Ajax Public Library Digital Archive

Farewell to Ajax, p. 4

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(Box at top of page) "Ajax Division." It is a proud name taken from the flagship of Admiral Harwood in his victory over the German battleship, Admiral Graf Spee. The Division was boldly designed during the summer of 1945, in a mood of indebtedness to our Armed Forces, to serve thousands of men and women who defended so gallantly our country and the ideals that we hold most dear. In fulfilling its high purpose, the Division afforded to nigh five thousand ex-service personnel an opportunity to prepare themselves for comparable service to Canada in the arts of peace. The Division has been worthy of its name. The Crest, taken from a forward turret of H.M.S. Ajax and presented in 1948 by the Admiralty to the University, is a badge of the qualities that are of the very stuff of our British heritage: initiative and resourcefulness, courage and valour. The Crest ever will be in the University the frontispiece of one of the most brilliant chapters in the story of its progress. That chapter in part has been written by a gifted and devoted staff and by a student body of unexcelled calibre—men and women tested in the cruel lessons of war and trained and qualified in the Ajax Division for the exacting tasks of peace. Notwithstanding the closing of the Division, the Ajax chapter will not be completed as long as the University endures! SIDNEY SMITH, President, University of Toronto. (Continued from page 4) following days and evenings and even on Sunday. The students were registered, assigned rooms and given maps of Ajax so they could find their way around. The cost of living in residence was reasonable—$3 a week for room and just over 40 cents a meal for board. The rooms were adequately furnished and in each residence there were kitchenettes and laundries. Cutlery and plastic dishes were provided for snacks. Ajax was well equipped from the academic standpoint, too. It had not only 13 chemistry labs, but six labs for physics, two for geological sciences, two for electrical engineering and a mechanics materials lab, called "one of the best in the country." It took a staff of 195 to handle the teaching duties at Ajax, 52 of whom taught in the city, too. Ajax was cosmopolitan. It had girl students: 27 of them studied there during the four terms. It was international: 27 nations were represented among the student body. Because it had been built away from settled areas of population, there was always the problem of getting to Ajax, and once there, getting around it. The main highway was not quite a mile away and there was an hourly bus service. To and from the city, the University ran special buses and station 5

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