E.—6

2

Teaching Staff. —Mr. David Wilkinson, the lecturer on metallurgy, resigned his appointment at the end of the session, and Mr P Fitzgerald was appointed temporarily to conduct the assays for the public. Mr Fitzgerald has now been appointed for one year as lecturer on metallurgy and assaying. Mr J B, Don, M.A., B.Sc, was appointed to the lectureship on geology held by Mr Wilkinson. Dr J G. Findlay, LL.D., resigned his lectureship on political economy on removing to Wellington., The Council were unable to arrange for lecturers on this subject during the present session, but Professor Gibbons has consented to give a course of lectures next session. In accordance with a resolution of the Council, the medical lecturers were reappointed for three years, from the Ist November, 1894, as under Dr Colquhoun, lecturer on the practice of medicine , Dr Ogston, lecturer on medical jurisprudence and public health, Dr Batchelor, lecturer on midwifery and diseases of women, Dr John Macdonald, lecturer on materia medica, Dr Eoberts, lecturer on pathology , Dr. Lindo Ferguson, lecturer on opthalmology , Dr L. B Barnett, lecturer on surgery in the place of Dr William Brown, who desired to retire from the lectureship. Dr. Brown was thanked by the Council for his valuable services to the Medical School. Endowments. — As mentioned in last year's report, the Barewood Eun (30,000 acres) was thrown on the hands of the Council, and they decided to have the whole of the block subdivided into sections, and offered at auction at a low upset rent. A pre-emptive right of 92 acres in the centre of the run, on which were the homestead buildings, woolshed, yards, &c, was purchased for the sum of £200, and added considerably to the working value of the property The run was offered at public auction in October, but, owing probably to the great depression in pastoral matters, only one small section of 500 acres was disposed of at the upset price. Every effort was made to dispose of the run by private tender at a satisfactory figure, but the Council was at last obliged to accept an offer of £900 a year for the run, which in 1880 was let at auction for £2,925 a year, subsequently reduced to £.1,750. The immediate loss on the annual rental of this run is £850, a sum which must be added to the losses incurred last year of £600 a year on Benmore, and £150 a year just recently on the Museum Eeserve. The loss in revenue on these three endowments is therefore £1,600, to which must be added this year the great expense of surveying, rabbiting, and letting Barewood. The expense of the survey would probably have been much greater but for the kind permission of the Government Survey Department to have the survey executed by their officials at the actual cost. The Finance Committee have been strictly investigating every item of expenditure in the accounts and estimates, and have made every reduction that they feel justified in making, and in the case of grants for apparatus and for the library they have been obliged to place the figures at an amount which will not keep these departments in proper condition. The revenue now to be received from the endowments and ordinary sources will scarcely meet the fixed engagements of the Council, leaving nothing available for maintenance or repair of buildings, or for any unforeseen contingencies that may arise. This is the present position, and the Council view it with much concern. The report of the Director of the School of Mines for the year 1894 is appended, and also a copy of the special report of the Finance Committee on the revenue and expenditure. A copy of the audited balance-sheet for the year ending 31st March, 1895, is also forwarded. Joshua Stbange Williams, Chancellor To His Excellency the Governor of New Zealand.

APPENDICES

I. EePOBT 0% THE DIBECTOB OP THE SCHOOL OF MINES. Sib, — University, Dunedin, November, 1894. Herewith I have the honour to submit my report on the work and the results of the School of Mines during the past session (1894), and on matters concerning present circumstances and future progress of the school. At the end of the session of 1893 the school lost six students, leaving only thirteen, but nine fresh students entered, thus making the attendance number during the past session twenty-one. Of the six students who left, three were occasional students for special subjects only, one, who required to attend one more session for passing through the mining division, sent notice that on account of his delicate health he was advised to take a year's rest, and hoped to be able to return for next session, the other two students had finished their studies—one for the mining division only, the other for the mining, metallurgical, and geological divisions, —and both have since been granted the diplomas of associateship to which they were entitled. Of the twenty-one students during the past session, three entered for special subjects only —namely, two for assaying, and one for assaying and blowpipe analysis. The other eighteen were regular registered students, who attended the different lecture courses entered for very regularly, except one, who frequently missed lectures in one of the subjects, and, in consequence, failed in the examination. The present status of these students is as follows : — Five of the new students passed through the first year's course, save that four of them, with the intention of devoting four years instead of three to going through the whole course, did not take mathematics, reserving it for next year. This accounts for the small number who entered for examination in this subject, as shown in the table given further on. Six students passed through the second year's course of the mining division, though two of them, who intend to stay four years, missed also one subject.