EDUCATION: THE AUCKLAND UNIVERSITY COLLEGE.

Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1884 Session I, E-08

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1884. NEW ZEALAND.

EDUCATION: THE AUCKLAND UNIVERSITY COLLEGE.

Presented in pursuance of Section 25 of " The Auckland University College Act, 1882."

The Chairman to the Hon. the Minister of Education Sir,— University College, Auckland, 22nd May, 1884. In .compliance with the 25th section of " The Auckland University College Act, 1882," the Council has the honour of making to the Hon. the Minister of Education the following report:— 1. In pursuance of appointment made by the Governor in Council, the Council of the Auckland University College held its first meeting on Monday, the 19th day of February, 1883, in the old District Courthouse in Eden Street, Auckland. 2. The College Council then consisted of the following eleven members The Mayor of the City of Auckland, James McCosh Clark, Esq ; the Chairman of the Auckland Board of Education, William Pollock Moat, Esq , three members elected by the members of the General Assembly resident in the Provincial District of Auckland, viz., John Logan Campbell, Esq., M.D., the Bight Bey William Garden Cowie, D.D., Bishop of Auckland, and Edwin Hesketh, Esq., barrister-at-law, three members appointed by the Governor in Council, viz., the Bey Thomas Buddie, his Honour Mr. Justice Thomas Bannatyne Gillies, and the Hon. Colonel Theodore Minet Haultain, and three members appointed by the Governor in Council pending the time when there shall be thirty graduates of the University of New Zealand on the books of the college, viz., the Bey David Bruce, the Hon. Sir George Maurice O'Borke, 8.A., and District Judge Hugh Garden Seth Smith, M.A. 3. At the first meeting of the Council Sir G. Maurice O'Borke was elected chairman for the term of a year. 4. The Council, at its first meeting, resolved that a request should be made to the Senate of the University of New Zealand that this college should be affiliated to the University , and on the 3rd of March the Senate resolved, that the college should accordingly be affiliated. 5. There not being any building appropriated to the college, the Government, in the month of March, granted to the Council the use of the old District Courthouse. The Council prepared in this building one lecture-room and some smaller apartments. 6. The Council of the Auckland Institute granted to the College Council the use, during certain hours, of a room in the Museum, which is in Princes Street, and in this room the Professor of Classics and English delivered his lectures. The lectures of the Law Lecturer were delivered in the District Courthouse, High Street. 7 In the year 1882 the Agent-General for New Zealand, in accordance with directions from the Colonial Government, selected four Professors for this college. In making these selections the Agent-General had obtained the assistance and advice of a number of gentlemen of most distinguished eminence in science, in literature, and in academic position. The Professors thus selected were the following:— Classics and English. —Thomas George Tucker, 8.A., Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, and Craven Scholar of the University, Senior Classic of 1882. Mathematics. —George Francis Walker, M.A., Fellow of Queen's College, Cambridge, Second Wrangler of 1879 , late Fellow of the University of Durham. Chemistry and Experimental Physics. —Frederick Douglas Brown, M.A., B.Sc, F.C.S., lately Demonstrator of Chemistry in the University Museum, Oxford. Natural Science. —Algernon Phillips Thomas, M.A., F.L.S., late Scholar Balliol College, Oxford, Burdett-Coutts University Scholar, lately Demonstrator of Biology in the University Museum, Oxford. 8. The lamentable event of the death, by accidental drowning, of Professor Walker, which occurred in the harbour of Auckland on the Ist of May, 1883, rendered the Professorship of Mathematics vacant; and the Agent-General selected for that chair Mr William Steadman Aldis, M.A. Cantab., Senior Wrangler and First Smith's Prizeman of 1861. In order to accept this appointment in Auckland, and induced by the superiority of climate, Professor Aldis relinquished the position of being Principal of the Durham College of Physical Science.

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9. In the absence of a Professor of Mathematics, the requisite lectures in this department were delivered, in 1883, by Professors Brown and Thomas, who, at the request of the Council, undertook these additional duties till the arrival of the new Professor of Mathematics. 10. On the 16th April, 1883, the Auckland Board of Education notified to the Council that Mr. Moat had ceased to be Chairman of that Board, and that Mr Bichard Laishley, barrister-at-law, had been elected Chairman. 11. The Auckland University College was formally opened by His Excellency the Governor of New Zealand, Sir William F Drummond Jervois, G.C.M.G., C.8., at a public meeting held in the Choral Hall, Auckland, on the evening of Monday the 21st May, 1883, on which occasion His Excellency presided, and delivered a highly interesting and instructive inaugural address. 12. On the 6th June, 1883, the Council appointed Mr Hugh Garden Seth Smith, M.A. Cantab., barrister-at-law of the Inner Temple, District Judge of Auckland, to be Lecturer on Law 13. The Chairman of the Council received a letter addressed to him by the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, Dr Jowett, dated the 28th August, 1883, and proffering to the College such a status of affiliation to that University that students who shall have "resided at" this college for three years, and passed an examination with honours, shall have the period of residence at Oxford requisite for graduating there reduced from three to two years, "or rather," adds the Vice-Chancellor, 'to about one year and eight months." On the 21st November the Council adopted the following resolutions, proposed by the Chairman: — " (1.) That the thanks of the Council of the Auckland University College be given to Dr Jowett, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, for the offer he conveyed to this Council, in his letter of the 28th August last, from the Hebdomadal Council, of admitting students of this college to the University of Oxford. " (2.) That this Council accepts the proposal, but is of opinion that hereafter a course of tuition of two years in this college ought to be accepted, instead of a three years' course, as entitling students of this college to the benefits of admission to Oxford under the proposed scheme for shortening the period of residence there for colonial students. " (3.) That it be represented to the Vice-Chancellor that the New Zealand University, to which the Auckland University College is affiliated, is incorporated by Act of the General Assembly of New Zealand, and has received a royal charter recognizing the degrees of the New Zealand University as if such degrees had been granted by a University of the United Kingdom, and that the Auckland University College is at present maintained by a statutory grant of £4,000 per annum. " (4.) That this Council concurs with the Vice-Chancellor that the clause marked B, relating to affiliated colleges, which provides for the Oxford University being represented on the governing bodies of such colleges and taking part in their examinations, would be inapplicable to this institution." 14. In the Auckand University College there are in each year two terms of fourteen weeks each, commencing respectively on the first Monday in April and the last Monday in July. 15. The fees for lectures (which fees are paid over to the lecturers) are —15s. per term for a course occupying one hour per week, £1 10s. for a course occupying two hours per week, and so on proportionally 16. On the 19th December, 1883, the Council resolved that there should be two entrance or junior scholarships of £20 each, to be awarded upon competitive examination, and two senior scholarships of £30 each, to be awarded to students who shall have been most successful in the annual examination. Each of these scholarships is granted for one year 17 Soon after the lamented decease of Mrs. Gillies, wife of Mr. Justice Gillies, his Honour communicated to the Council, by letter dated 29th of March, 1884, that he and Mrs. Gillies had been recently considering the adoption of some special means of perpetuating the memory of her late uncle, Dr Andrew Sinclair, E.N., who had done much for natural science in the early days of the colony Mr Justice Gillies announced, in the same letter, his intention of immediately presenting to the college the sum of £3,000 for the purpose of founding two scholarships, to be called respectively the Sinclair and the Gillies Scholarships, in memory of Dr Sinclair and of Mrs. Gillies; one of the scholarships (the Sinclair) to be awarded for excellency of attainments in zoology and botany, and the other in chemistry and electricity, a certain amount of knowledge of mathematics being in each case required. This munificent donation has been made, and the scholarships have been instituted. 18. In the first term of 1883 the number of students attending the lectures was 73, in the second term, 56, in the first term of 1884 the number is 72. 19. The number of graduates of the University of New Zealand whose names are on the register of the college is at present 11, of whom 4 are ad eundem. The number of matriculated students or undergraduates is 51. 20. To the recommendation made by the Boyal Commission on University Education, in 1879, that a sum of £12,500 should be devoted to the erection of a suitable building in Auckland, effect has not hitherto been given. The operations of the college have been seriously hampered, and great inconvenience has been caused to Professors and students by the want of place and accommodation suitable for the delivery of the lectures. The one lecture-room in Eden Street is used by two Professors, those of Chemistry and Natural Science, the Lecturer on Law (as before mentioned) lectures in the District Courthouse, in High Street, and until recently the Council was without a lecture-room for the Professors of Classics and Mathematics. The temporary use of the house called Admiralty House, which is in Short Street, has been granted by the Government, with the sanction of the Naval authorities, and one lecture-room in that building has thus been procured.

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21. The total income of the Auckland University College is the £4,000 per annum provided by "The Auckland University College Act, 1882." There are three blocks of land, of 10,000 acres each, the proceeds arising from which are to be dealt with for promoting higher education in the Provincial District of Auckland, in such a manner as the General Assembly may from time to time determine. No revenue of any account has been hitherto available from these endowments, and no income from this source has accrued to the college. 22. An audited statement of the receipts and expenditure for the period ended on the 31st day of December, 1883, is hereunto annexed. I have, &c, G. Maurice O'Borke, The Hon. the Minister of Education. Chairman.

Statement of Beceipts and Expendituee for the Period ended 31st December, 1883. Beceipts. £ s. d. Expenditure. £ «. d. Statutory grant per Paymaster-General 6,749 10 1 Salaries— Professors 1,560 15 1 Law Lecturer 56 18 11 Registrar . 75 16 1 Attendants 131 16 5 Caretaker 9 15 0 Office expenses 27 18 2 Repairs and fittings to buildings 220 9 8 Furniture, apparatus, and requisites 195 10 3 Use of rooms for lectures, &c. 22 13 10 Printing and advertising 52 6 3 Lighting, cleaning, and firing .. 17 4 8 Be decease of Professor Walker 66 10 10 Refunded to Government for expenses attending appointment of Professors, purchase of goods, Ac. 1,960 13 0 Balances— Petty cash in hand 5 12 9 In Bank of New Zealand, current account 345 9 2 In fixed deposit account 2,000 0 0 £6,749 10 1 £6,749 10 1

Liabilities and engagements at 31st December, 1883.—None. Bobt. Kidd, Begistrar. I hereby certify that I have examined the books and vouchers of the Auckland University College for the year ended 31st December, 1883, and that I find them to be correct.—L. A. Duerieu, Auditor 2nd June, 1884.

By Authority: George Didsbury, Government Printer, Wellington.—lBB4.