C—3.

ANNEXUKE C

REPORTS OF DIRECTORS OF SCHOOLS OF MINES. Professor James Park, M.lnst.M.M., M.A.1.M.E., F.G.S., Director of the Otago University School of Mines, to the Under-Secretary, Mines Department, Wellington. S lB> _ Dunedin, 21st April, 1908. 1 have the honour to present my annual report on the Otago School of Mines for the year ended 31st December, 1908. The mining school showed an attendance for the year of twenty-six students, of whom twenty were matriculated undergraduates of the University of New Zealand. Of the twenty-six registered students, nine were entered for the A.O.S.M. course, nine for the certificate in geology, four for the certificate in practical astronomy, two for the certificate in dental metallurgy, and one each for the certificate in general metallurgy and assaying. Five students in their final year completed the full course in the division for which they had entered. Annual Examinations. Twenty-six students presented themselves for examination in eighteen subjects, and all passed except one in mineralogy and one in mathematics. Diplomas and Certificates. Fourteen graduates of the mining school, having passed the prescribed classes and presented satisfactory evidence of time spent in practical work, as required by the regulations, were awarded the diploma of Associate, and certificates as under : Ernest Douglas Isaacson, A.0.5.M., in Mining ; Hugh Roy Mac Donald, A.0.5.M., in Mining; Alexander Gordon Macdonald, A.0.5.M., in Mining; George Dey, A.0.5.M., in Mining; Philip Hastings McDouall, A.0.5.M., in Mining; Fred Wesley Thomas, A.0.5.M., in Metallurgy; Arthur Mosley, A.0.5.M., in Metallurgy; Philip Hastings McDouall A.0.5.M., in Metallurgy ; Robert Lee, jun., A.0.5.M., in Mining, also in Land and Mine Surveying; Harold Hamilton, A.0.5.M., in Geology; Wm. R. Frost, A.0.5.M,. in Mining; I. W. H. Sargeant, A.0.5.M., in Metallurgy; J. F. McPadden, A.0.5.M., in Metallurgy; A. Spencer, A.0.5.M., in Metallurgy; Hugh Roy Macdonald, certificate of land and mine surveyor ; Edward Fletcher Roberts, certificate of land and mine surveyor ; Fred Wesley Thomas, certificate of metallurgical chemist and assayer. The diplomas granted in the divisions of mining, metallurgy, and geology since 1887 are as follows :— Issued up to Issued Total End of 1907. in 1908. Mining .. . • • • .. 82 7 89 Metallurgy .. .. •• .. 42 6 48 Geology v l 15 Totals 138 14 152 Post-graduate Work. The Government Research Scholarship for Otago for the year 1908, of the value of £100 a year, tenable for two years, was awarded to Mr. A. Gordon Macdonald, A.0.5.M., B.E. (Mm.), who is at present engaged in an investigation on the " Distribution and Economic Value of the Brown Coals Theßewick-Moreing post-graduate place for 1908 was awarded to Mr. Norman Shand, A.0.5.M., who has been placed at the New Zealand Talisman Mine at Karangahake. New Mining-school Building. . The new building is a handsome structure, containing eight laboratories, three lecture-rooms, a museum, student's library,|photographic room, store-rooms, lavatories, and cellars. It is lit throughout with electric light, the fittings and apparatus are placed in position it will rank among the best-equipped and most commodious mining schools in Australasia, It is hoped that everything will be ready for the formal opening in June of this year. The occupation of the new buildings will improve our local status. The Otago School of Mines has always occupied a prominent place among Australasian mining institutions, and it is pleasing to find that it possesses some distinction even further abroad At the last Mining Conference, held at Chicago, the Otago School of Mines, in the discussion that took place on the training of mining engineers, was grouped among the leading mining schools in the English-speaking world.

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