5

E.—6

received, both from old students and from other medical men interested in the progress of the school. Dunedin Hospital —The Trustees still show themselves anxious to advance the interests of the school by all the means in their power, and the Honorary Medical Staff continue cheerfully to render those services without which the school could not exist. A new operating theatre has been built. It is more conveniently situated than the old theatre, and is more suited to the requirements of modern surgery. A new post-mortem room is most urgently required. I have, &c, The Chancellor, University of Otago. John H. Scott.

C.—Eeport of the Curator of the Museum. Sir, — Few striking additions have been made to the Museum during the year. Among the most important are a very fine collection of pelagic invertebrates, received in exchange from the Calcutta Museum; a collection of Victorian birds' eggs, presented by Dr. C. Eyan and Mr. A. Le Soiief; specimens of the great Stewart Island kiwi, hitherto unrepresented in the collections; and some very fine fossil fishes, received in exchange from Professor H. A. Ward, of Eochester, U.S.A.; and the second recorded specimen of the scaled tunny. A ribbon-fish has also been secured, the skeleton of which will probably be valuable as an exchange. During the early part of the year the taxidermist's time was fully occupied in mounting for exhibition a large sunfish. The collection of mollusca has been rearranged, and the alcoholic collection of fishes and reptiles rearranged and relabelled. A collection of fossils is in course of arrangement. I have, &C., T. Jeffrey Parker, The Chancellor, University of Otago. Curator.

D. —Eeport of the Director of the School of Mines. Sir, — University, Dunedin, 10th December, 1896. I have the honour to submit the following report regarding the attendance, work, and results of annual examinations of the School of Mines during the past session (1896), together with remarks on the practical teaching facilities, and on other points affecting the future progress of the school. The attendance number of students during the past session was thirty-eight, classed as thirtytwo regular students for the full course and six occasional ones for special subjects—principally assaying—only. Of the thirty-two regular students, nineteen were old ones returned for the completion or further prosecution of their studies (as detailed further on), whilst the other thirteen comprised new entries, including one student who had the previous session attended as an occasional one. Ten of the new students entered for the first year's course of the mining division, though several with the intention of going through four years' study, in order to enable them to gain, in addition to the diploma of associate in mining, that of associate in geology, or the certificate of metallurgical chemist and assayer. Two students who had some years before gone through the first year's course of the mining division returned for the completion of their studies, and the thirteenth new student —being the holder of one of the three scholarships in mining established by the Hon. the Minister of Mines (Mr. Oadman), and tenable at the Otago University—entered for the study of the subjects of the geological division with the aim of gaining the B.Sc. degree in geology in the University of New Zealand. The number of students during the session of 1895 was twenty-seven, of whom only nineteen returned. The eight who did not return were three occasional students, two who had the year before entered as regular students, and three—viz., John Watt, Ernest Edwards, and John Orkney—who had finished their studies and passed the prescribed examinations, as stated in my last year's report. After producing certificates of twelve months' engagement in practical work in mines they have since each been granted the diploma of associate in mining, and, in addition, John Watt and John Orkney the diploma of associate in metallurgy, and Ernest Edwards the certificate of metallurgical chemist and assayer, to which they were entitled. The attendance of the various classes by the thirty-two regular students was very satisfactory, only a small number having missed any lectures, and those mostly on account of illness. The ten new students passed through the first year's course with the exception of five —two who did not attend mathematics, one who failed in this subject, one who failed in mining geology, and one who failed in theoretical chemistry. Thirteen students passed through the second year's course of the mining division, save two who did not attend mineralogy—one who failed and one who did not sit for the examination in this subject. Three others did not take the classes in theoretical and practical physics; but as these, as well as the others who missed classes, have the intention of staying four years they can make up the deficiencies during next session. Eight students —some of four years' and one of three years' standing—finished their studies during the past session, and are leaving the school, having successfully passed the examinations in all the subjects prescribed for several of the divisions, as under: — W. A. Macleod, B.A : Passed in all the subjects of the mining and geological divisions and that of metallurgical chemist and assayer, and is at present entitled to claim the diploma of associate