§ SIR R. WEBSTER (Isle of Wight)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies whether his attention has been called to the circumstances relating to the dismissal of Mr. W. S. Aldis from the post of Professor of Mathematics in the University of Auckland; whether he is aware that, although Mr. Aldis was appointed to the Professorship under agreement with the New Zealand Government, by the terms of which six months' notice in writing was to be given for the termination thereof, he has been dismissed from his Professorship without any proper notice, and, in fact, without any notice from the said Government; and that the Colonial Government has refused to consider Mr. Aldis's claim to be either reinstated or compensated; and whether Her Majesty's Government has addressed any remonstrance to the Government of New Zealand respecting the matter?
§ MR. S. BUXTONWe have received no official information on the subject, as the matter is not one that would come under our cognizance; nor is it one with which, as I understand, the Government of New Zealand have anything to do.
§ SIR R. WEBSTERIs the hon. Gentleman aware that this is not an isolated case, and that other gentlemen have been similarly treated?
§ MR. HOGAN (Tipperary, Mid)Is it not a fact that Professor Aldis was not appointed by the New Zealand Government at all, but by the Auckland University College, which is an independent corporation in no way under the control of the New Zealand Government; and also is it not a fact that the Governing Body of the Auckland University College was acting within the terms of the agreement in terminating the Professor's engagement?
§ MR. S. BUXTONI have no facts before me which will enable me to answer the latter part of the hon. Member's question. The statement in the first part of the question is perfectly true.