E.—l.

The number of degrees authorised to be conferred after the examinations of 1903 was 81 : B. A., 37 ; B.Sc, 8 ; LL.B., 13 ; M.B. and Ch.B., 8 ; M.A., 15. As appears by the Chancellor's report, the number of candidates who were examined at the usual examinations in November and December, 1903, and in January and April, 1904, in the faculties of arts, science, medicine, law, and music, and for admission to the legal profession, was 1,649. The number of students at affiliated colleges in 1903 was 862, of whom 292 were women. Of these students, 646 were matriculated at the University of New Zealand. The numbers in attendance at the several colleges were as follows : University of Otago, 170 men and 57 women matriculated, and 18 men and 1 woman not matriculated; at Canterbury College, 119 men and 48 women matriculated, and 26 men and 56 women not matriculated; at Auckland University College, 68 men and 35 women matriculated, and 24 men and 49 women not matriculated; and at Victoria College, 110 men and 39 women matriculated, and 35 men and 7 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, on the 31st March, 1904, to £6,830 17s. 2d., as follows : Canterbury reserves, £2,265 3s. lOd.; Westland, £267 2s. 6d.; Taranaki, £4,298 10s. lOd. 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 533 candidates for the Junior Civil Service Examination, and the names of 267 were published in order of merit in the Gazette of the 22nd February. For the Senior Civil Service Examination there were 140 candidates, of whom 21 passed. Further particulars are given in the report of the examination (E.-Ia). Public Libraries. By a vote of last session a sum of £3,000 was again granted for subsidies to public libraries. Forms of application were sent to all libraries known to the Department, and notice was inserted in the Gazette of the 3rd December, 1903. The method of distribution of the vote was the same as that adopted in the previous year, as follows: A nominal addition of £25 was made to the amount of the income of each library derived from subscriptions, donations, and rates, provided that the receipts for the year were not less than £2, and the vote was divided according to the amount thus augmented; but no library received credit for a larger income than £75—that is, in no case did the augmented amount on which distribution was based exceed £100. In accordance with the Gazette notice, the day appointed for the distribution of the subsidy was the Bth February, 1904, and the amount of the vote was divided among the 396 libraries from which applications, each accompanied by a statutory declaration on the proper form, had been received. The vote, as thus dealt with, afforded a subsidy of 3s. 6-63d. in the pound of the nominal income, and the subsidies ranged from £17 15s. 4d. to £4 15s. lid. Some libraries failed to send in formal claims by the 31st January, 1904, the date fixed by the Gazette notice, and did not therefore participate in the vote. The number of libraries participating in the vote shows an increase of thirty-two as compared with the number aided in the previous year. In order that the purpose intended to be served by the vote may be attained, it is made a condition for participation that the whole of the subsidy granted in each library in the previous year shall have been expended in the purchase of books.

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