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in the ensuing session of the General Assembly the money will he voted, the more especially as the library of the University is a free library, to which any person is admitted on obtaining a card from the Registrar. In short, the principle which the Council has continually kept in view is that of laying open all the advantages of the University to the public, and more especially the youth of both sexes. The Council has received a communication from the Secretary of Crown Lands recommending the organization of a School of Mines. At present I am only enabled to report to your Excellency that the Council approves of this suggestion, that they consider such a school of eminent utility in a country so rich in mineral resources which are, as yet, only partly developed, and that they are now conducting inquiries as to the best method of establishing such <i, school. They will, moreover, use their best endeavours to carry the recommendation into execution, so soon as the means at their disposal will permit. In the Vice-Chancellor's report of last year the Superintendent was informed that the Council of the University had become possessed of the block of land known as the " Old Botanical Gardens," in exchange for another site known as the " Old Cemetery Reserve." The Council is very desirous of erecting suitable buildings on the new site, which is not very far from the new Museum. Hitherto, however, the Council has not succeeded in finding a purchaser for the building now occupied, in order to place the Council in the possession of funds sufficient for the erection of the necessary buildings. Negotiations have been for some time in progress for the sale of the property, and the Council hopes to be placed in a condition to commence the new buildings at no very distant day. The present Law Lecturer, Mr. Chapman, has placed himself in communication with Mr. Justice Williams, with a view of rendering the examinations of the University and the Law Lecturer of more immediate value to the candidates for admission to the legal profession. For the present the result'is that the preliminary examinations of the faculty of medicine, with slight modifications, and the matriculation examination of the University of New Zealand, have been accepted as equivalent to the preliminary examination of the Supreme Court for solicitors. It is also understood that articled clerks in their last year may, by attaining a high percentage of marks at the examination periodically held by the Law Lecturer, obtain certificates exempting them from further examination upon the particular subjects of the examination, provided they have complied with certain conditions as to the regularity of attendance at lectures. The Professorial Board has reported that Mr. Saul Solomon, having successfully passed the necessary examinations, has been admitted to the degree of B.A. by the University of New Zealand ; and that Mr. Peter Seton Hay, who had previously taken the same degree, has recently attained to the First Class in Mathematics, in the examination for honors. An abstract of tho accounts, showing the income and expenditure of the University for the year ending 31st March, 1877, is appended to this report. I have, &c, The Most Hon. the Marquis of Normanby, Governor and H. S. Chapman, Commander-in-Chief of New Zealand. Chancellor.

Enclosure 1 in No. 1. The Secretart, Eoyal College of Surgeons, to the Vice-Chancellor. Eoyal College of Surgeons of England, Lincoln's Inn Fields, Sib, — 15th December, 187 G. I have laid before the Court of Examiners of this College, whose province it is to decide, on behalf of the Council, as to the recognition of lecturers, your letter of the 3rd of July last, and I am desired to transmit to you the following copy of a resolution adopted by the Court on the 18th ultimo, viz.;— " That the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Otago be informed that, as no further particulars have been received at this College with regard to the arrangements for the establishment of a School of Medicine in connection with the University, or with respect to the appointment of a complete staff of physicians and surgeons to the Dunedin Hospital than those which were contained in his letter of the 2nd August, 1875, and which were considered by tho Council to be insufficient, the Court are not in a position to entertain his application for the recognition of Mr. Hocken and Dr. Gillies as clinical lecturers in surgery and medicine respectively in the University of Otago." I have to add that I have been unable to reply to your letter earlier, as there have not been, until last month, any meetings of the Court since I was in receipt of it, and the above resolution only received the confirmation of the Court yesterday. I have, &c, The Eev. D. M. Stuart, D.D., Edward Trimmer, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Otago. Secretary.