H.—l

" respects, subjected only to the provisions of the University Act, and the regulations "of their respective governing bodies or councils." It is desirable, however, and intended, that the fixing of the terms of the academic year should rest with the Senate of the University, and that the terms should be uniform in all the University colleges. On the question whether it is desirable that the University should have a fixed seat we Avere by no means agreed. The following resolution was carried by seven votes against six : —" That the New Zealand University should have its seat and " hold its meetings in the Otago University Buildings, in the City of Dunedin, and " all degrees granted by the Senate of the New Zealand University should be " publicly granted and conferred in the City of Dunedin : provided that students, " when graduating, shall not necessarily be required to be present at the ceremony " of graduation." In devising a constitution for the governing bodies of the colleges we have been influenced by three separate considerations of nearly equal importance. In the first place, we have borne in mind that the colleges owe their existence and maintenance to grants of public money or land; and that, on that account, if for no other reason, the Government ought to exercise some direct control over them. In the second place, the professors—whose duties and interests are so inseparably bound up with the prosperity of the colleges, and who must be more intimately acquainted than any other persons can be with the inner working of the colleges, and with the necessities of the students—have an undoubted claim to a voice in the management of these institutions, a claim which is fully recognized in other Universities. And lastly, the graduates, with their experience of the special characteristics of the life of their own college, and their personal reasons for desiring to see its efficiency and reputation well maintained, may be expected to exert a beneficial influence if admitted to a share in its government. We therefore recommend that the Council of each college be composed of twelve members as follows: — Eour members to be nominated by the Governor in Council; Four members to be elected by the Professorial Board of each college; Pour members to be elected by the graduates of the New Zealand University on the books of the college, as soon as there are twenty such graduates by examination ; this last group of members to be appointed by the Governor in Council until there are twenty such graduates. In order that graduates residing at a distance from the colleges may not be put to the inconvenience of coming to the polling-place, it is suggested that means should be devised for taking their votes by voting-papers. We are of opinion that ad eundem graduates of the University should be allowed, on payment of a reasonable fee, to put their names on the books of a college, and to vote at elections of members of the college Council; but that this privilege should be carefully limited in order to secure to the other graduates who are members of the college their proper influence in the conduct of the affairs of the college. The restrictions which we recommend are —that the ad eundem graduates on the books of a college shall not vote at elections of members of Council until there are on the books of the college thirty graduates by examination; and that the Council may refuse to allow an ad eundem graduate to put his name on the books if his place of residence be such as to render it evidently more fitting that he should associate himself with some other college. In other respects it is proposed to invest ad eundem graduates with the same privileges as other graduates of the University. We think that the members of the college Councils should not be appointed for life, but that the appointments should be terminable at the end of four years, and that, in order to bring about a retirement by rotation, one of each group of four should retire annually; the order in which the persons first appointed shall retire to be determined by lot, and subsequent retirements by seniority, retiring members being eligible for re-election or re-appointment. We propose that any member who shall be absent from the meetings of the Council for a period of three months without leave obtained shall cease to be a member, and that the place left vacant by his retirement shall be at once filled up by the person or body who appointed or elected him.

Dunedin to be the seat of tha University.

Constitution of college Councils.

Voting-papers,

Privileges of ad, eundem graduates.

Tenure of office of members of college Councils.

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