E.—7

Laboratory of the Department of Agriculture. Twelve students entered the course, and of these, five who had already taken their first year commenced the study of Agriculture as an advanced subject. Facilities for teaching this subject to a university standard being totally inadequate, the work for the session was confined to. those phases which could best be studied under existing conditions in the hope that better facilities, including a farm, would be available for the following academic year. In January, 1926, a joint committee composed of delegates from Auckland University College and Victoria University College unanimously decided to recommend the two Colleges to combine for the purpose of establishing one strong Agricultural College for the North Island in the Palmerston North - Marton area. To this the Colleges agreed. A joint deputation waited on the Prime Minister and requested financial assistance for the project. The Prime Minister expressed great pleasure at the two Colleges agreeing to sink local differences and combining for the general good. University Hostels. —The Board would again stress the urgent need for the provision of hostels for University students. It feels that not until the majority of students is provided for in such institutions is there any possibility of realizing anything approximating to what is usually called the university spirit. Lack of such hostels means that students are mere scattered units, instead of members of a corporate body, and the cultivation of a proper spirit and ideals is impossible in the comparatively few hours in which the students are in contact with their fellows. Further, many students are at present living under conditions which militate against effective university work, and the provision of hostels would enable these to get the maximum benefit from their course here. Workers' Educational Association. —During the year the work of the Workers' Educational Association was carried on successfully. The statistics show that there were twenty-five classes in this University district, in which 1,124 students were enrolled. Of these, 991 were "effective," and 773 of them attended not less than 50 per cent, of the lectures of the classes of which they were members. Towards the end of the year Mr. W. A. Sheat, 8.A., LL.B., resigned, and Mr. A. C. T. Brotherton, M.A. (Edin.), was appointed in his place. At the same time the method of working this district was altered, Mr. Mander being transferred to the Hawke's Bay-Wairarapa subdistrict, and Mr. Brotherton being given charge of the Taranaki-Palmerston area. Provision has also been made for working the district on the other side of the Strait, and it is expected that in 1926 some classes will be held in all provinces of this wide University district. The reports of the tutors show that good work is being done, but that until more funds are available, so that classes can be reduced in size, the standard which is being attained in many of the tutorial classes in England cannot be expected. Nevertheless useful tutorial work is being done by tutors working with groups or individuals. Sarah Anne Rhodes Fellowship.—The first Fellow was appointed in August, 1925—namely, Miss Eleanor A. Pope, M.Sc., M.A. After spending three years studying in England and America as the holder of a Sarah Anne Rhodes Scholarship Miss Pope returned to New Zealand. The Council has awarded her the Fellowship, and by arrangement with the Health Department and Hospital Boards she is now engaged in touring New Zealand hospitals in order to prepare a report on the culinary and dietary arrangements. Miss Vera B. Reader, M.Sc., who was awarded a Sarah Anne Rhodes Scholarship in 1922, has been studying under Professor Drummond at University College, London. He has spoken in terms of high praise of her research work on " Biochemical Aspects of Metalbolism of Micro-organism." She has now gone to Oxford, where she has been given the use of one of the new Rockefeller laboratories for the prosecution of her research. Miss Miriam Herrick, M.Sc., is still pursuing a course in home science at the University of Otago, where her professors are very satisfied with the work she is doing. Travelling Scholarships.—The following scholarships have been awarded to students of the College : Philosophy—R. F. Fortune, M.A. (awarded free passage). History —J. C. Beaglehole, M.A. (awarded free passage). French—Una Castle, M.A. Law— J. 0. J. Malfroy, LL.M. Bequests.—During the year the College has benefited by a generous bequest by the late Lissie Rathbone, of Hawke's Bay, who bequeathed a capital sum of £3,000, the interest on which is to provide scholarships for the students securing highest marks in the Entrance Scholarship Examination in history and English. Former Students. —Mr. Gordon S. Troup, M.A., holder of a University French Travelling Scholarship for 1924, is attached to the University of Poitiers (France), where he has completed half of the sections for Licence es Lettres. Mr. H. Espiner, M.A., is at work in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, having completed his license at Poitiers. He is bringing out an edition of the sixteenth-century antiquarian Claude Fauche't, and writing a thesis on Fauchet's life and works for presentation to the Sorbonne for the Doctorate. Mr. J. S. Yeates, M.Sc., Ph.D., holder of the University Post-graduate Scholarship in Science, began his work at Trinity College, Cambridge, late in 1925. He was awarded a research scholarship in Science at Cambridge. Very satisfactory reports as to his progress are received. Mr. J. G-. Myers, M.Sc., holder of the 1851 Exhibition Scholarship, is now completing his second year at the Bussey Institute, Harvard University, where he has been working especially at applied Entomology. The New Zealand Agricultural Department arranged for him to visit Europe last year as a delegate to the International Entomological Congress, and the authorities of the Bussey Institute sent him as a member of an entomological expedition to Cuba. Mr. D. Jenness, M.A., has been appointed Chairman of the Department of Ethnology in the Dominion of Canada. Mr. H. L. Richardson, M.Sc., holder of the Imperial College Scholarship, is presenting this year his thesis for the degree of Ph.D.

18