UNIVERSITY COUNCIL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22269, 23 May 1934, Page 5

UNIVERSITY COUNCIL

MONTHLY MEETING The monthly meeting of the Otago University Council was held yesterday; present —Mr W. J. Morrell (chancellor), Sir James Allen, Archdeacon Fitchett, Dr J. Fitzgerald, Dr Bell, Sir H. Undo Ferguson, Messrs J. Robertson, J. Wallace, F. W. Mitchell, S. Rice, and C. M. Gilray. * Mr S. Rice (Windham) took his seat as a member of the council in place of the late Mr J. C. Thomson, and waa welcomed by the chancellor. CORRESPONDENCE. Mr G. R. Ritchie wrote applying for leave of absence till the end of the year. —Granted. The dean of the medical faculty wrote enclosing a letter from Sir Louis Barnett asking that the annual meeting of the New , Zealand section of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons might be held in the Medical School on September 0 and 7.—The request was granted. Dr J. D. Hunter wrote resigning his position as clinical assistant, to the lecturer in mental resignation was accepted, and Dr Hunter was thanked for his services. Miss J. Burnside wrote resigning her position at Upper Studholme House. — The resignation was accepted, and thanks were expressed to her for her services. Professor Strong was authorised to recommend a successor. Professor Strong wrote asking if the council would authorise a special class in the history of furniture if sufficient students enrolled.—Permission was granted. The president of the Carnegie Corporation wrote offering to the University equipment for the study of music, valued at £SOO, including special phonograph, 824 records, 251 scores, and 129 volumes. —The chancellor said this was a very valuable and generous offer. It would be of great advantage for the wider education of their students. It would be necessary to have a room in a suitable position where there would lie no disturbance, and arrangements would have to be made to safeguard the collection of records. —The offer was referred to the Finance Committee with power to act, a report to be obtained from Dr Galway, lecturer on music. PROFESSORIAL BOARD. The registrar forwarded particulars of certain business transacted by the Professorial Board at the last meeting, namely—(a) Board recommends that diploma of A.O.S.M. in geology be awarded to J. B. Mackie; (b) board recommends that W. R. E. Stephenson be granted a year’s extension of the Sir Robert Stout scholarship. The recommendations were approved GENERAL. ' It was decided to appoint Mr Mitchell as the council’s representative on the Board of Discipline. The reports of the Works, Finance, and Library Committees were adopted. The tender of Messrs Briscoe and Co. of £133 was accepted for a new roof for the Mining School. The annual statement of accounts waa returned by the Audit Office certified. The council appointed Dr Andrew as a member of the Colonial Office Recruitment Committee in place of Mr J. B. Callan. CHANCELLOR’S REPORT. The chancellor’s report to his Excellency the Governor-General was approved as follows: The council: It is with the utmost regret that I have to record the death of our late chancellor, the Honourable Sir Thomas Sidoy, which took place on Mar 20. 1933. Sir Thomas was himself a student of the University, graduating as B.A. in 1884 and as LL.B. in 1887. In 1899 he was elected a member of the council to represent the Court of Convocation, and this position he retained uninterruptedly until the time of his death, lu 1921, on the resignation of Sir John Roberts, he was elected vicechancellor, and in 1925, on the death of the Rev. Dr Cameron, he became chancellor. During this Jong period of office he gave ungrudgingly of his time and energy to the advancement of the University, which he also enriched by generous benefactions. Sir Thomas won not only the respect but also the abiding affection of his colleagues oh the council, the teaching staff and the students, and his memory will long be cherished in his old University, To fill the vacancy thus created the council did me the honour of appointing me chancellor, whilst Mr L. Deans Ritchie was appointed vice-chancellor. In February, Mr J, A. Moore, M.A., B.Sc., who since 1924 had represented the teachers in primary schools, resigned his seat on appointment to the primary inspectorate. Mr Moore was a useful and conscientious member of the council, and his resignation was accepted with- much regret. The two vacancies on the domicil were filled by the election of Mr J. M. Butler, M.Sc., to represent the Court of Convocation, and of Mr J. Robertson, 8.A., B.Sc., to represent tin teachers in primary schools. Teaching staff: During the year 1933 the work of the philosophy chair was carried on temporarily by the Rev. J. M. Bates, M.A., and applications were invited for the professorship, _ duties to commence in 1934. Since this chair is endowed by the Presbyterian Church, the appointment of a professor is in the hands of the Otago Presbyterian Church Board of Property. With the concurrence of the Presbyterian Synod of Otago and the University Council, and after full consultation with representatives of these two bodies, the hoard appointed to the position Sir J. N. Findlay, M.A. (Oxon.), Ph.D. (Graz), lecturer in the University of Pretoria. Two professors were granted leave of absence for the year 1934: Dr Benson, professor of geology, who desired to undertake a year’s research work in London; and Dr Fisher, professor of economics, who was offered the. position of economic adviser for one year to the Bank of New South Wales. Dr Benson’s department is entrusted to the lecturer in geology (Dr Turner), and Dr Fisher’s work has been undertaken by Mr S. F. Limbrick, M.A., who was previously attached to the University of Tasmania. Logan Park: I am pleased to record that the protracted negotiations with the City Council regarding the lease of a sports gound for the University on Logan Park have at length been brought to a satisfactory conclusion, and that a lease for a period of 90 years with the right of renewal for a further period of 99° years has been secured over an area of 7.9 acres. The council deeply appreciates the generous manner in which the University has been treated in this matter by the Dunedin City Corporation and the Otago Harbour Board. Maternity Hospital: Two years ago the chancellor's report mentioned that owing to the magnificent response of the women of New Zealand to an appeal from the Obstetrical Society, a gift of £25,000 had been made to the University to permit of the appointment of a fulltime professor of obstetrics. The professor who was appointed, Dr Dawson, very soon reported that his work in training medical students in this important branch of the curriculum was very severely handicapped by inadequate hospital facilities. The Otago Hospital Board is now negotiating with the Minister of Health regarding the erection of a new maternity hospital, and 1 hope to be able to record in my next re- I port that this very necessary adjunct to our Medical School is in course of construction.

Number of Medical Students: The new medical buildings, which were completed in 1926, were designed with a view to coping with the numbers of students

offering for many years to come, and they are well able to accommodate more students than are required for recruiting the ranks of the medical profession in New Zealand. For some few years past, however, there has been a progressive increase in the number of students offering, until it has become greater than the buildings can accommodate. It has therefore become necessary to impose some restriction, and the University of New Zealand has agreed that a selection may be made on the results of the intermediate examination. The exact details of the manner in which the selection is to be made have still to be worked out.

Statistics of Students: The following is a statement regarding the number of students in attendance during the year 1933: —Arts and music, 294; science, 72; agriculture, 3; engineering, 3; law, 47; commerce, 184; mining, 35; dental, 111; massage, 15; medical, 321; home science, 91; —-total, 1176.