SCHOOL OF MINES

Evening Star, Issue 19790, 14 February 1928, Page 11

SCHOOL OF MINES

ANNUAL REPORT The following report by Professor Park (Dean of the Mining Faculty of the University of Otago) on the work of the School of Mines in 1927 wa* presented to tho University Council at its meeting yesteiday:— Tho mining and engineering students and students from other faculties attending the School of Mines classes in the session of 1927 were in all sixtythrec. Of these sixteen were taking the four years’ course for the degree of bachelor of engineering or tho associateship, seventeen the lectures for pass geology, twenty-one the pass work in dental metallurgy, and seven tho lectures in economic geography. There were also two casual students, one in surveying and one in assaying. Descriptive geometry is a compulsory subject for the B.E (Min. and Met.), hut not for the associateship. With this exception the courses of study and the standard of examination for tho B.E. degree and associate-shin are identical.

The amended statutes for the degrees m engineering, providing for “ carrying forward” a subject in which a candidate fails to the next succeeding examination, and for giving him credit for subjects passed have been approved by the Academic Board, and will come iij) for ratification by the New Zealand University Council at its next annual meeting.

In accountancy, arts, dentistry, domestic science, law, medicine, and science tho examinations for tho pass degree are set by internal examiners, but for all tho engineering pass degrees the system of external examination still prevails, if a candidate fails in a subject in medicine or dentistry he is permitted to sit a special examination in that subject held six months after the main examination, and if lie secures a pass in the “ special ” lie is then free to proceed to the work of the next succeeding year without the handicap of a subject carried forward. As the statutes now stand, if a candidate in engineering fails in a subject he is debarred from tho advantages of a special examination, the disability arising from the fact that the external examiners iu England are too remote to permit the preparing and examining of special papers within tho prescribed six months. The dominion contains professional men of high standing in all departments of engineering, and it is certain that the New Zealand degrees iu engineering would bo enhanced by tho adoption of internal examination. Tho English examiners are men of great academic distinction, but, with a few notable exceptions, _ they possess little professional experience, and as :v\ consequence many of the papers they set have little or no hearing mi the candidates’ professional career. They are for the most part, intelligence sharpeners that tend to floor the more solid but slow-thinking candidates from whoso ranks, bo it said, the best engineers arc recruited. Eng'iicering still remains the Cinderella of the New Zealand University. For many years it was represented that exception from certain preliminary subjects for the associateship of the Institution of Civil Engineering was, in some unexplained way, dependent, on tho continuance of tho external system of examination. This, however, is erroneous. as shown by the fact that nil tho B.E. graduates of the New Zealand University and of all engineering schools of repute within tho Empire obtain this exemption. Among our graduates _ who have elected to follow civil engineering and surveying, an increasing number have obtained the associateship of tho institution of Civil Engineers by examination. And it is gratifying to say that ono of our graduates in his year topped the list of candidates in the associateship examinations held throughout the Empire. This performance carried the Telford medal, which, however, could not by the regulations bo awarded him, being colonial born, this seemingly a relic of the good old Georgian days, when everything colonial was anathema to all high authority. Of our mining graduates sixty-nine are employed in New Zealand, most of them as mining engineers, mine surveyors, mine managers, geological surveyors, and oil geologist's, at salaries ranging from £3OO to £SSO a year. For some years there has been a good demand for our students both at homo and abroad. Those who go abroad start at £4OO, a few at £6OO, and as a rule rise to £1,200 or more, according to experience and length of service. Tho metallurgical department of the School of Mines has been enriched by valuable collections of ores, fluxes, and products presented by tho Broken Dill Associated Smelters’ Proprietary, Ltd., the Electrolytic Zinc Company of •Australasia, Ltd., and the Broken Hill Proprietary Company, Ltd. These are welcome "ifts, and will prove most useful for class demonstration. A collection of ore and minerals was presented by tlie Queensland Mines Department. Mrs D. B. Waters sent us a small lot of ores and minerals that belonged to tho late Professor Waters, and the Rev. G. F. Whittlcstone a collection of interesting fossils from the tertiary beds at Waikouaiti.

During 1927 114 examples of oro and rock were reported on for prospectors free of charge, and 103 samples of ore, coal, oil, etc., assayed for the public at schedule rates. >