THE COLLEGE YEAR.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXX, Issue 14979, 27 April 1909, Page 8

THE COLLEGE YEAR.

PEOGRKSSIVE ADMINISTRATION. A REPORT BY~THE CHAIRMAN. At yesterday's mooting of the Board of Governors of Canterbury College, the chairman (Mr G. W. Russell, M.P.) delivered hia annual report on the working of the institution. CHAIRMAN'S REPORT. The chairman said that in laying beforo members the thirty-sixth annual report of the operations of the Board for the year ending December 31, 1908, ho had pleasure in congratulating them upon the successful working of the various institutions under their control. The work which had been done during the previous two ygars in simplifying the accounts of the Board rendered a lengthy statement from him on the present occasion unnecessary. Tho summary of receipts for the year showed a gross total of £50,389. Deducting the credit balance of £15,297 with which tho year had begun, there was a total of gross receipts for the year of £35,092. If thoy deducted from the £35,092 gross receipts the three sums of £4567, accrued rents of the Coldstream reserve, £6Ol, tho subscriptions for the Boys’ High School gymnasium, and £2Ol. subscriptions for the whale skeleton, the net receipts of the Board’s accounts stood at £29,723 for the year, a sum slightly less than the net revenue for the previous year. . The gross expenditure was given at £39,751. _ From this sum he deducted the following extraordinary items: Purchasing sections in College block £3450, Okarito whale skeleton £4OO, fixed deposits £5142:. total £8992. Thus a total net expenditure of £30,759 was arrived at. an increase of £1147 over that of last year. The net rovenuo being £29,723, and the net expenditure £30,759, an apparent deficiency was shown of £1036. As against this, however, there were the following items of capital expenditure to he taken into account:— Boys’ High School gymnasium £879, fencing College ground £llO, Girls’, High School buildings £753, hydraulic apparatus and buildings £972, Library sinking fund £54, Museum specimens £251, Museum strong-room £ll4, whalo skfeleton £400: total £3533. From this had to bo deducted a deficiency on tho working accounts of £1036, and a total profit of £2497 for the year was shown. This, he thought, must be regarded as satisfactory, indicating the prudence with which tho Board’s affairs had been administered. Not only had the long-standing debt due on the Agricultural College been finally extinguished, but the Board had increased its" assets in other directions. The Coldstream reserve rents, amounting to £4567, had been added to capital, and that sum would be devoted to the chemical laboratory now in course of erection. The reserve itself had an area of. 1487 acres, and was producing £195 a year (which was equally divided between the chemistry and physics departments'), and the _ sum stated, capitalised on a 5 per. cent basis, represented £3909. Another reserve of 640 acres in _ the mountains had also been vested in the Board. In addition to these the purchase of the College block sections for £3450 had been an event which would mark the year as a most important one in the history of tho College. A comparison of the receipts table would show members that the fees received, including capitation for free places, represented an increase of £4OO for the year, but this was very largely made up by the increased capitation received from the Government. On the other hand, salaries showed an in--crease of £1365 on the previous year. The other expenditure was normal, and required no reference. THE BOARD’S LEASES. Tho policy of the Board, adopted a little over a year ago, of selling its leases by public auction instead of by private tender, hod so completely justified itself by the increased rents which were obtained that it had boon continued, and a further number of leases which had fallen in were sold a few weeks ago at Timaru, and resulted in an increased annual revenue of £32 os 8d from seVonty-five acres. He had no doubt tho Board would continue--thLs policy of offering its leases for sale in the open market. While on the subject, he wished to say that the question had been raised whether the Board should not pay for improvements effected on its lands during the currency of a lease. The policy nitherto had been that when, any tenant desired a valuation on improvements in tho nature of buildings the Board had invariably agreed to such an amount as it considered fair, according to tho size and value of the property, and, on the same principle as was adopted by the Government in State leases, it had been provided that, in the event of a farm changing hands, tho new tenant would be required to pay tho outgoing tenant the value oi the improvements for buildings which had been erected by him during the currency of Iris lease. Ho did not think, continued the chairman, that it would bo wise that this principle should be extended to cover all improvements, for tho reason that the tenant, in taking up a block of land, naturally calculated his rental so that allowance was made for the improvements that ho considered necessary to secure the most effective and successful working, financially, of tho property. If, therefore, the Board were to adopt the principle that\ had been advocated in South Canterbury, namely, that all improvements that had been made by the tenant should at the expiration of his lease be paid for at the then value, an entirely new element would be introduced into the transaction, and one which might operate to secure a tenant a renewal of his lease at his own price or, at any rate, to limit the competition for the Board’s lands. At the same time he thought it would give greater fixity of tenure to the Board’s tenants, and possibly encourage more improvements' upon the endowments, if leasee were granted for twenty-one years, which the Board could legally do instead of fourteen years, which was the rule at During the year 1910 a number of leases of the Board’s endowments, mostlv lrelonging to the Boys’ High School, would fall in, and he suggested that the Finance and Estates Committee should, at an early date, take them into consideration with a view to ascertaining whether a further subdivision would bo likely to lead to the more effective working of the property, and to better financial results. It could not be too often emphasised that subdivision of suitable land was tho secret of good farming and increased income. Also, during the year 1911, the Haldon (19,025 acres'), Grey’s Hills (29,862 acres), and Lako Coleridge (35,594 acres) runs, totalling 84,481 acres, would fall in, and in anticipation of this, although it might bo looking a little distance ahead, careful inquiry should bo made whether any of these could be subdivided in order to promote increase of settlement and better financial results. COST OF ADMINISTR ATION) The total cost of administration had been as follows:—Net revenues, £29,723; salaries of official staff, £916, an average of slightly over 3 per cent or about 7d in tho pound. For rents of reserves £15,076 had been received, and the cost of inspection had been £302, a percentage of 2 per cent, or about 4|d in the pound. These rates of official cost and inspection were worthy of careful consideration at a time when retrenchment was in the air regarding the Publio Service. THE COLLEGE. Going on to refer to the various institutions controlled by the Board, the chairman said that in regard to the.

College the receipts from reserves had risen from £BO4I to £8127, and tho students’ fees had also increased by £122. On the other hand salaries had risen from £7833 to £8779, an increase of £946 for the year. The salaries for 1969 amounted to £8426. Members. would notice that the account, which began with a debit of £134.5, closed with a debit of £6497, an increase of £5152. This amount, however, was made up of £3450 for the purchase of town sections within the College block, and £2600 transferred to the general investment account for the purchase of tho Hereford Street sections, in order to comply with the requiremento of the Audit Department. It would thus be seen that adding these two sums together the College account had really been worked at an actual profit on the year of £298, which, considering the increase of salaries and some expenses of a non-recurrent character, must be regarded as very satisfactory. THE COLLEGE’S WORK. The number of students who had succeeded in passing examinations for degrees givon by the University of New Zealand was:—M.A., 179; 8.A., 276 (seme of whom were still eligible to compete for the M.A. degree); LL.D., 2; LL.B.j 19; M.Sc., 8j B.Sc., 16; B. Engineering, 36; Mus. Bac., 3. Two art graduates had also obtained the degree of LL.D., three that of D.Se., one that of Litt.D. , one that of LL.M., twenty-four that of LL.B., twenty-fivo that of B.Sc., four that of M.Sc., one that of B. Engineering, and three science, graduates had also obtained tho degree of B. Engineering. Since the foundation of the University of New Zealand, 166 graduates in arts .and science had been awarded first-class honours, and of these 63 belonged to Canterbury College. Of the thirteen double first-class honours awarded by the University, ten were gained by students from Canterbury College. Of the 231 senior and thirdyear and John Tinline scholarships awarded by the University during the' last thirty-two years (the period during which the present scholarship regulations had been in force), 104 had been awarded to Canterbury College students. Of the twenty-eight Bowen Prizes which had been awarded by the University for on essay on a subject connected with English history, and open to all undergraduates of the University of New Zealand, nineteen had been gained by students of tho College, whilst the only four mentioned as “ proximo accessit ” had also been of the College. THE CECIL RHODES SCHOLARSHIP. In view of those facts he could not but express his surprise and regret that during the six years the Cecil Rhodes Scholarship had been in existence no representative of the College had been selected. THE COLLEGE COURSES. Tho following statement showed the increase of the fees received by the College during the last six years:—l9o3, £1636; 1904, £1797; 1905, £1821; 1906, £2205; 1907, £2532; 1908, £2634. Such a growth of revenue from that source was very gratifying. Ho was pleased to see that the number of enrolments of students attending tlie various College lectures showed, a satisfactory increase over the previous year.' During 1908 tho number of enrolments for lectures was 1458; this year it was 1628, a vory satisfactory increase. The following table showed tho growth of the College in number of students:—lß9B, matriculated 131, non-inatriculated 56, total 187; 1899, 117, 65, 182; 1900, 125, 93, 218; 1901, 148, 72, 220; 1902, 151, 74 225; 1903, 167, 82, 249; 1904, 210, 67. 277; 1905, 200, 77, 277; 1906, 198, 106, 304; 1907, 253, 89, 342; 1908, 293, 88, 381. It would thus be seen that the College was increasingly fulfilling the hopes of its founders in becoming a centre of light and learning. Another test might bo applied, namely, the total enrolments of students attending tlie first term lectures, which had been' tabulated for four years and showed the following results:—l9o6, 1188; 1907, 1365; 1908, 1458; 1909, 1623. There, again, most gratifying progress was shown. But that large increase, which chiefly arose from the classics, English, mathematics, modern languages and. mental science departments, though several other departments showed gratifying increases, also carried with it enlarged responsibilities for the Board of Governors. In brief, the classes had outgrown the accommodation provided, and one of the urgent necessities was to obtain larger lecture-rooms and more of .them. The now chemical laboratory was m course of erection, and it was to bo hoped that it would be in work-

ing order for the first term of 1910. He was of opinion that the Board would, find itself compelled to utilise the pro*; sent chemical laboratory for the pur»j pose of providing increased accommoda* tion after it had been vacated by thoj chemistry professor aud his staff. TIIO building was an eyesore and had been I erected a great many years ago as a; temporary structure, but the lecture*; room which it contained was one of the' most commodious in tho College, and he could not see how they could avoid, using it for temporary requirements, until funds were available for the in* crease of permanent lecture-rooms in the College. A CHAIR OF PHYSICS. Members of the Board were aware that he was one of those who considered that the time had come for a Physical Chair to be established, and a pro* lessor appointed to take charge or it. During his recent visit to Australia he came into contact with several gentlemen belonging to both the Sydney and Melbourne Universities, competent to express opinions on the subject, and they confirmed ■ the opinion that had been expressed by several members of the Board that no modem Universitycould be regarded as fully equipped which did not provide for a Chair of Physics. The relation which existed at present between the School of Engineeriing and 'the physics department' could only be of a temporary character, and he was of opinion that the Board should take the question of the establishment t>f ns ' Chair of Physics info ito consideration; at an early date, with a view of appointing a professor to the chair, who should be requested to begin his duties next year, aud himself report to the Board as to the construction and equipment of the laboratory that would he required for his purposes. A COLLEGE LIBRARY. A further need of the College was the erection of a proper library. At present. there was only a. small collection of books, and they were stored in a room l that did not contain a single table or] chair for a reader. Such a 6tate of ; things ne,edod no comment. The College library should be the finest collec-’v tion of scientific literature in the pro-4 vince, and should be up-to-da.te. It! should.also have abundant accommodation for the students and teachers, and he would never be satisfied until that want was supplied. THE NECESSITIES. He had mentioned three necessities —increased lecture accommodation, a' physical laboratory and a college library) —-the supply of which was necessary if the College was to attain a completemeasure of usefulness. Tho cost would- 1 be at least £20,000, made up a 6 follows : £IO,OOO, physical laboratory and equip--ment £6OOO, College Library £4000; total £20,060. Tlie question was, where could they look for the money?.. It wa« impossible to provide any reasonable portion of that, large sum from; the College maintenance account, j Every penny of that was required for' tho working of the institution. Two courses remained open to them—to sell some of their reserves or use some of ; their capital funds for the purpose, or; to borrow on the securities they possessed. Ho could not. recommend tlie Board to adopt either of these courses. The first would imply the parting with part of the splendid heritage they possessed, and the lessening for all time of. their revenues. The second would re- ■ suit in the work of the College being crippled by heavy annual payments for interest, and in money being spent in stone which was required for purposes—the work which the College, was established to carry cut. The thirdcourse was to look to the dominion. Government and Parliament fori tlie necessary funds. Tho develop-' ment -of —education -.-b.aA been sot great and rapid in the dominion ’dqrt "" ing the last ten years that the central Government had won general praise for its policy in that behalf. The University was tho apex of tho system, and; if would bo tho height of folly _ to i strengthen the primary, the technical and the secondary systems and starve* the University Colleges. Their present! necessities were in large part caused by the Government insisting upon candidates for the teaching service takinga University course, which liad led to, several of the lecture-rooms being over-,' crowded. Surely no higher purpose could fro sewed by a U 1 rrsity College than training teacher:;. But it was equally), clear that that must carry with it some responsibility on the part of the Gov-j ernment, to assist the College to carry* on the work that had boon laid upon it. -The Prime Minister had shown, that he realised in some degree the duty, of the Government in the matter by not only giving them tho Coldstream, reserve and its accrued rentals, a strictly legal obligation which he was tho first to realise, but had also promised, £4OOO as a subsidy towards the cost of! a' chemical laboratory. When it was borne in mind that other colleges in the country were entirely sustained by direct annual votes from the dominion treasury, whilst Canterbury had ost-alu lif.lied and maintained for thirty-sis years its own University College, virtually unaided by the. Government, their claim for assistance in the houi* (

of their necessity became unanswerable. He, therefore, urged that the Prime Minister should bo asked to meet the Board and Canterbury members of Parliament, and that a request should be preferred for the sum named to be spread over five years, so that the three important works he had named might be undertaken without delay. The vast importance of educational work, both for the present and future generations, as compared with some of the purposes lor which money had been so freely spent in the past, was sufficient justification’ for the request he had made. , THE LECTURE ATTENDANCE. A table showed that the number of students attending lectures for the first tent of 1907 was 1435, for 1908 1458, and for 1909 1623. The number of students who passed the degree examinations of the University of New Zealand in 1906 was 55, in 1907 64, and in 1908 69. For the same periods the winners of Senior University Scholarships .were one, five and two. The College account had been charged with the cost of the properties within the College block, with the exception of the property belonging to Professor Chilton. The desirability and even necessity of the purchase of theso properties had been evident, and it was highly satisfactory to know that there was no chance of the appearanco of the College buildings being spoilt by unsightly erections in the vicinity. The buildings which were now upon the purchased lands could not remain much longer, nor .could the rents that were received from them be regarded as a permanent source of revenue. On the other hand, he thought it would bo un-fortunate-if the purchase of these sections, which involved' interest to the amount of £l2O a year,- should be permitted to detract from the usefulness of the College proper by proving au incubus on the institution. The chief point of satisfaction was that the Board had been able to purohase the feesimple of the properties without requiring to borrow for the purpose. ProVision could now bo made for the extension of the College within the boundaries of the block for a great many years to come. BOYS’ HIGH SCHOOL. . The accounts of the Boys’ High School continued very buoyant, as was to be expected, ■ considering the splendid endowments of the institution. The reserves last year brought in, ,£3894, as compared with £3578 the previous year.' The total revenue of the institute n_last year was £5429, and deducting £1052 for balance, gymnasium and nonrecurrent expenditure, the cost of the school was £4377. Of that sum £3BBO

was absorbed by salaries. The average ' ■ attfindiinco for 1908 was 213, which represented salary for teaching at the rate of £lB 5s per pupil for the year. If the preparatory class wore eliminated and the salary of the teacher de- ’ ducted from the total, the position became even worse. Ho felt that he should not be doing his duty to the people of Canterbury if he did not point out the enormous cost of salaries 'in that institution as compared with others in the dominion. The public returns showed that in 1907 the cost of teaching 349 pupils at the Auckland Boys’ -Grammar School was £ll I.J 3d per head; 288 pupils at the Wellington Boys’ College, £lO 16s per head; and 277 pupils at the Otago Boys’ College, £lO 1,3 s6d per head. So far as the * figures were concerned, those places compared .very markedly with the institution controlled- by the Board, and he was of opinion that a sum of nearly £45d0~ per annum to administer the

benefits of secondary education should he more widely diffused than at the present time at the Boys’ High School. • He thought'that it upon /‘tfie Bqaj.d.-ta : dkeuss with the head- , rnaslel - How far and in what ways it was Possible to provide for a greater - bum- • .stire of benefit to the people of .Christ- ■ phurch-from the .endowments of the, school- thanwas now being achieved. One direction' in which improvement might be'desirable would be by handing over to the school the adjoining property purchased from the Acland Estate and,orecting'upon'it an hostel for the accommodation of boys from- a distance. He had asked the headmaster to supply him with a report on the matter, which was available for the College Committee. If such a schemo were entered on, it was probable that boys won’d be sent from out-districts of Canterburv, and also from the West Coast when the Midland Railway was completed. The want of a good hoarding establishment under the control of the Board no doubt band banned the ' school in competition with similar institutions. ■ THE FREE PLACE SYSTEM. In order to give the Board a com- ' plete grasp of the financial working of the free place'system, which began in 1905, ho appended a table which showed that, taking the total fees for the year, and dividing the amount by the

number of pupils at the end of the year, the average fee paid had fallen fiom £8 10s LOd in 1903 to £4 15s 4d in 1908. The table was as follows.— Govt, payments

End of 1908—Junior free places 51, senior free places 44; total 90, 111 would be seen that 95 out of the total scnool roll of 203 were free place' ' pupils. GIRLS’ HIGH SCHOOL. The Girls’ High School had opened the year with a credit balance of £l3B, and closed with a debit of £572, a total debit on the working of the account of ■ £7lO, but as during the year the balI aiice of the school additions wae charged .to the account, amounting to £753, it would be seen that the actual profit on the working of the institution for I the year was £43. He could not too ! highly commend the economy with j which the institution was administered J by the lady principal. The capita ion ; loi free places was stqac’ily rising, bav- j nig gone up during /the year by £7l. ! The Board had incurred a large obligation in the purchase of the adjoining section, in providing increased accommodation. for the schdol, but he be ieved that the new scheme of payment by the Government, which came into force on January 1 last, wcu d largely in- | crease the revenue of the school under the free place system, and wou’d have the effect "of paying off the difference on the recent additions to the hvildingci, .as well as of clearing within three or lour yea:-s the cost of the adjoining property which had just been purchased. They would not, however, receive the benefit of that enlarged income until next year. He appended a I similar statement of the working of th'o free place system to that given in re- j gard to I tho Boys’ High School. It [' would bo seen that the average fee at . the school had fallen from £ll 16s in | 1903 to £l. 12s 2d in 1903. In fact, j out of the total of 202 pupils at tho end of the year, there were only twenty-nine whose parents were paying fees. Tho table showed that the averages of capitation fee paid were:—l9o3, £ll 16s; 1904, £8 Is 4d; 1905, £4 7s sd; 1906, £2 2s; 1907, £1 18s; 1908, £1 12s 2d. At the end of 1908 there

were 121 junior free-place pupils and 46 seniors, a total of 167 out of a roll number of 202. . Tho total cost of tho school, was £2549, of which salaries absorlied £2082. The net attendance for the year was 207, and the salaries thus cost £lO Is Id per pupil for tho year. / SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING. Tho School of Engineering was a national concern, and one of which tho Board might be justly proud. During his recent visit to Australia he had seen tho Schools of Engineering in Melbourne and Sydney. Without indulging in comparisons, he came back im- ' pressed with the idtja that while the institution in Sydney which had been most richly endowed by private beneficence, was far ahead of ours in magnitude, yet as regards tho equipment and general, work that was being done in the institution over which Professor Scott so ably presided, the Board had reason to be highly satisfied with what had been accomplished. The account bfrgan with a credit of £1660, which had increased to £2084 at the end of the year, but tho whole of that would bo absorbed during the year by plant and equipment which had been ordered for the new hydraulic laboratory, which it was expected would bo in working order for the first term of next year. Tho following figures showed the actual number of matriculated and non-matri- , ciliated students attending the school j from 1905 to 19081905,’ matriculated l ■53, noil-matriculated 124, total 177; 1906, 44, 116, 160; 1907, 52, 144, 196; ' 1908, 3D, 134, 173. The enrolments of students attending the school for tli© first terms, were:—l9o7, 571; 1908, 507: 1909, 489. . PUBLIC LIBRARY. The Public Library account, which was one of tho most difficult to work of those under control of the Board, closed the year with substantially tho sam_e debit balance as at the'end of 1907. Thb difficulty of maintaining so ! large and expensive a concern with the : comparatively small funds at the dis- j. posal of the Board was increasingly f felt. The efforts made to induce tbo I City Council to assist that worthy institution did not meet with tho success they deserved. By utilising a portion of the Gammack trust money for the circulating department the general position of the account . had been considerably improved, but he did not think that the library could possibly be expanded as it ought to be with the funds at their disposal, bearing in mind the, responsibility the Board had to other institutions which

had a clearer or more direct claim upon them. The policy which the Board had embarked on, .of giving the public the use-of the circulating library and subscribers’ reading-room at Sa per annum, which was the sum charged for the use of the so-called free municipal library at Wellington, an institution which he believed, cost the City Council over £3OOO per year, was not likely to increase the revenue. On the other hand,- the benefit of the reduction was fully appreciated by the public, as shown by the largo increase of subscribers which had . taken place during the first four_ months of the present year. He trusted that the time might come when tho • City Council would realise its duty, both to the Public Library and to the Museum, by assisting both of them, ns they wero certainly leading attractions to tho city. MUSEUM. 1 The Museum account, which opened with a debit balance of £97, closed with a debit of £329. That sum was more than accounted for by the facts that during the year specimens of the' value of £251 were purchased, ft strong-room costing £ll4 was built, end £2OO was expended from the Board’s funds for the purchase of tho Okarito whale skeleton. The policy which had been initiated of allowing the curator. Mr E. R. Waite, to make a tour of the North Island with a view to purchasing Maori specimens was the right one.\ The museum should be strong in its collection of things of historical and antique value, relating to the fast-dis-appearing race which liad occupied the land before the Europeans. He trusted that the policy would be steadily purs.ued and that Canterbury Museum would take a high place in the direction indicated. It would be an excellent idea if the Board were to establish in connection with the Museum a section relating to tho early colonists. In tho course of another generation all those who took part in tho settlement of Canterbury would have passed array. Many records of the city in. its early days, and of those who establish-

ed it, should be at the present. timo procurable, and it would, in liis opinion, as a very gracious and wise policy if the Board were to establish . a section at the Museum where such things could bo kept on exhibition, so that these who came after would bo able as far as possible to picture to themselves exactly what Christchurch and tho province generally looked like in the early days of colonisation. While in Sydney he was shown over the great Mitchell Library, now approaching completion, and was greatly interested in seeing the manuscripts that had been preserved. There were to bo seen documents from whatever source obtainable, collected, bound and indexed, relating to tho earliest stages of the history of all the Australasian colonies, New Zealand included. If a collection wero obtained of the letters received by men like Sir George Grey, Sir Frederick Whittaker, tlio Hon W. Rolleston, Sir John Hall, Sir Harry Atkinson, the Right Hon R. J. Seddon and others, they would bo of enormous interest to the peoplo, and would provide an unfailing source of inspiration /to the future historians of New Zealand. Ho had no doubt that if efforts wero made to obtain thorn, the manuscript collection of the Museum would be one of the most interesting in that institution. t ' r SCHOOL OF ART. The School of Art continued the prosperous career which was inaugurated on tho appointment of the present director, Air Herdman .Smith. The institution had begun with a credit balance of £312 and closed with a credit balance of £6lB, notwithstanding the fact that some reasonable increases had been granted in salaries amounting to about £l3O, and also considerable increases had been given to the different accounts that would assist in the better working of the institution. He trusted that the visit of the director to Europe would result ill still further efficiency. MUSIC LECTURES.

Members would see that the attendance at the music lectures for 1909 had increased from 75 to 90, the increase being made almost entirely by the teachers’ certificate classes C and D, which had risen from 30 to 47. Ho thought tho time had come when the Board should consider whether a larger scheme should not be gone into in connection with the musical portion of the work of the College. As ho had stated on a previous occasion, whilst the Board was doing much for the arts and crafts in connection with the School of Ait, it was doing comparatively little for music, which was an art that touched the masses far moro closely than painting and sculpture and other work which was being done so’ well at tho School of lArt under the control of the Board. He thought, therefore, that while the classes were continued as at present, dealing merely with the theory of music and without any practical work attaching to them, the Board could not expect this portion of its work to bo successful. Dr Bradshaw fully realised this, and was most anxious that the Board should assist him in making the mhsic portion of its work broader and wider in its scope. He saw no reason why the Board should not establish a small school of music with the view of undertaking practical as well as theoretical work. Ono of the buildings recently purchased by tho Board in Montreal Street would possibly lend itself to the purpose for a beginning. Tho expense would not need to be large at the start, and be believed the experiment would very soon justify 'itself. As members were aware, the Board had now abandoned its connection with the Associated Board of the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music, which sent examiners from Great Britain and drew large sums of money from the people of New Zealand for merely examining students in music. If the proposal he suggested were given effect to, it might bo possible for the College to conduct not only a school of music,, but also to grant associatoships and "ive diplomas to those who presented themselves for examination throughout the district over which the Board exercised control, as was done both in tho School of Engineering and the School of Art. In Dr Bradshaw the College was fortunate in possessing

a gentleman whoso position in tho musical world would amply justify his appointment to examine for the diplomas suggested. He believed in time that tho diplomas would carry with them even more weight than those now granted by the Associated Board. At any rate, there was no reason why New Zealand should depend entirely for itq musical tests upon gentlemen who periodically visited the country from Great Britain. The mere fact of this being the case was an admission of weakness, which the Board should no longer admit. The proposal to establish a School of Music, oven in a small way, was one that required careful examination, but the success which had attended tho School of Art amply justified the Board in embarking upon the experiment which he had ventured to suggest. Up to the present, although the University had set up a degree in music, only six students had taken a degree of Bachelor of Music, three at Canterbury College, two at Auckland and one at Wellington. He thought the reason was not far to seek, namely, that none of the universities had thoroughly connected themselves with tho culture of the art of music. This was a subject upon which he could enlarge with considerable enthusiasm, but it was not necessary that he should do so. Later in the year he would submit detailed proposals of the scheme for establishing a School of Music under the auspices of the College, and he had no doubt that this would receive careful consideration at the hands of members of the Board. PRIVATE BENEFICENCE.

Ho desired again to draw the attention of colonists to the wisdom and patriotism ol : bequeathing portions of their wealth to Canterbury College, or one or other pf its allied institutions- In Australia many large benefactions had been left to the universities, art galleries, museums and libraries. In Now Zealand, unfortunately, such benefactions were almost unknown. Yet no better or more enduring objects could ho suggested than those which wore of an educational character. During, recent years, several very large fortunes had been left by residents of Canterbury, who had built up their wealth in the province, but none of that wealth had been turned to educational purposes. Yet the education of the poople was the ultimate test of everything that was noble, worthy and free. Even small gifts would be appreciated by tho Board. He had heard a year of two ago of a resident of South Canterbury who was in a difficulty as to how he should bequeath his estate, and finally gave it to the Road Board of the district in which his property was situated. INVESTMENT OF CAPITAL. The Board was in possession of considerable sums of money in the shape of capital belonging to the various accounts. The total of these accounts was 35,678, and tho whole of the capital was intact, except that one portion of it which was expended in the payment of the Bank of Now South Wales overdraft, caused by the expenditure of £10,834 on College and Boys’ High School Buildings, and for this there wore substantial assets. So far as the High School was concerned, there was no° reason why the money owing by the institution should not bo repaid at the rate of at least £SOO a year until the debt on the buildings account was extinguished and the capital replaced. Tho following were the capital accounts or accrued rents on March 31, 1909: Girls’ High Sclmbl capital account £5002 8s Id, Public Library capital account £1666 8s 6d, Public Library sinking fund account £229 6s 4d, medical school reserves sinking fund account £4361 15s Oct, Museum,' Library and School of Technical Science capital account £181,941 8s 4d, Museum Guide Book sinking fund account £2O, Astronomical Observatory account £4ll 0s 7d, Emily S. Foster memorial fund £65 2s Bd, Helen M’Millan Brown memorial fund £9B 7s 6d, Thomas Miller prize fund £lO2 16s lid, Joseph Haydon prize fund £212 7s 7d, accrued rents of Coldstream reserve £4567 13s lOd. The-'© were represented by:—Mortgages of freeholds £B7OO, tramway debentures £6050, City Council debentures £4OO. fixed deposit £3142 13s lOd, drawing account credit £IB3O 19s, purchase freehold properties in city £5450, debt of £10,834 paid off on account of College and Boys’ High School buildings, total £36,407 12s lOd. BANKING OPERATIONS. The long-standing No. 2 overdraft account of £10,834 at the Bank of New South Wales had been wiped out. This represented £SOOO owing by the Boys’ High School for buildings and £5.834 owing on College building extensions. These amounts had now been _ transferred as debits to the respective accounts. He anticipated that the Boys’ High School would be able in time to pay its debt, but the claims on the College account wore so pressing that he could not see any prospect of its

share of the liability for buildings being repaid from the maintenance account. SUMMARY OF PROPOSALS. Mr Russell summarised his proposals as follow: : 1. That in order to give greater fixity of tenure and encourage tenants to improve their holdings, the Board’s endowments be let for twenty-one years instead of fourteen. 2. That the Finance and Estates Committee inquire into the desirability of sub-dividing the farm lands and pastoral runs which will come up for release in 1910 and 1911. 3. That a Chair of Physics be established. and the professor appointed to report on the building and equipment necessary for the laboratory. 4. That the Government be asked to provide a sum of £20,000 (to be spread over five years), for the purposes of providing increased lecture-rooms, *a physical laboratory and a Collego library, and that if the Government accedes to the request these works be undertaken at once. 5. That the Board consider how far, and in what way, it is possible to provide for a greater increase of benefit to the people of Christohurch from the endowments of the Boys’ High School. 6. That a hostel be established for the Boys’ High School. 7. That a section relating , to the early colonists be established" at the Museum; also a manuscript collection relating to notable men in tho history of the dominion. 8. That a School of Music be established, which shall have the power, under the Board, of granting diplomas in music. } CONCLUSION. In conclusion Mr “Russell thanked the Board for the sympathetic way in which it had received proposals, he had previously made in the direction of reorganising and strengthening the finances of the institutions under its control. The work transacted by the Board was far larger than that laid upon any other educational authority in the dominion. It must be a matter of satisfaction to members to know that the finances of the College were sound, that during tho last few years several thousands of pounds of debts

had been extinguished, that- there war no overdraft, that the capital was intact, and that the Board could look forward to the future with confidence and hope. (Applause.' It was deciued to have the report printed, and thei debate on it was adjourned until the next meeting.

' for capitation Roll and lech. Av. fee3 No. Fees. elapses. Total paid. , £ £ £ £ s. d. 1503 229 1956 51 2007 8 10 10 1034 219 1634 31 1713 7 13 10 1905 190 1363 23 1386 7 3 5 1306 209 1204 243 1447 5 15 3 1307 228 1091 423 15)4 4 15 8 1903 203 968 540 1503 4 15 4