M.A., B.SC.(HON.), D.SC., formerly Pro-Chancellor of the University of New Zealand, Otaki.

The committee comprised Sir David Hughes Parry, Emeritus Professor of English Law, University of London, as chairman; Dean Geoffrey C. Andrew, University of British Columbia; and Dr R. W. Harman, a distinguished man of science and business. Their order of reference was comprehensive. Among particular matters they were asked to report on the number of young people for whom university education should be provided and on the standard of attainment at entry — this last an important point because successive governments, interpreting the views of society at large, had accepted the “equal opportunity for all” slogan, with the subsequent rejection of the notion of raising the standard of the Entrance Examination to select only candidates of proved high ability. The committee did not recommend stricter requirements for entry, preferring to urge means of improving performance of entrants, such as the granting of more worthwhile bursaries to aid more students to study full time. They criticised severely the disproportionate number of part-time students, as well as the system of extramural study, insisting that the remedy in both cases lay in better appreciation on the part of students, parents, employers, and the Government of the value of fulltime study.

They found university staffing inadequate, ratios of less than one staff member to 50 students in a department being common (though finance for staffing was based on a 1 to 14 ratio overall). They supported the recommendations of the University Grants Committee (1 to 10 for first thousand and 1 to 14 beyond that), and also, except in minor details, the salary scale that had already been urged on the Government (ranging from £900 for assistant lecturer to £3,300 for professors). As regards buildings, they accepted in general the plan put forward by the University Grants Committee for the next 10 years, but urged accelerated progress; and they were emphatic about the need for developing a forward policy concerning halls of residence. They found libraries everywhere inadequate both as to stocks and accommodation, and recommended immediate special grants of £10,000 to each university and £5,000 to each agricultural college. As to research they recommended an immediate increase in the gran to £65,000, and to 100,000 in 1961, rising in the next few years to £150,000; and that a National Scientific Research Council be set up to coordinat the scientific research services of the State.

The most fundamental recommendations, howevewere those relating to the structure of the University of New Zealand itself, namely: That the constituent universities be given complete autonomy, subject only to a new University Grants Committee, and certain subcommittees thereof; and that the University of New Zealand be dissolved as soon as possible. That a University Grants Committee be established by Act of Parliament, with powers generally equal to those of the existing Committee together with the right to initiate, in consultation with the universities, plans for balanced development to meet fully the national needs. That the committee be appointed by the Government, and that it comprise a chairman, and seven members selected from a list submitted by the universities, four not being associated with any university and three being professors or teachers. That a Universities Entrance Board be set up as a subcommittee of the Grants Committee. That a Curriculum Committee be set up as a subcommittee of the Grants Committee with the duty, among others, of advising on any proposal by any university to establish a new faculty or a new department of study, and of considering any difficulties about equivalence of courses and of transfer of students.

On the question of finance, while generally approving the block grants proposed for the 1960–64 quinquennium by the existing Grants Committee, the committee recommended that in future block grants for arts and general be based, as for those for special schools, on actual needs.

On receiving the Parry Report, the Government acted promptly. The recommendations regarding salaries, libraries; research, and finance generally were adopted subject only to further negotiation of some details. In 1960 an Act was passed instituting the new University Grants Committee which took office at the beginning of 1961; and in the course of that year a complete programme of legislation was prepared and passed dealing with reconstruction. A Universities Act provided for the dissolution of the University of New Zealand and the transfer of some of its functions, including the power to confer degrees, to the individual universities. Most of its remaining functions and its property were vested in the University Grants Committee, the 1960 Act being repealed and a new Act (1961) being passed to this end. Separate Acts gave new powers to the individual universities, while the Lincoln College Act and the Massey College Act established new relationships between Lincoln College and the University of Canterbury in the one case, and between Massey College and the Victoria University of Wellington on the other. And so the long and often troubled but honourable history of the University of New Zealand came quietly to an end.

We have come now to the beginning of the end — the years immediately preceding 1961 when the curtain was finally rung down on the University of New Zealand. The constituent colleges, under their respective amendment Acts, had each become — what Otago had always been-a university: the change was of name and of titles only. Each university had control over its own funds, in terms negotiated by the University Grants Committee, and over its own academic work, subject only to approval by a Curriculum Committee of Senate of regulations governing courses and degree structure. The Grants Committee was negotiating with the Government not only for block grants to meet recurring annual needs (totalling, £2,576,703 for 1960 and rising to £4,119,469 in 1964) but for grants to cover minor capital items as required. Also in consultation with the constituent institutions it had worked out and won Government approval in principle for a building programme involving an expenditure of over £10,000,000 over the next 10 years to meet progressively the rising tide of student numbers. (In 1960 the number was 14,570, internal.) The Committee already had seen the completion of many buildings, with many more under way, at some stage, at every centre. It had secured an increase in the research grant to £40,000; and it had formulated, and urged on the Government, an improved salary scale calculated to be competitive with that of universities in Australia, where considerable increases had been given in recent years.

Under these improved conditions which gave the universities the substance of autonomy, what was the basic reason for the dissolution of the University of New Zealand? The fatal blow was struck by the Parry Committee (1959): but what conditions led to the appointment of such a committee? It is true that a desire for complete independence was latent in the constituent colleges over many years, bursting into fitful flame from time to time, quenched neither by the cold water of the Reichel-Tate Commission nor by the wet blanket of the executive of the Association of the Commonwealth Universities. Those who cherished it seized the opportunity offered by a Committee on the Universities in 1959 to fan the sparks into flame, but were not themselves responsible for promoting the committee. Two factors, one almost fortuitous, were more directly responsible: first, a Labour Government, returning to power in 1957, had in its election campaign promised that the whole field of education would be examined by an expert committee; and those concerned with the universities, fearful lest university education be brought under a general survey, urged that a special committee of overseas university men should be given the university assignment. The second factor was the demand on the Government for increased expenditure on the university, and in particular for the greatly increased salary scale mentioned above — a demand urged by Grants Committee, Councils, and Teachers' Association at a time when Government was faced by difficult internal conditions imposed by an adverse balance of trade. The Labour Government, never unfriendly to education, but in principle against wide salary margins and foreseeing consequential demands from the higher ranks of the Public Service, wanted expert and authoritative backing for the steps it would have to take. Thus it appointed the Parry Committee.