THE UNIVERSITY SENATE.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1868, 19 February 1880, Page 3

THE UNIVERSITY SENATE.

The annual session of the "University Senate of New Zealand, appointed this year to be held n Ohristchurch.waa opened on Wednesday in the Canterbury College, at 12 o'clock. Present: Mr H. J. Tancred, Chancellor; Hon. W. Gißborne, Rev. Dr. Stewart, Right Rev. Dr. Redwood, Revs. C. Fraser, Johnston, Habens, Patterson, Bruce, Professors Brown, Von Haast, and Sale. The minutes of the last annual meeting were confirmed.

The Chairman stated that at some meetings of the Senate reporters for the Press had been admitted and at others they had been excluded. It would be well to settle this point finally. Mr Gisborne moved—" That reporters of the Press be admitted to meetings of the Senate."

Seconded by the Rev. Mr Bruce, and carried.

The annual report of the Chancellor was then read as follows :

I have the honor to lay before the Senate a report of the progress of the University during the past year. Regulations—The regulations passed at the last session have received the approval of the Governor, and have been sealed with the seal of the University. Appointment of Fellows Since the last session two Fellows have vacated their seats on the Senate, and two Fellows have been appointed in their stead.

Election —It will be necessary for the Senate at thu session to proceed to the election of a Chancellor and Vice-chancellor, as the term of office of those who at present hold these positions will expire on the 3rd March. Degrees Conferred —In accordance with the direction of the Senate, the degrees of B.A. and M.A. were publicly conferred upon those studentß who passed at the examinations of last year. I would BUggest that the Senate should consider the propriety of prescribing some form of certificate or diploma for those students who distinguish themselves in the honors examination. Ad Eundem Degrees—Applications for these will be laid before the Senate. In this case also, as has been suggested to me, it might be desirable to give a certificate to successful applicants—An application has been made to me for admission to the ad emidem degree of D.C.L. I lay the application beforetbe Senate. I am not quite sure how far the University has the power of granting this degree. Medical Degrees—ln accordance with the direction of the Senate I forwarded in June last to the President of the General Medical Council of Great Britain a letter on the subject of the recognition bv that body of the Entrance Examination. Not beiDg aware of the President's proper, address, I Beut this letter through the ViceChancellor of the University, Mr Carleton. I received last week a letter stating that the Council has resolved to recognise the Entrance Examination.

tiorrespondence from Education Department —I have received from this department some letters, which I lay before the Senate. Beferring to a resolution passed at the last session respecting the representation of the University upon Hospital Boards, I waß informed by the Minister that tbis question would have to be made the subject of arrangement with the various Boards, which, as t.e stated, would be established by the Government. The question of the adoption of the Entrance Examination by the Civil Service Examination Board was referred by the Minister to that Roard and to the Koyal Commission upon Higher Education. I have Bince received information from the Board that it does not consider the adoption of theEutrance Examination practicable, at least for the present year. The Minister has further informed me that a representation has been made to him to the effect "that the value attached to History in the University Scholarship Examination is very inadequate." I refer this question to the consideration of the Senate.

Gilchrist Scholarships.—The Minister for Education forwarded to me some time ago a copy of a despatch from the Agent-General, in which it was Btated that the Gilchrist Trustees have agreed to transfer one of the Gilchrist Scholarships to New Zealand. The AgentGeneral stated further that a communication on the snbject would be made to the cellor, Mr Carleton, who is at present in England. I have heard also from Mr Carieton that he is engaged in prosecuting the correspondence, but the matter does not seem to have be6n as yet finally settled. It would appear, however, that in a short time a Gilchrist Scholarship is to be given for competition in New Zealand.

University Reserves I have endeavored during the year to give effect to the wishes of the Senate respecting the utilisation of the reserves for higher education. In accordance with the direction of the Senate last year, I caused petitions on thia subject to be presented to both Houses of Parliament, but I believe that no action thereon was deemed desirable by the Assembly. An application was made to me some time ago to rent certain lands, part of the University Reserves, at the Bay of Plenty. I forwarded the application to the Government, and received a reply in December last, to the effect that in a short time would be appointed under the Act for the administration of these lands. I lay before the Senate the correspondence which has taken place during the year on this question. Bowen Prize—The Bowen prize of 1878 was awarded to Caroline Freeman, of the University of Otago, who is, I believe, now procuring the prize books from England. Three essays have been sent in for the compitition of 1879. The Senate will have to fix the amount of the prize for 1880. Committee Beports—The Senate _ at its last session appointed committees to consider during the recess, and report on to the Senate at its present meeting, the following subjects :—The arrangement of the calendar, the publication of results of examinatijn, and the selection of subjects of examination for 1880-81 82. The reports of these committees will have to be considered by the Senate. University Regulations—Certain questions in connection with the present regulations of the University will I think require to be considered. Possibly it may be found most convenient that a committee or committees should be appointed to examine them and to report for the information of the Senate. The following are the questions referred to :—l. It does not appear to be clearly stated in the 'regulation regarding medical scholar jhips whether the words " Matriculated students .... of not less than two years' standing " are meant to include or to exclude graduates. 2. It would be convenient if some words were added to the regulation permitting certain teachers to proceed to the B.A. degree, making it clear to applicants what is the nature of the evidence which they must produce of their status. 3. Additions are required to the regulation prescribing fees payable to the University, in order to obviate the delays and inconveniences at present existing. The fees for degrees might be made payable to the Chancellor or his delegate at the time of the presentation of diplomas; and a definite time might be fixed for the payment of all fees, after which candidates should not be accepted. In like manner the examination deposits, under the resolution of the Senate printed in the Calendar for 1879 (p. 65) should be, I think, payable within a certain time after the candidate receives the necessary notice. 4. In the regulation "the Entrance Examination," section XI., it does not seem clear whether the words " who may fail to pass at his first examination" are intended to include also 1 failure to come up after notice has been given by a candidate. 5. It is also not clearly stated whether candidates who may paBS the Entrance Examination do or do not thereby become matriculated students of the University, entitled to the privileges and subject to the conditions attached to Matriculation. 6. Section I. of the regulation respecting the B.A. degree provides that students may " on giving notice in writing to the Chancellor" pass their annual examinations at institutions other than those to which thej originally belonged. A case has occurred during this year where a stndent of one College passed the annual examination of another College without giving the required notice ; the regulation does not appear to me to provide for such a case. Remuneration to Examiners, &c. —I think it would be desirable that the Senate should now

lay down some definite rnlos for the remuneration of examiners and supervisors. This has hitherto been subject to arrangement from year to year, a course which presents several inconveniences. Accounts—The accounts of the University for the past year, duly audited, will be laid before the Senate, also a letter from the Bank of New Zealand, embodying the terms agreed to with regard to the sums placed by the University on fixed deposit. The following is an abstract of the income and expenditure of the year:—• INCOME. Government Grant £3OOO 0 0 Fees 136 11 0 Examination deposits 75 0 0 Interest on various accounts ... 336 0 7 Sale of Calendars ... ... ... 316 8 .£3551 8 3 EXPENDITURE. Examinations w£739 7 11 Scholarships ... ... ... ... 788 15 0 Office and Senate 760 2 1 Refund of deposits H 5 0 0 General purposes 462 7 5 Balance 685 15 10 .£3551 8 3 And the following balance sheet Bhows the present position of the University on all accounts : BALANCE SHEET, 1879. £ s d Balance from 1878 6,834 12 5 Receipts of 1873 3,551 8 3 .£10,386 0 8 Expenditure of 1879 2,865 12 5 Balance on fixed deposit (scholarship account ... £5,692 10 0 Balance in Bank of N.Z. (current account 1,710 5 5 Balance in Savings Bank (Bowen prize account) ... 114 18 0 Balance in hand ... 2 11 10 £10,386 0 8 It will be observed that the Bum paid for scholarships, .£7BB 15s, shows a considerable increase over that for the two previous years. Iu 1877 it amounted to £575, in 1878 (for eleven months) £485. The item, examinations £739 7s lid, shows an increase of about J2lso_over the previous year, and of this £lll 9s lOd is to be charged to the examinations of November and December, 1879, the remainder, £627 18s Id, being on account of the examination of December, 1878. The greater portion of the expense of the examinations of 1879 will appear in the accounts for the present year 1880. The general fund of the University appears to have been sufficient during the year to meet the requirements on that account, an 4 it had a credit balance on December 31st of .£996 13s sd, to which will have to be added an amount, not yet calculated, to be received from the scholarship fund, for expenses of scholarship examinations. I do not anticipate that the general fund will, during the present year, be found deficient. The scholarship fund had, on December 31st, a credit balance of .£6406 2s, of which £5692 10s was on fixed deposit. A further sum of £ISOO will be received from the general fund during the year. There will thus be ample funds on this account to meet the expenditure of 1880. THE EXAMINATIONS OP 1879. Examination for Degrees, &c.—ln accordance with the directions of the Senate, I placed myself last year in communication with Dr. Carpenter, who was then Registrar of the University of London, unking him to select examiners for this University in the following subjects, for Degrees, Senior Scholarships, and Honours :—Latin, Greek, English, Chemistry, Mental Science, and Mathematics. Dr. Carpenter willingly undertook the task, and selected for the purpose five gentlemen, who all are, or have been, examiners for the University of London. I lay before the Senate the correspondence which took place on this subject between myself, Dr. Carpenter, and the ViceChancellor, Mr Carleton, who took great pains to assist the University in this matter. The examination papers arrived in due time from England, and were used at the November examination ;

For the remaining subjects of examination I endeavoured to obtain examiners in Sydney, but as will be seen from the correspondence which I produce for the Senate, I was not successful. I consequently appointed in these subjects, as directed by the Senate, examiners in New Zealand, two for each subject. I much regret to report the death of one of these gentlemen, Dr. LI. Powell, examiner in Natural Science. It was my desire that the reports from all the examiners should be received in time to be laid before the Senate before the close of its present session. lam sorry to say, however, that it is doubtful whether the reports from England can reach me before at least the middle of March. It was impossible to forward the answersof candidates by the mail via San Francisco, which left Lyttelton early in December; but they were despatched by the Suez mail steamer, sailing from here on December 18th. As they were addressed " via Brindisi," and ai the mail agents were specially asked to forward them with speed from Melbourne, it was anticipated that they wonld reach London by February 10th, and the examiners were instructed to arrange for a report to me by telegram, so as to reach me before the end of February. But a letter from the mail agents in Melbourne has informed me that, owing to the holidays, they were unable to tranship the case of papers to the mail steamer, and that they proposed to send them by the ship Norfolk, sailing on January 17th. This delay will, I fear, render it impossible for me to receive the examiners' reports for some weeks to come. The examiners in New Zealand have sent in their reports, which I lay before the Senate. The examiners in Jurisprudence, Constitutional History, and Experimental Phyßics niake no special remarks on the papers of candidates in those subjects. '1 he examiners in Modern Languages express their satisfaction at the tenour of the great majority of the papers, and state that, in their opinion, they evince careful preparation. The Examiner in Natural Science states that the papers in botany were fair, and gives credit to the majority of the candidates in zoology, anatomy, and physiology. The Examiners in History and Political Economy report that the answers of candidates for the 8.*.. degree were far from satisfactory in both subjects ; those in history being so bald as to lead to the opinion that the candidates had read up the subject hastily from some meagre manual. The answers to the Senior Scholarship papers were also extremely unsatisfactory. With regard to the candidates for honours the Examiners in New Zealand report most favorably of their papers, placing them in the first class.

The following is a summary of the candidates who appeared at the November examination: — B.A. degree Undergraduates taking first section, 27; ditto final examination, 6—33. Teachers taking first section, 4; ditto final examination, 4—B. Teacher to classify, 1 —42. M.A. degree—Candidate, 1. Honours—Candidates, 2.

LL.B. degree—Candidates, 3. Total, 43. Of the above twenty-one were candidates for Senior Scholarships. Also for Medical Scholarships there were two candidates. In this list there appears one "teacher to classify." This was in accordance with the direction of the Senate last year; school teachers may now sit at the University examinations in order to qualify themselves under the Government regulations for classification. Three teachers applied for leave to Bit in November, but only one came up. Entrance Examination.—For this, which commenced in December last, the following candidates presented themselveß: For Matriculation 35 For Junior Scholarships 33 Total 68 It is to be presumed that several of the candidates for Junior Scholarships will, in case they fail to gain scholarships, matriculate. The examiners for this examination were all appointed by me in New Zealand. Their reports will be laid before the Senate. Members of the University, Eighteen students matriculated last year before the new entrance examination was established; and seven have been admitted under the regulation "Admission of Undergraduates from other Universities." The total number of undergraduates on the books of the University on December 31st, 1879, was 148, to which will have to be added those matriculated at the entrance examination. This list contains, however, 33 undergraduates who, though they have not withdrawn their names from the books, have not prosecuted their studies in the University during the last twelve months. H. J. Tancked, Chancellor. It was resolved to take into consideration the matters referred to in the report next sitting day. Regarding the hours of meeting it was decided that; the Senate should meet each day at 10 a.m., unless otherwise ordered. The Chairman pointed out, with regard to the eleotion of chancellor and vice-chancellor, that a legal point was involved in the consideration whether the Senate had power to make the appointments before the terms of office of the gentlemen at present holding those positions had expired. The difficulty arose owiDg to the Senate meeting a little earlier this year. It was resolved—" That the Chancellor obtain a legal opinion on the point at issue." A notice of motion having been given by Professor Brown as to junior scholarships, The Senate adjourned till 3 o'clock next day.