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examination of the New Zealand University. There are so far only two new students certain of entry—viz., one from Canterbury, who applied for registration some time ago, and one from our Boys' High School, who is the winner of the scholarship recently established by the liberality of the Hon. A. Lee Smith. Going by past experience, before the rush to the school set in, the attendance number of regular students for next session may, I think, reach forty ; whilst in addition three or four occasional students can always be counted upon. I am thankful to mention that through the Council granting me the assistance of two advanced students —one for the large class in mineralogy, the other for that in petrography—l have been enabled to get well through these subjects, and the students have considerably benefited by the increased attention given to them individually. And I may also state that the provision of more windows along one long wall of the small lecture-room has served its purpose— i.e., of procuring more light for microscope-work for the class in petrography—very satisfactorily, and there is now, with a decreasing number of students in prospect, no necessity for such an extension of the building towards the lawn-tennis court as I thought it advisable to recommend in my last year's report. The lecturer in general geology (Dr. Don) made, with his students, during the session an extended field excursion, about which he reports as follows : " The excursion extended over four days. We did not find it convenient to make our usual trip south of Dunedin; but, instead, the Oamaru excursion was extended so as to take in the interesting Kakanui series. The places of interest visited were Sandymount and Highcliff, on Otago Peninsula; the miocene beds of Hampden, with the Moeraki series, and Katiki beds, and the lower Kakanui Eiver, with the interesting altered limestone near the mouth; further, the bedded volcanic tuffs of Cape Wan brow and the limestone quarries of various points around Oamaru, including the diatomaceous deposit of Weston and other parts of the district. These excursions were well attended, and much enjoyed by the students." The highly instructive value of such geological field observations, as detailed by Dr. Don, has been pointed out by me in previous reports; but it requires to be mentioned here that Dr. Don liberally lightens the expense of the excursions to the students by open hospitality at his home near Oamaru. The provision by the Council of a second theodolite, which was urgently needed, for the large class in practical surveying (as pointed out in my last year's report) was highly appreciated by the lecturer (Mr. Begg) and the students. Mr. Begg wrote to me on this head as follows : " The acquisition of another theodolite for the school proved a great boon, as it enabled the whole class of the second year's course of fourteen to carry on field practice at the same time. A considerable amount of useful work was got through during the midwinter vacation, including road, railway, and mining engineering. The work done by the nine students attending the lectures of the first year's course comprised the reduction of traverses, calculation of areas, keeping level books, calculating grades and quantities, and drawing of plans to scale." Eegarding teaching facilities and requirements, I am sorry to say that an order for certain mineral collections and small apparatus needed for the classes in mineralogy and petrography, and sanctioned by the Council in the early part of the year, has even at present not come to hand; it is to be hoped that it may arrive before next session. The readjustment of the optical parts of the seven petrographic microscopes is again required, and may be set down as an annual necessity, the expense of which would probably be under £2. As mentioned in my last year's report, the provision of new drawings of typical mining machinery, appliances, &c, for the mining classes becomes with every year more pressing. Those in use may with some repairing last through next session, but I am afraid not beyond that. On account of a new edition of Dana's " Text-book of Mineralogy " (the one we use) having come out, in which the systematic arrangement of the minerals is considerably altered, it will be necessary to rearrange our teaching collection of minerals (over one thousand specimens) according to the new system, a task I shall try to finish during the vacation. Following the custom of previous years, I may, from information received during the year, give the following short account of the careers of a number of our associates: J. Chisholm is manager of cyanide-works and assayer at Murrin Murrin, Western Australia; W. A. McLeod has a well-paid post as Lecturer at the Technical School, Hobart, Tasmania; P. McLeod is director of the Coromandel School of Mines; E. C. Boydell is general manager of the Sunlight Gold-mining Company at Metz, New South Wales; E. Graham, and D. Mathieson have established themselves as public assayers and cyanide experts at Charters Towers, Queensland; E. Bray is cyanidemanager at Charters Towers, Queensland; H. E. Stephens is battery-manager and cyanidemanager at the Lachlan Gold Estates Company, New South Wales; A. Mosley is manager of cyanide-works at Mount Allen, New South Wales; A. C. Street has a good post in the service of a mining syndicate in the Island of Borneo; Adam Hay is assayer at the Mount Lyell Mine, Tasmania; D. V. Allen is battery-manager's assistant at the Kauri Gold Estates Mine, Opitonui. Those past students I mentioned in my last year's report are, so far as known, still in the positions they occupied at that time. Particulars are given of the work done for the public during the year by Mr. F. B. Stephens, the lecturer in metallurgy, in assays and analyses, and with the testing plant, and by the Director in the determination of minerals and rocks. From this it appears that over eighty assays were made. Only three tests were made by the testing plant. During the year donations of specimens, &c, have been made by Messrs. J. M. Maclaren (Director, Coromandel School of Mines), D. V. Allen, F. B. Stephens, A. Hamilton, A. Sligo, J. Logan, W. Goodlet, W. H. Macadam, E. H. Walcott, W. A. McLeod, W. Begg, G. B. Neale, and Dr. Black.