E.—7.

8. CANTERBURY AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. Members of Board of Governors. Chairman : W. 0. Rennie, Esq, Nominated by His Excellency the Governor-General.—W. 0. Rennie, Esq. ; Professor F. W. Hilgendorf, M.A., D.Sc., F.R.S.N.Z. Elected by members of Parliament for Canterbury and members of tlie Legislative Council resident in Canterbury.— C. Morgan Williams, Esq., M.P. ; T. H. McCombs, Esq., M.P ; H. 8. S. Kyle, Esq., M.P. Elected by Board of Governors of Canterbury College.—Professor H. G. Denham, M.A., D.Sc., Ph.D., F.I.C. ; C. T. Aschman, Esq. Elected by Agricultural and Pastoral Associations of Canterbury. —G. F. Wright, Esq.; J. R. D. Johns, Esq. ; N. M. Orbell, Esq. Staff. Director. —Professor E. R. Hudson, 8.50., B. Agr., Dip.C.A.C. Assistant-Director. —J. W. Calder, M.Sc., B.Agr.,^Dip.C.A.C. Lecturers, sixteen. Registrar.—J. A. S. Kirkness, M.Com., A.R.A.N.Z. REPORT. I have the honour to present the fifty-eighth annual report of the Canterbury Agricultural College Board of Governors, for the year ended 31st December, 1938. Accompanying this is a report by the Director and a statement of the accounts of the College. The receipt of £11,500 through the School of Agriculture for current expenditure and for reduction of the overdraft has enabled the Board to carry on the College activities under exacting conditions of rigid economy in all departments. The programme of expenditure has left very little to meet accumulated maintenance charges, and several projected developments are hindered through lack of finance. Although the College received from Government sources £1,200 additional to that received in 1937, it has experienced a reduction in the rentals from endowments. These fell by nearly £900 on the 1937 figures and by £1,138 on the anticipated figures for the year under review. The problems associated with the farming of high-country runs will no doubt permanently affect the College rentals, and a further measure of financial support will be necessary from other sources. Towards the end of the year notice was received from the Government that an amount of £35,000 had been placed on the estimates of Public Works Department for urgent capital expenditure. Of this amount, only £849 had been expended up to the 31st December. The renovation of the main College building and the erection of a short-course students' dormitory, farm buildings, and staff cottages have been delayed through a shortage of draughtsmen on the staff of the Public Works Department. I am compelled to direct attention to the serious nature of this delay. At present students and members of the staff have to be accommodated under conditions which, by no stretch of the imagination, can be regarded as satisfactory, and equally unsatisfactory conditions prevail in connection "with many of our farming activities, particularly with dairying and slaughtering of stock. In spite of the disabilities arising from shortage of funds, the College has not only maintained the efficiency of its teaching and research, but has shown development in every department. A new departure has been the institution of a course in valuation and farm-management. The course began in the .first term with an enrolment of thirteen students, several of whom were officers of Government Departments concerned, with primary production. The Board feels that the course is meeting in an effective manner the needs of officers of several Government Departments concerned with the primary industries and of young men contemplating farming on their own behalf. In accordance with the provisions of the Canterbury Agricultural College Act, the annual election of members took place in December, when Mr. G. P. Wright was reappointed by the Mid-Canterbury A. and P. Associations for a further term of three years. Mr. C. Morgan Williams was elected in place of Mr. M. E. Lyons, and Messrs. T. 11. McCombs and C. T. Aschman were appointed to replace Messrs. H. E. Herring and W. A. Banks, who resigned. All three members who have resigned have rendered loyal and efficient service to the College, and our indebtedness to them is gratefully acknowledged. By kind permission of Canterbury University College, degrees gained at the University examinations of 1937 were conferred by Dr. J. Hight, Pro-Chancellor of the University of New Zealand. The graduates were J. R. G. Fleming, M.Agr.Sc. (Equivalent First-class Honours), and R. 1). Dick, G. E. Garrett, K. M. Harrow, and D. W. Newall, Bachelors of Agricultural Science. Finance. —The gross receipts for the year 1938 from all sources were £24,775 and the total payments were £25,507. The total amount received from Government sources was £11,699, as against £10,440 for the previous year. Rent received from endowments was £2,106, as against £2,980 in 1937. The College gratefully acknowledges the donation of gold medals from Mr. N. H. Mackie and Mr. Norton Francis, C.M.G., for award to students, and of cups for competition from several mercantile firms. The College has always enjoyed, an enviable record for the quality of its stock, and the distribution of high quality live-stock is a most important College activity. The gaining of more than a hundred awards at the three principal shows of Canterbury bears evidence that this important branch of the College activities is being maintained at a high standard. The output of improved strains of crop and pasture seeds has likewise been continued, and this year's activities have been marked by the large-scale release of the improved C.23 College cocksfoot and by the production of some 1,200 bushels of the newly developed spring wheat Tainui. The close and efficient co-operation of the Wheat Research Institute and the College has made this achievement possible. I also desire to acknowledge the helpful assistance rendered by officers of the Departments of Agriculture and Scientific and Industrial Research, and also by the University and the Council of the School of Agriculture.

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