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37

E.—7

The travelling scholarship awarded annually by the New Zealand University was awarded to William Sowerby, M.8., Ch.B., this year. During the winter the University was visited by Mr. Hogben, Inspector-General of Schools, who inquired into the financial position and requirements of the University. In his report to the Minister of Education Mr. Hogben emphasizes the need for increased expenditure on buildings, equipment, and salaries for the Medical School, and states that the sum of £11.000 is required for buildings, and recommends an increased expenditure on salaries up to £1,350 a year. In April of this year, on the recommendation of the faculty of medicine, the Senate of the New Zealand Cnviersity agreed to grant a diploma in public, health, and it is hoped that steps will soon be taken to set up courses of instruction for this diploma. Various minor changes in the classes have been made. It was decided to hold the summer session later in the year so as to begin about the 20th January and end in the first week of April. The class of midwifery which is to be held this winter will occupy the first half of 1 he winter session, while medical jurisprudence will meet in the second half at the same hour. The need for increased accommodation in the practical rooms has become more acute than ever, and it is hoped that before another year passes something will be dune to remedy the present state of affairs.

The Dental School. —Report ok the Director (Professor 11. P. PickertlL, M.D., M.D.S.). During the pasl war II students have been in attendance at the Dental Sohool ; of these 10 were degree students and 4 were taking tin- six months' post-graduate course. Two students completed their course and passed the final examination for the B.D.S. degree last January. The usual courses of lectures have been given. The special lectures on medicine lor dental .students are a great advantage, and the suggestion in my last annual report thai special lectures should also be held in anatomy and physiology has to some extent now been met by Dr. Malcolm's arranging to divide his course into junior and senior ones. The Senate of i In' New Zealand University has sanctioned the reduction of the time to be spent at this school in acquiring a, knowledge of prosthetic dentistry from three years to two, the reduction in be made at the discretion of the Principal. This provision will, I think, operate favourably for good students, and will prove an incentive lor the less energetic ones. During the pest year the students'fees for clinical dental surgery have been allocated to the honorary stall; but in return they have generously donated a sum id' about £50 to the Dental Hospital, and it is hoped that, according to precedent elsewhere, the Government will pay the usual subsidy on this amount. This year, for the first lime since its foundation, the Dental Hospital has received some support from the public through the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board. The latter body, alter considerable discussion, decided to make a subsidy of £200 per annum, and paid the first instalment of £100. I think it is regrettable that the terms of the contribution —especially the return of 111 per cent, of all fees -should bs so stringent, more particularly having regard to the large sum which the University is saving the Board from expending in dental treatment, such as the Boards in Auckland, and Christchurch have undertaken, and Wellington is about to. A comparison of tlie clinical work of the Hospital for the five months during which the Hospital Boards' regulations have been in force with a similar period during the previous twelve months shows a falling-off of 300, or 31 per cent., in the number of operations, of 30 per cent, in the number of fresh patients, and of 1 I per cent in patients' attendances. The following is a. summary of the clinical work of the Hospital for the past twelve months: Number of patients' attendances, 3,790 ; number of fresh patients, 397 ; number of patients on book to date, 2,837. Filling operations : Gold, 80 ; plastic, 458 ; root canal treatments, 221. Anaesthetic cases operations: Artificial dentures. 179: crowns. 25 bridges. 12. Total number of operations, 2,120.

The School of Home Science.—Report of the Director (Professor Boys-Smith). The entry of the students for the work of the new session is a very encouraging one. Although we have only completed one summer and two winter sessions—so that the work is still in its infancy —we have 48 students on our books. Of these, 9 are working for the degree in home science, 19 for the full diploma; and the remainder are either taking "group courses" (i.e., a group of correlated subjects —for instance, chemistry, the application of chemistry to cookery, and practical cookery) or single courses of lectures with practical work. No student has yet had time to complete the three-years course for the degree ; but the first two s-'i lents who entered for il in April, 1911. have passed in all their subjects up to the present time, anil will, we hope, be entitled to a degree after passing the " final examination " in November next. Professor Sinit hell's report on their work in applied chemistry is very satisfactory. I cannot at the moment quote from it, as it is still in the hands of the Registrar of the New Zealand University ; but in a private letter to myself written from Leeds University on the 28th February lie says. " I was very much pleased with the examination papers, showing the work done in applied chemistry, and must congratulate you and Miss Rawson on the result." Tlie Council shall see the full report at a later date.

6—E. 7.