E.—l

XXVII

Univebsity and Colleges. The report of the Chancellor of the University of New Zealand is a separate paper (8.-6). The number of graduates admitted or qualified for admission now amounts to 767. Of this number 384 have the degree of B.A. alone; 21 that of B.So. alone; 22 LL.B. alone; 37 M.B. and Ch.B. alone ; 204 M.A. alone; 5 M.D. alone; 3 LL.D. alone; 1 D.Sc alone; 2 Mus. Bac. alone; 4 B.Sc. in engineering alone. The graduates upon whom degrees in more than one faculty have been conferred are: B.A. and B.Sc, 10; B.A. and LL.B., 21; B.A. and M.8., Ch.B., 7; M.A. and B.Sc, 21; M.A. and LL.B., 15; M.A. and M.8., Ch.B., 2; M.A. and D.Sc, 3; M.A. and LL.D., 3; LL.D. and 8.A., 1; M.A. and B.Sc. in engineering, 1. The number of degrees authorised to be conferred after the examinations of 1899 was 76: 8.A., 30; B.Sc, 8; LL.B., 8; M.B. and Ch.B., 11.; Mus. Bac, 2 ; M.A. 15 ; D.Sc, 1; B.Sc. in engineering, 1. The number of candidates at the entrance examination for 1899 was 799; 397 sat at examinations for degrees, and 119 for professional qualifications not academical, making a total of 1,315. The number of students at affiliated colleges in 1899 was 766, of whom 246 were women. Of these students, 515 were matriculated at the University of New Zealand. The numbers in attendance at the several colleges are as follows: University of Otago, 154 men and 48 women matriculated, and 39 men not matriculated; at Canterbury College, 80 men and 37 women matriculated, and 18 men and 47 women not matriculated; at Auckland University College, 82 men and 26 women matriculated, and 66 men and 46 women not matriculated; and at Victoria College, 57 men and 31 women matriculated, and 24 men and 11 women not matriculated. The reports of these colleges are papers E.--7, E.-8, E.-9, and E.-10 respectively. " The University Endowment Act, 1868." The income accrued under this Act, and applicable to purposes of higher education yet to be determined by Parliament, amounted, at the end of 1899, to £4,677 Is. Id., as follows : Canterbury Eeserves, £1,779 os. 10d.; Westland, £232 2s. 6d. ; Taranaki, £2,665 17s. 9d. Civil Service Examinations. As usual the Civil Service examinations were conducted this year (in January) by the Education Department simultaneously with the examination for teachers' certificates. There were 490 candidates for the Junior Civil Service examination, and the names of 309 were published in order of merit in the Gazette of the 23rd February. For the Senior Civil Service examination there were 112 candidates, of whom 48 passed. Further particulars are given in the report of the examination (E.-1a). Chatham Islands. In the Chatham Islands during 1899 instruction was given by three teachers and two assistants at five different centres, four on the main island and one on Pitt Island. The number on the roll at the end of the year was 54; the working average attendance, 45. The total expenditure was £389 15s. 6d. — namely, salaries and allowances, £265 16s. 3d. ; building material, school furniture and requisites, and repairs, £79 10s.; inspection, £44 9s. 3d. In order to afford opportunities for clever children in these islands to continue their education beyond a primary school course, the Government has offered to give any boy or girl qualifying under specified conditions a scholarship tenable at one of the recognised secondary schools in New Zealand. Subsidies to Public Libraries. By a vote of last session a sum of £3,000 was granted for subsidies to public libraries; in 1898 the amount voted for distribution was £2,000. The method of distribution of the vote for 1899 was the same as that adoped in the previous year, as follows: A nominal addition of £25 was made to the amount of the