11

8.—7

begun in 1876, and that portion which includes the board-room, the offices, and the mathematical and the English lecture-room was opened in June, 1877; the iron building, in which are the chemical and physical laboratories and lecture-rooms, was finished about the same time. Shortly afterwards the set of lecture-rooms to the left of the main entrance was added, then the hall, then the classical lecture-room, then the wing in which is the School of Engineering. Finally, the building was erected which includes the biological laboratory and lecture-rooms, and the tower for the reception of the telescope which had been presented to the College by Mr. James Townsend. These buildings were opened for use in March, 1896. In 1877 the staff of the College was strengthened by the appointment of Sir Julius yon Haast as Professor of Palaaontology and Geology. After his death these subjects were attached to the chair of biology, and this arrangement continued till 1893, when Captain Hutton, who had occupied this chair, resigned it to take the Curatorship of the Museum. Along with this latter office Captain Hutton accepted the lectureship in geology and palaeontology. When this arrangement was made the teaching of biology was provided for by the appointment of a lecturer, and the lectureship has since been made into a professorship. During the year 1879 the chair of classics and English was divided. Professor J. M. Brown, who up to that time had held the combined chair, elected to take the subject of English, to which was added history, and a new chair of classics was created. In the year 1890 arrangements were made for placing the teaching of modern languages on a more permanent basis, and eventually a professorship of French and German was created. The School of Engineering and Technical Science was established on its present basis in 1890. Before that time certain evening lectures had been given on engineering subjects, but in that year a permanent lecturer (afterwards created professor) was appointed, and a complete course of work sketched out. Before long the University of New Zealand took the matter in hand, and arranged to give the degree of Bachelor of Science in Engineering to those students who completed a certain course, which includes both theoretical knowledge and practical work. Attached to the School of Engineering there is a properly-equipped engineering laboratory, containing, amongst other things, an experimental steam-engine and a machine of the latest pattern for testing the strength of materials. The following institutions have come under the control of the Board of Governors or have been established by the Board on the dates specified: The Literary Institute was taken over on the 31st December, 1873, under the provisions of " The Canterbury Museum and Library Ordinance, 1870," and afterwards was known as the Public Library, an institution comprising a reference library, a circulating library, and reading-room. ( The Canterbury Museum and Library Ordinance Amendment Ordinance was passed in 1873.) The management of the Canterbury Museum was handed over to the Board in June, 1874. The Girls' High School was opened on the 13th September, 1877. The School of Agriculture was opened on the 19th July, 1880. The Boys' High School was opened on the 18th May, 1881. The School of Art was opened on the Ist March, 1882.

APPENDIX 11. The Public Library. Members of the Board may perhaps require to be reminded that the first action taken in the direction of providing a reading-room and library in Christchurch was at a public meeting, held at the Oddfellows' Hall, Lichfield Street, on the 26th May, 1859, to take into consideration the best means of establishing a mechanics' institute. At a subsequent meeting, held on the 9th June, 1859, trustees and officers were appointed, together with a committee. Certain rules were adopted for the working of the institution, and the committee was instructed to secure a site and building as soon as possible. The institute was formally opened on the 4th August, 1859. In the original plan of the city as laid out by the founders of the province a valuable site had been reserved for the purpose of a mechanics' institute. A petition was presented to his Honour the Superintendent praying for a site of ground upon which to erect a building for the use of the institute. The Provincial Government, on the 29th May, 1861, agreed to offer a sum of money in lieu of a site for the institute. The committee of the institute purchased half an acre of land, being Sections Nos. 405 and 406, on the east side of the Eiver Avon, fronting on Hereford Street and Cambridge Terrace, for the sum of £262 10s. The committee recommended that funds for a building should be raised by shares and subscriptions, the amount of the shares to be £5. Subsequently, on 10th December, 1862, the funds at the disposal of the committee were reported to be as follows : 130 shares, subscribed, at £5, £650; Government grant, £500: total, £1,150. Out of this amout about £265 had been paid for the building-site, leaving a balance of £885. A recommendation was made that the sum of £800 be expended in finishing a portion of the main building, sufficient for immediate use. Eventually a tender was accepted at a total cost of £1,169. In February, 1868, the name of the institution was changed to that of the Christchurch Literary Institute. On the 30th July, 1873, the committee of the institute met the library committee of the Board of Governors of Canterbury College. It was resolved that application be made to the Superintendent to introduce and carry through the House of Assembly a Bill giving powers to the committee of the Literary Institute to transfer the property of the institute to the Superintendent of the Province of Canterbury for the purposes of a public circulating library and reading-room. On the sth December, 1873, the trustees of the Christchurch Literary Institute conveyed the halfacre of land at the corner of Hereford Street and Cambridge Terrace, with all buildings thereon, together with the books, furniture, chattels, and effects, to the Superintendent of Canterbury, " upon trust for the purpose of a public library, to be established and maintained under and in