1.—13 a.

l>. OOLQUHOUN.

86. Mr. Sidey.J Should you not include the Endowment Fund in oonnectioD with Kdox College? —Yes, I omitted to mention that, in addition to the £36,000 which was expended on building and furnishing the College, we have raised between £3,000 and £4,000 of an Endowment Fund. We are aiming at raising an Endowment Fund of £15,000.

Dr. D. Colquhoun, Professor of Medicine, Otago University, made a statement and was examined. (No. 26.) Witness: Before I read the statement that I have here I should like to say that I have the authority of the faculty of medicine of the Otago University to say that I am expressing their sentiments. It is noi simply a personal opinion thai lam giving yon; I am expressing the sentiments of the faculty of medicine of Otago University, and everything that 1 have written here lias also the approval of the Dean of the School, Dr. Scott, who was unable to come up before this Committee, a fact which he very deeply regretted. This is the statement I have prepared: 1 was appointed to the Chair of Medicine at Otago in 1884, began to lecture in the winter of 1885, and have lectured each winter since then except in 1893, 1903, and 1911, when 1 was absent from the colony. The Medical School has given a complete education, up to graduation point, to about one hundred and fifty men and women, most of whom are now practising in this Dominion. Many of these could not have afforded the expense of travelling to and living in Great Britain for the purpose of study, and in the absence of a local school could not have qualified as doctors. All of them have had the advantage of living in their own country during their time of study, and being within reach of home influence. They have also been able to study human diseases under the conditions, social, racial, and climatic, in which subsequently as practitioners they have been called on to treat them. Of more importance than the mere number of students and graduates is the efficiency of the education given to them. The following facts bear upon this point. The history of the school has been one of steady growth. The number of students is increasing, and with this the number of those engaged in teaching has also increased. Fewer students join for a part only of the course —most of the present students are going on to graduation. There has also been a steady growth of the facilities for teaching and learning. Since the foundation of the school nearly the whole accommodation for patients in the Hospital has been renewed on strictly modern lines. The system of nursing has been remodelled in conformity with the best knowledge and experience of our time. The Governors of the Hospital have for many years recognized the importance of the school, both from a national point of view and in the interests of hospital efficiency, and have worked harmoniously with the University authorities, giving practical security of tenure to its teachers, and constantly consulting them in all technical matters and carrying out their views as far as circumstances permit. The fact that the school has the confidence of a large number of the medical profession is shown by the increasing number of sons and daughters of doctors who are being or have been educated there. In regard to that I have a note from one of the professors at the University to say that there are at the present moment eight students who are sons or daughters of New Zealand medical men receiving their entire education at the Otago University. In Dunedin, out of forty-two medical practitioners, twelve are graduates of New Zealand University. Eight of these are on the Hospital staff. This includes the Medical Superintendent, but not the three house surgeons, who are all local graduates. One lady graduate is at the head of St. Helens Hospital. The school has also supplied house surgeons to most of the hospitals in the Dominion, and to the mental hospitals. Several of our graduates went with the contingents to South Africa. The surgeon to Mawson's Antarctic Expedition was a New Zealand graduate. In every part of the Dominion our graduates are to be found in practice, and at the present moment twelve of our senior students are on special duty in the smallpox districts in the North Island. In this connection I should like to say that one or two look upon it as an immediate advantage to this country that there are those men who not only fill a gap in the case of an epidemic, bul are a permanent army which can be called upon at any time against the invasion of infectious diseases. I will lav on the table for your information some notes that I have received on the subject of those men. The Mayor of Auckland telegraphs, "Your students doing excellent work. I hope we may retain them." Dr. Valintine wires, " Would you please convey my thanks to the Medical School authorities for prompt assistance." The Hon. Mr. Heaton Rhodes writes, " \ desire to thank you and the medical faculty for the ready and prompt assistance given the Public Health Department in connection with the sending of twelve medical students to the northern districts to help in the battle with the smallpox epidemic, We have found great difficulty in obtaining the entire services of doctors in those districts where population is widely Bca'ttered." Then I have this from Dr. Valintine: "I have already asked Dr. Champtaloup to convey to the teaching staff of your Medical School my grateful thanks for so promptly acting on the Department's request for the assistance of six fifth-year medical students in connection with the campaign against smallpox. After a week's experience, and from reports in the north, I may say that the twelve students are doing very well indeed. They seem to be thoroughly reliable, and carry out instructions to the letter." I think I am justified in saying that this demonstrates one of the uses of a Medical School in the Dominion. It cannot be* too emphatically stated that our graduates have never taken a position in any way inferior to that of practitioners educated elsewhere. In some respects they have had superior advantages. From the first it has been constantly the policy of their teachers to advise them to supplement the knowledge gained as pupils in our school by post-graduate study in Europe or elsewhere. Most of our students have followed this advice—some immediately on completing their course here, many of them after working at their profession in this country for some years in order to acquire the

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