1.—13 a.

100

[d. colquHoun.

8. You have no doubt met many men connected with the colleges at Home and in other parts, also professional men: have you beard any discouraging remarks made in regard to the diploma or tin' qualification of medical students of the Otago School ?—Never a hint of it. it. Has it ljeen commented on favourably?—l have heard individual men spoken of favourably, Imt you must remember that New Zealand is a very small gpeck in the Empire. 1 know, for instance, that at the Cancer Hospital al Brompton for year after year they have preferred New Zealand men to those holding the ordinary London diplomas. In one of the infirmaries in London the same thin;.' has prevailed. They were so satisfied with their first .Ww-Zealander that when he left they took another New-Zealander, and it went on like that for years. 10. They have a good opinion of our school and the students who go through) —They have an excellent opinion of Xew-Zealanders. At Guy's Hospital, at the Westminster Hospital, at the University College Hospital I was told that the New Zealand students were among the best they had. and 1 heard the same thing in Edinburgh. That applies to men who, as a rule, in Edinburgh have had two years only at the Otago University. 11. You are authorized to confer the degrees of M.IS. and CM.?—Yes, and M.D. 12. In your opinion those who have obtained those diplomas are duly qualified?- Yes, as far as diplomas can qualify any man in a profession which above all things needs experience. 13. ("an you speak as to the work done by other professors in the University? —Yes, I can speak of the work. I have been intimately associated with it since ever the school was completed, and 1 have formed a very high opinion of the work of my oolleagues, and especially of the way in which they have been willing to sacrifice time and money for the sake of the teaching of the school. There is none of them who has not made great sacrifices both in time and money for the school. 14. The work has not been of a perfunctory nature? —Never in my experience of it. 15. Would you say as much interest is taken in the students by the professors as you noticed in connection with your own university at Home?—l should think the personal interest in them has been greater than in the large schools. Especially was this so when the school was small and when every student was known to every teacher intimately. There was a sense of individual interest then that could not exist in the larger schools. Now that the school is getting larger it is becoming more difficult to know the individual students, but I have good reason to believe that tin.' keen personal interest in teaching has not in the slightest degree suffered. 16. Have you any observations to make regarding the appointments to the Hospital staff! —Nothing beyond saying that the attitude taken by the Trustees of the Hospital under the old regulations and the Committee of the Hospital under the new regulations has been absolutely correct. There have been no warmer friends of the Otago Medical School than the old Hospital Trustees and the present Hospital Governors. I think that is a testimony to their good sense and also to the efficacy of the school, because many of them began with a strong prejudice against us. Many of the old Trustees started their career with the deliberate intention of having the Medical School stopped, because they believed it caused unnecessary expense to the ratepayers. 17. Do you know any instance of favouritism in regard to any appointment on the staff? —I have known of no such tiling. As far as my experience goes the appointments have been carefully considered and made on the merits of the applicants. Xo doubt mistakes may have been made—they are made in all human institutions; but there has been no wilful favouritism, or anything approaching corruption or anything of that kind. 18. No one has been passed over?— Not if they thought he was a better man than the other candidate. 19. Do you know 7 Dr. Evans? —Yes. 20. Do you know his special work? —He was House Surgeon at the Evelina Hospital in London— one of the very good children's hospitals—and is a Fellow of the College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, He is an old Otago boy. 21. Was an appointment made in connection with such work? —Not that 1 know of. The only instance of favouritism that I know was this : soon after Dr. Evans came out a special appointment was made for him on the Hospital, through the influence of some of his friends, and he was put in charge* of the skin department, and 1 think he then became a full physician and continued for a year or two and then gave up the post. lam speaking from my recollection and not by the book. 22. He has not been passed over in any way in favour of an inferior man?— Not to my knowledge. 23. Mr. McColhim.] As to the surgical side, have you a field to work upon in Dunedin in surgery as they have in Sydney and Melbourne? You know the distinction between Edinburgh and Glasgow : the Scotchman wanting his sun to go in for surgery sends him to Glasgow, and for medicine sends him to Edinburgh. Does that apply to Dunedin? —I think our surgery is par ticularly strong in Dunedin. The teacher of it—Dr. Barnett —has for many years devoted an extraordinary amount of attention to it. He lias visited England, and the Continent, and America, and the consequence is that we get a very large amount of surgical work. Our surgical work has gone up by leaps and bounds within the last ten years—so much so that we have ditli culty in getting days for our operations. 24. The question is, has Dr. Barnett the field to work upon in a small place like Dunedin. where you have not a great many accidents happening?— From the student's point of view I think we have as much as he can treat. Xo doubt you get more cases in London, let us say, than you do here, and more cases in Edinburgh and Glasgow; but here, owing to the comparatively small number of our students, the students are brought into closer contact with the actual opera' tions. They have to handle the cases, they have to do things very often that in the larger