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either in public-health nursing or in teaching and administration in schools of nursing. Diplomas will be awarded by the University to successful students. Playing-fields. —For many years the students' games have been much restricted by the lack of suitable playing areas. lam glad to report, however, that there is now every prospect of acquiring about 8 acres of Logan Park as a University playing-field, while the students' clubs will have the right to play on adjoining areas. This new arrangement will prove of inestimable benefit to the University outdoor sports. EXTRACTS FROM ANNUAL REPORTS OF THE DEANS OF THE FACULTIES. Arts and Science. (W. B. Benham, Dean.) A matter of far-reaching interest to the University and to the community—viz., the possibility of establishing four separate universities was discussed by the Professorial Board, and in deference to the strongly expressed views as to presumed dangers to the standing of the Medical and Dental Faculties this faculty subordinated its own views on the matter, and at a meeting with a committee of the Council discussed possible reforms of the Senate which might obviate to some extent the disadvantages of the present federal system. As a faculty we believe that the establishment of four universities will alone yield a satisfactory solution of the various difficulties under which the University colleges at present labour. As indicating the amount of contact with the general public that is effected by members of this faculty, it is gratifying to be able to record that several members have delivered addresses to various bodies and societies ; that some of the staff are responsible for the publication of memoirs discussing the results of their investigations ; that post-graduate students are encouraged and stimulated to pursue researches, some of which may have valuable economic results to the community. The Council will, I feel sure, note this evidence of intellectual activity with interest and approval, as proof that the University is served by men who are not content merely to carry out their academic duties to the University. It is gratifying to note that the Faculty of Arts and Science of this University continues to attract hither a large number of men and women from outside Otago and Southland. As many as fifty-five came from other districts —viz., twenty-six from Canterbury, eighteen from Wellington, and eleven from the Auckland University district —in order to study here, notwithstanding the fact that they could have obtained the tuition necessary for their degrees at any of the other University colleges. This is a hopeful sign in the event of the colleges becoming independent universities in the future ; for, whether it be the climate of Dunedin, or the residential colleges, or the character of the instruction given here, we may rest assured that this number of " foreign " students will increase. Faculty op Medicine. (Sir H. L. Ferguson, Dean.) The total number of graduations during the year was sixty-two as against sixty-seven in the previous year, and the number of students in the school shows a considerable shrinkage owing to a reduction in the size of the entering class, which has fallen to forty-four ; but we have no information as yet of the number of those students who are taking their work up to the intermediate standard in other centres, and therefore I cannot say what the size of the second-year class will be next March. This shrinkage in the number of admissions to the school is not a local phenomenon, but is being observed all over the world, the entries in the medical schools of Great Britain last year having fallen from more than double the pre-war limit to less than half of the normal pre-war figures, while our entries are still nearly double the-entries in 1914. This fluctuation is merely a temporary phase, and will probably adjust itself before long. In my last year's report I said that the effect of the lengthened course on the first professional examination would not be apparent for another year ; and, whether the alteration of the course is the explanation of it or not, the total failures at the first professional examination in 1924 were only four out of thirty-seven candidates, while the previous year the total failures were fifteen out of eighty-two candidates. It is unwise to draw inference from the results of single examinations, but these figures suggest that the improvement in the " mortality " we have hoped for from' the change is likely to eventuate. In my last report I stated that arrangements had been made with the staff of the Christchurch Hospital to obtain the use of their clinical material for the class of students who had come down at their final examination. The experiment was carried into effect during the first term of 1924, with results we have every reason to look upon as satisfactory, and we look forward to a repetition of the experiment this year with confidence. This year the class for Christchurch will consist of about eighteen students, and two students have expressed their desire to carry out their work in Auckland instead of in Christchurch. Dental Faculty. (H. P. Pickerill, Dean.) During the year 1924, 114 students have been in attendance, of whom fifty-five men and three women are taking the degree course and forty-eight men and eight women the certificate course. All the lectures and classes required by the regulations of the New Zealand University have been given, but still under very disadvantageous conditions owing to our being in the same overcrowded and ill-equipped condition to which, unfortunately, I have had to call attention in my annual reports of the past four years. Five students have qualified during the year, two B.D.S. and three C.O.P. (at the special examination in June).