1930–31 Volume 55 No 1–5 - Phi Delta Theta Scroll Archive

Dalhousie University andNova Scotia AlphaBy S. W. ARCHIBALDDalhousieVv ITH THE establi'shing of NovaScotia Alpha of * A ®, our fraternityis now the largest in Canada with aPhi chain stretching from the Atlanticto the Pacific across the Dominion.Down by; the sea in Canada's MaritimePrbvinc'fes there is a Universitywhich has been "the training school ofa nation" for over one hundred years,producing statesmen, business men,Ministers of the Crown, Premiers,leading physicians, Supreme CourtJudges. In fact the present Premier ofCanada, Right Honorable R. B. Bennettis a graduate of the law schoolof this time-honored institution. Irefer to Dalhousie University, foundedin 1818 by the Right HonorableGeorge Ramsay, ninth Earl of Dalhousie,"for the education of youthin the highest branches of science andliterature."It is interesting to note that thepeople of the United States paid forthe founding of Dalhousie throughmonies which were taken from them asprizes of war, for the original endowmentwas derived from funds collectedat the port of Castine, at that time apart of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,now of Maine, during its occupationin 1814 by Sir John Sherbrooke,then Lieutenant-Governor ofNova Scotia. In a letter to Lord Bathurst,dated December 14, 1817, LordDalhousie, with the unanimous consentof the Council, proposed that £9,750 ofthese funds be devoted to the "foundingof a College or Academy on thesame plan and principle as that inEdinburgh," "open to all occupationsand sects of religion, restricted to suchbranches only as are applicable to ourpresent state, and having the power toexpand with the growth and improvementof our society," and that thisCollege be established in Halifax, "theseat of the legislature, of the courts ofjustice, of the military and the mercantilesociety." On the 6th of February,1818, Lord Bathurst wrote expressingthe Prince Regent's "entireapproval of the application of thefunds in question in the foundation ofa Seminary in Halifax for the higherclasses of learning." The buildingwas begun in 1819, and on the 22nd ofMay in the year 1820 the cornerstonewas laid by the Earl of Dalhousie.On the 13th of January, 1821, an "Actto incorporate the Governors of DalhousieCollege at Halifax" becamelaw. The original board consisted ofthe Governor-General of British NorthAmerica, the Lieutenant-Governor ofNova Scotia, the Bishop, the Chief-Justice, the President of the Council,the Treasurer of the Province, theSpeaker of the House of Assembly,and the President of the College.Dalhousie of today is a universityenjoying an enviable reputation withits long established schools of law,medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, arts,science, engineering, and its recentlyacquired schools of commerce andfisheries.Rather unusual for an older institution,we find that Dalhousie has grownvery rapidly since the World War.In 1914 the whole university washoused in one large building. TodayPhi Delt officers were amazed to findthat Dalhousie boasts of two campuses,[249]