9

8.—7

4. Teaching Appliances. —That money is continually required for the purchase of new instruments is not, I think, sufficiently recognised by the Council. 5. Library. —There is no Medical Library in connection with the school, unless the two or three dozen books bought more than twenty years ago can be called by that name. Under these five heads I have endeavoured to give you the information asked for as to the defects of the school. Some of these are more serious than others, but all detract from its value as a teaching institution, and we cannot long maintain the fairly creditable position we now hold unless we set our house in order. I am, &c, The Council of the University of Otago. John H. Scott. (2-) Gentlemen, — University of Otago, Ist May, 1901. I have little to add to what I wrote in 1898 as to the condition and prospects of the Medical School. I then, at your request, pointed out what I regarded as its main defects, and warned you as to what would inevitably occur if these were not remedied. Little or nothing was done, however, and if the school was old-fashioned and out of date three years ago, it is certainly not less so now. Indeed the matter is becoming very serious, and I must ask you, if you really wish to have a Medical School in Dunedin, to take steps to put it on a more satisfactory basis. I regret to say that the public are beginning to recognise that the school is not what it pretends to be, and some of the classes show a marked shrinking. The number of students attending anatomy in 1898 was 43, in 1899 it fell to 35, in 1900 to 30, while the class this session only numbers 22. The surgery class shows a similar state of affairs. This is very unsatisfactory. It is not that fewer young people are choosing medicine as a profession. It is, I believe, because parents are not satisfied with the local school, and prefer sending their sons and daughters to more generously treated institutions in England. It is true that at the Hospital improvements have been made. Two new wards have been opened, and the accommodation for students has been improved. A new post-mortem room has also been built, and has been ready for use for several months, but it is kept closed, and the school has in no way benefited by its existence; while, in spite of the increased size of the Hospital, the number of patients treated remains as small as ever. The weekly -returns frequently show that not more than between eighty and ninety beds are occupied. So long as this state of affairs continues the school cannot flourish. I am, &c, The Council of the University of Otago. John H. Scott. (3.) Supplementary Report of the Dean to the Special Committee on the Medical School. The total number of students, both past and present, is 321. Fifty-six have gone through the whole of their course in this country, and have taken the medical degree of the New Zealand University (bachelors of medicine, fifty-two; doctors of medicine, four). Ninety, after a partial course here, have gone to Great Britain to complete their studies, and have taken some British qualification. Since the completion of the school fifty-seven students have gone to England, after taking one year here; seventy-four after two years ; and fifteen after three or more years. Total, 146. The number of those who have gone Home for further study after taking their degree here is sixteen, and these have, with three exceptions, taken one or more British qualifications during their stay there. Of the fifty-six graduates of the New Zealand University forty-seven are now practising their profession in this country. Two are settled in practice in England. Two are studying in London. Three are in Australia. One is a medical missionary in India, and one is dead. Of the ninety holders of British qualifications fifty-eight have returned to New Zeafand, so that there are now in the country 105 medical practitioners who received their education either completely or partially at this School. The number of undergraduates attending the School at present is seventy-three. The number of our old students now in Great Britain, and still in the undergraduate stage, is fifty-two. The number of those who since the foundation of the School have, owing to death or other cause, given up the study of medicine before graduation, is thirty-six.

Report of the Director of the Otago University School of Mines. Sir,— 10th May, 1902. I have the honour to report that during the session of 1901 the school showed the satisfactory attendance of thirty-eight registered students, and one casual student for one special subject only—namely, practical assaying. The thirty-eight students attended with the intention of going through one or more of the courses of study prescribed in the calendar for the several divisions of the school. Of that number eleven entered for their first year, leaving twenty-seven in their second or third year. In past years students have not strictly followed the curriculum prescribed in the calendar, and for this reason the year of attendance does not always coincide with the academic year of a student's course. And failure to pass a satisfactory examination in a subject at the end of the session may throw a student out of the prescribed course, and in some cases necessitate attendance in the same class for another year. Of students who entered for their third or final year, four completed their studies with success, and, having presented satisfactory certificates of time spent in practical work, were awarded the 2—E. 7.