E.-8

1884. NEW ZEALAND.

EDUCATION: THE AUCKLAND UNIVERSITY COLLEGE.

Presented in pursuance of Section 25 of " The Auckland University College Act, 1882."

The Chairman to the Hon. the Minister of Education Sir,— University College, Auckland, 22nd May, 1884. In .compliance with the 25th section of " The Auckland University College Act, 1882," the Council has the honour of making to the Hon. the Minister of Education the following report:— 1. In pursuance of appointment made by the Governor in Council, the Council of the Auckland University College held its first meeting on Monday, the 19th day of February, 1883, in the old District Courthouse in Eden Street, Auckland. 2. The College Council then consisted of the following eleven members The Mayor of the City of Auckland, James McCosh Clark, Esq ; the Chairman of the Auckland Board of Education, William Pollock Moat, Esq , three members elected by the members of the General Assembly resident in the Provincial District of Auckland, viz., John Logan Campbell, Esq., M.D., the Bight Bey William Garden Cowie, D.D., Bishop of Auckland, and Edwin Hesketh, Esq., barrister-at-law, three members appointed by the Governor in Council, viz., the Bey Thomas Buddie, his Honour Mr. Justice Thomas Bannatyne Gillies, and the Hon. Colonel Theodore Minet Haultain, and three members appointed by the Governor in Council pending the time when there shall be thirty graduates of the University of New Zealand on the books of the college, viz., the Bey David Bruce, the Hon. Sir George Maurice O'Borke, 8.A., and District Judge Hugh Garden Seth Smith, M.A. 3. At the first meeting of the Council Sir G. Maurice O'Borke was elected chairman for the term of a year. 4. The Council, at its first meeting, resolved that a request should be made to the Senate of the University of New Zealand that this college should be affiliated to the University , and on the 3rd of March the Senate resolved, that the college should accordingly be affiliated. 5. There not being any building appropriated to the college, the Government, in the month of March, granted to the Council the use of the old District Courthouse. The Council prepared in this building one lecture-room and some smaller apartments. 6. The Council of the Auckland Institute granted to the College Council the use, during certain hours, of a room in the Museum, which is in Princes Street, and in this room the Professor of Classics and English delivered his lectures. The lectures of the Law Lecturer were delivered in the District Courthouse, High Street. 7 In the year 1882 the Agent-General for New Zealand, in accordance with directions from the Colonial Government, selected four Professors for this college. In making these selections the Agent-General had obtained the assistance and advice of a number of gentlemen of most distinguished eminence in science, in literature, and in academic position. The Professors thus selected were the following:— Classics and English. —Thomas George Tucker, 8.A., Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, and Craven Scholar of the University, Senior Classic of 1882. Mathematics. —George Francis Walker, M.A., Fellow of Queen's College, Cambridge, Second Wrangler of 1879 , late Fellow of the University of Durham. Chemistry and Experimental Physics. —Frederick Douglas Brown, M.A., B.Sc, F.C.S., lately Demonstrator of Chemistry in the University Museum, Oxford. Natural Science. —Algernon Phillips Thomas, M.A., F.L.S., late Scholar Balliol College, Oxford, Burdett-Coutts University Scholar, lately Demonstrator of Biology in the University Museum, Oxford. 8. The lamentable event of the death, by accidental drowning, of Professor Walker, which occurred in the harbour of Auckland on the Ist of May, 1883, rendered the Professorship of Mathematics vacant; and the Agent-General selected for that chair Mr William Steadman Aldis, M.A. Cantab., Senior Wrangler and First Smith's Prizeman of 1861. In order to accept this appointment in Auckland, and induced by the superiority of climate, Professor Aldis relinquished the position of being Principal of the Durham College of Physical Science.