University of Otago.

The University of Otago was founded in 1869 by an Ordinance of the Provincial Council, with the intent to "promote sound learning in the Province of Otago." It was formed into a "body politic and corporate" with the power of granting degrees in Arts, Medicine, and Law, and received as an endowment a hundred thousand acres of pastoral land. It was opened in 1871 with a staff of three Professor's, all in the Faculty of Arts. In 1872 the Provincial Council voted to the University a further endowment of another hundred thousand acres of pastoral land. This important accession to its revenues, with the aid of some subordinate sources of income, enabled the University to make considerable additions to the staff of Professors and Lecturers in the Faculty of Arts, to establish a Lectureship in Law, and to lay the foundations of a Medical School.

In 1874 an agreement was made between the University of New Zealand and the University of Otago, by which the functions of the former were restricted to the examination of candidates for matriculation, for scholarships, and for degrees; while the latter bound itself to become affiliated to the University of New Zealand, to hold in abeyance its power of granting degrees, and to waive the claim which it had advanced to a Royal Charter. As a result of the agreement thus effected, the University of Otago became possessed of ten thousand acres of land, which had been set apart for University purposes in the former province of Southland.

In 1877 the Colonial Government voted an annual grant to the Council for the establishment and support of a School of Mines in the University. A curriculum of Study has now been drawn up, and the School will be opened at the beginning of the ensuing session.

The endowment of eleven thousand acres of land in the Strathtaieri district, which had been set apart for the support of the Museum, has also been vested in the University Council.

In addition to the endowments which have been referred to, the University receives the benefit of certain educational funds held in trust by the Presbyterian Church of Otago, and which by law are required to be applied to the endowment of Professorships in the Faculty of Arts. One of the Professorships originally instituted—that of Mental Science—was endowed from this source; and it has lately been intimated to the University Council that the funds are now in a position to support another Chair. The University, however, is entirely unconnected with any religious denomination; it contains no faculty of theology, its instruction is purely secular, and it is restrained by its constitution from imposing any religious tests upon its professors, lecturers, or students.

The supreme governing body of the University is the Council, the members of which hold office for life. In terms of the Ordinance, the right of filling up vacancies in the Council was vested in the Superintendent of the Province, but by reason of political changes it has now devolved upon the Governor. The Chancellor and the Vice-Chancellor are elected by the members of the Council out of their own body, and hold their offices for three years. The Council page 7 appoints the Professors and Lecturers, manages the finances of the Institution, and attends to all its external relations. The conduct of the educational arrangements of the University is committed to the Professorial Board, which consists of all the Professors and those Lecturers who have been appointed members of it by the Council.

The University contains a Faculty of Arts, a School of Medicine, a School of Law, and a School of Mines. The page 8 courses of lectures in the Faculty of Arts prepare for the preliminary examinations in Medicine and in Law, for the professional examinations of Schoolmasters, and for Degrees, Senior Scholarships, and Honours in the University of New Zealand. The Medical School provides lectures in Chemistry, Zoology, Anatomy, and Systematic Surgery; and it is the intention of the Council to establish additional lectureships as soon as the funds at their disposal will enable them to do so.

The Lectures in Chemistry, Zoology, and Anatomy delivered by the Professors of these subjects are recognised by the Court of the University of Edinburgh for graduation there; and it is expected that a similar recognition will be received for the Surgical Lectures before next session.

The Dunedin Hospital has also been thrown open to the Students. This Institution contains over one hundred and sixty beds, and arrangements are being made for giving clinical instruction to the Students.

The Lectures in Law prepare for the professional examinations before the Judges of the Supreme Court, and, in conjunction with the classes in the Faculty of Arts, for the L.L.B. degree of the University of New Zealand.

A School of Mines has now been organised. A Director has been appointed who will conduct classes in Mining, Mining Geology, Mineralogy, and Petrography; and for the illustration of the lectures in these subjects, an ample collection of apparatus, models, specimens, and diagrams has already been obtained. Lectures in Physics, Mechanics, and Surveying will also be provided as soon as arrangements, now in progress, have been completed. These lectures, with an extension of the subjects already treated in page 9 the Museum, the Chemical Laboratory, and other Science Classes, will form a Course of Study as complete as those of similar Institutions in Europe.

Since the issue of the first edition of this Calendar a new University building has been erected on a site containing about eight acres of ground. It is conveniently situated in the immediate neighbourhood of the Hospital, the Museum, and the Botanic Gardens; all of which are available for the purposes of the University. The Physical, Chemical, and Anatomical Laboratories are being fitted up with all the appliances required for the efficient teaching of the subjects appertaining to each.

The new building will be open throughout for the classes at the beginning of next session.

The University Library, founded mainly by public subscriptions, already contains more than four thousand volumes, which for the most part have been specially selected by the Professors for the use of the students. All students attending the University, whether matriculated or not, are entitled to the free use of the Library, and it is also open as a Library of Reference to the general public, who must, however, provide themselves with cards of admission by application to the Registrar. The Library is under the direction of a Committee, composed of three members of the Council and three members of the Professorial Board.

The Chemical Laboratory in the University, which has been conveniently fitted up, is under the charge of the Professor of Chemistry. Its main aim is the training of students in Chemical Manipulation and in Inorganic and Organic Analysis; but on grounds of public convenience it has been opened as a Public Analytical Laboratory. In this capacity page 10 it is largely made use of for the analysis of ores, minerals, soils, fabrics, and foods; and these analyses are frequently taken part in, or performed under supervision, by the more advanced students. The Laboratory is open for instruction from May to Nov., and for analysis during the whole year.

The Professor of Natural Science is also Curator of the University Museum. This building consists of a hall ninety feet by forty-five, with two galleries, beneath which is a basement, containing lecture-room, duplicate-room, &c.

These rooms have concrete roofs, and as the galleries in the hall are of concrete, supported by iron columns, the building may be considered as fire-proof. Behind the hall are four rooms for offices and library and two class-rooms. The Library contains more than a thousand volumes of valuable works on Natural History, and is supplied by mail with all the principal scientific periodicals. The collections of New Zealand Plants and Animals is now nearly complete; while the Foreign collections consist of more than two hundred species of Mammals, about one thousand three hundred species of Birds, fair collections of Reptiles and Fishes, which are now in process of being prepared for exhibition, more than two thousand five hundred species of Mollusca, one hundred and ninety of Crustacea, more than one hundred Echinodermata, nearly one hundred species of Coelenterata, and small collections of the different orders of Insects. The collections of Fossils and Minerals are small, but steps have been taken to increase them.

The Museum is open to the public from 12 noon to 5 p.m. on week days, and from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays, but students and travellers are admitted from 9 a.m. to 12 noon, on application to the Curator.

The Scholarships of the New Zealand University are tenable by students attending the University of Otago, and, in addition to these, two other scholarships specially connected with the latter Institution have been established. These are the Richardson Scholarship of the value of £40 a year, and the Scott Scholarship of the value of £20 a year. Both are awarded by competition, and may be held for a period of three years.

Competitors must have attended for two years some school in the Provincial District of Otago and Southland, and for one year the High School of Dunedin; age must not exceed 18. The Scholarship is tenable for three years, and is at present of the value of £40 per annum. Present holder: W. D. Milne. The next competition will take place in May, 1880.

The Scott Scholarship is competed for at the matriculation examination, with additional questions in English, and special prominence given to that subject. The Scholarship is tenable for three years; its present value is £20 per annum. Present holder: A. Montgomery. The next competition will take place in May, 1881.