E.—7.

14

REPORT. The Victoria University College Council to the Minister of Education. Victoria College, IBth May, 1916. Ln pursuance of section 44 of the Victoria College Act, 1905, the Council presents the following report for the year 1915 : — Number of Students. —The number of students attending lectures during the year was 383, made up as follows: Matriculated students —Male, 198; female, 123: total, 321. Non-matri-culation students —Male, 34; female, 28 : total, 62. In addition to these there were 36 exempted students, making a total of 419 students attached to the College. More than 220 past and present students of the College have enlisted for military service, and this number is being continually added to. The numbers attending classes have suffered considerably from this cause, and this year, instead of the steady annual increase shown over previous years, there is a decrease of 49 students. As might have been expected, the proportion of women students to men students is greater than in previous years. Six students of the College gained the degree of Master of Arts, 3 with honours, of whom 1 gained first class; 1 gained the degree of Master of Laws, and 1 gained the degree of Master of Science, with first-class honours; 16 gained the degree of 8.A.; 21 passed the first section of that degree; 7 gained the degree of B.Sc; 2 passed the first section of that degree; 18 passed sections of the degree of LL.B.; 4 passed the LL.B. degree. Two gained Senior University Scholarships (in chemistry and in pure mathematics). Other scholarships have been awarded as follows: Sir George Grey Scholarship, 11. D. Thompson, 8.A.; Jacob Joseph Scholarship, J. R, Cuddie, M.A. Library. —There have been 490 accessions. The total number of volumes in the library in March, 1915, was 10,922. Workers' Educational Tutorial Classes. —Last year the sum of £300 was allocated from that portion of the national-endowment grant which comes through the University of New Zealand for the purpose of the establishment of classes to be under the control of a committee, to which the Victoria College Council and the Workers' Educational Association each elected four members. Three such classes were established, and the students have in all cases shown great keenness, with the result that much good work has been done. Before the committee recognize a class the numbers must have reached twenty. Class libraries have been founded, and, although the war has made the purchase of books very difficult, good beginnings have now been made. The course is for three years, and students are asked to sign an undertaking to continue with their courses for that period. Three classes were established : (I) Economics; tutor, Mr. J. B. Condliffe, M.A. (2) English, tutor, Mr. W. H. L. Foster, M.A. (3) Electricity; tutor, Professor E. Marsden, D.Sc. Owing partly to the fact that the English class started late, and partly to the great difficulty in procuring books from England, the sum of £108 remained unexpended at the end of the financial year ending 31st March, 1916. The committee propose to devote this sum to assisting in the establishment of classes in economics at Palmerston North and Petone. School of Economics. —The Council has been informed by the Public Trustee that a sum amounting to £10,000 will be granted by the T. G. Macarthy Trustees at the rate of £1,000 per annum for ten years towards the establishment of the Macarthy School of Economics. Of this sum the trustees have agreed to pay over to the Council the sum of £500 per annum and to hold the remaining £500 per annum invested until the whole grant is completed. It was not, however, deemed advisable by -the Council to call for applications for a Chair of Economics until the war should be over, as, owing to the large number of suitable applicants who are on active service, it would be impossible to make the best selection. The Council is informed that this principle has been adopted at nearly all the universities in the Empire. There should, however, be no difficulty in establishing the school on a satisfactory basis as soon as the war is over. Staff. —For the same reason the Chair of Modern Languages, rendered vacant by the passing of the Alien Enemy Teachers Act, has not been filled, and the work is at present carried on jointly by Mrs. Macphail and Miss Mary Baker, M.A. Melb. One member of the staff, Professor E. Marsden, has gone to the front, and arrangements have been made to carry on his work temporarily by the appointment of Mr. P. W. Burbidge, M.Sc, as lecturer in charge of the physics department during his absence. Accommodation. —lt is quite certain that when the war is over and normal conditions are restored the numbers of students attending classes will again increase. The establishment of a School of Economics will be a factor likely to help in this result, and will be an additional reason why the present class-room accommodation is likely to prove quite inadequate, and it seems certain that additional buildings will have to be provided. Excerpts from the 1915 Report of the Professorial Board. —" Library : There have been 490 accessions, at a cost of £211 16s. 4d., of which £41 17s. 7d. is to be referred to the 1913 order for books; £117 15s. 6d. is for periodicals, including binding, and £30 12s. 6d. is a special grant for Halsbury's Laws of England. Sixty-one accessions are from old stock not previously entered; eighty-three are from the Hector Bequest, including some books of T. Kirk, Esq.; thirty-nine are calendars or year-books; forty-three Carnegie publications; ten volumes were given by Miss Pumphrey, and five by Professor Eastei'field and Mr. Fulton, three are from the Smithsonian Institution, and eight from publishers and anonymous benefactors. The Hon. Mr. Fisher has also presented some 180 volumes (chiefly Hansard) lo the library, not included in the above. There now are in the library 10,922 volumes." Publications. —l9ls. Professor E. Marsden and W. G. Lantsberry : The Passage of a Particles through Hydrogen. Philosophical Magazine. Pigott, E. M. : Notes on Nothopanax Arboreum, with some reference to the Development of the Gametophyte. Trans N.Z. Inst., Vol. 47. Kirk, H. B. :On Ascidioclava, a New Genus of Parasitic Hydroids. Trans. N.Z. Inst., Vol. 47. CljEment Watson, Chairman.