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E.—7

Scholarships, Bursaries, etc. Scholarships. University scholarships may be divided into three broad classes : (1) Entrance scholarships, (2) scholarships awarded during the degree course, (3) postgraduate scholarships. (J.) University entrance scholarships are awarded annually on the results of the University Junior Scholarship Examination, and are as follow : University -Junior, University National, and Taranaki Scholarships (open only to candidates resident in Taranaki), in addition to some thirty or forty local and privately endowed scholarships awarded on the results of the same examination. Of the candidates for the Entrance Scholarship Examination in 1917, thirteen gained Junior Scholarships, twenty-one gained National Scholarships, one gained a Taranaki Scholarship, fifty-eight passed " with credit," and thirty-six qualified for Matriculation. The value of a Junior Scholarship or a University National Scholarship is £20 per annum in addition to tuition fees ; students obliged to live away from home receive also a boarding-allowance of £30 per annum. The expenditure by the University on scholarships was £1,621, and by the Education Department on University National Scholarships £2,971. In addition to the scholarships, and partly in connection therewith, a scheme of bursaries entitling students to free tuition is also in operation, as set out in detail below. (2.) Scholarships awarded during the degree course are : Senior University Scholarships tenable by candidates for Honours, and awarded on the papers set for repeated subjects in the Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science Examinations ; John Tinline Scholarship, awarded on the papers in English of the Senior Scholarship Examination ; a number of privately endowed scholarships open to students of the various colleges. (3.) The chief scholarships awarded at the end of the University course are the Rhodes Scholarship, the 1851 Exhibition Scholarship, the Medical Travelling Scholarship, and the National Research Scholarships. The first three are all travelling scholarships — that is, they are tenable abroad. The Research Scholarships are each of the value of £100 per annum, with laboratory fees and expenses. So far fifteen Rhodes Scholarships have been granted, of which five have been gained by students of Auckland University College, four by students of Otago University, four by students of Victoria University College, and two by students of Canterbury College. The war has interfered increasingly with the operation of the Rhodes Scholarship system, and in their statement for 1916-17 the Trustees announced their decision to postpone for the present all further election to scholarships. Up to the present eighteen Research Scholarships have been awarded, two being in active operation in 1917. The subjects of research in the case of these two scholarships were, — Auckland University College : The dissolution of gold by solutions of sodium cyanide with special reference to the dissolution of gold in colloidide condition. Otago University : An investigation of New Zealand grasses. University Bursaries. University bursaries are awarded under the University Amendment Act, 1914, on the credit pass in the University Junior Scholarship Examination or on a higher leaving-certificate qualification, and entitle the holders to exemption from the payment of tuition and examination fees (not exceeding £20 per annum) during a three (or possibly four) years' course at a University college or school of agriculture recognized by the University. The number of University bursars in 1917 was 229, and the amount expended on their tuition and examination fees was £4,019 10s., the cost per head being £16 16s. 3d.