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is taught in the second year, and senior physiology including clinical physiology and pharmacology in the third year.
The Professor reports that the work in this department dur- ing the period under review has on the whole been slightly more satisfactory.
During the year further investigations were carried out on gastric digestion and during the summer vacation the Professor accompanied by the Professor of Physics went to Borneo to in- vestigate the racial distribution of blood
in that groups
part the world.
of
A paper on 'Individual and Racial Characteristics of the Blood" by Professor L. T. Ride was published in the November issue of Caduceus."
Biology Department. During the year some thousands of specimens were collected and sent throughout the world to ex- perts for determination and description.
The Department has received seeds and plants from the Director of Forestry, Manila; the Director of the Botanic Gardens, Buitenzorg, Java; the Director of the Botanic Gardens, Singapore, S.S.; Dr. A. Kerr, Bangkok; the Professor of Agricul- ture, Lingnam University, Canton, and others. Nearly 50 packets of seeds native to New Zealand were recently presented to the Department.
In July 1931, the Reader in Biology attended the 2nd Chinese Marine Biology Summer School at Amoy University, where, with the aid of his two Chinese collectors from Hong Kong, he carried out a bryological survey of the Island of Kulangsu. The mosses have been named by Mr. N. H. Dixon one of the leading English authorities in this branch.
A grant covering passages to and from Amoy was voted to the Reader by the Marine Biological Association of China.
In August, 1931, the Reader went to the Forestry School, Los Banos, Philippine Islands, where he gave courses of lectures. On the occasion of this visit a collection of bryophyta was made, the material being sent to England for determination.
Visitors to the Department of Biology during 1931 in- cluded: (1) Mr. W. Birtwistle the Officer in charge of the Fisheries Department, S.S. and F.M.S., (2) Professor A. Herre
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of Stanford University California, U.S.A., (3) Professor L. R. Jones of the University of Wisconsin, (4) Dr. H. L. Lyon in charge of the Department of Forestry, H.S.P.A., Honolulu and (5) Professor R. L. Pendleton of Los Banos. Professor Pendleton was at the time of his visit seconded to take charge of the Soil Survey of China.
THE FACULTY OF ENGINEERING,
First Year Failures.-The Dean comments on the large He con- percentage of failures in the first year of this course. cludes that this must be due to the fact that many of the students entering the Faculty are incapable of taking adequate notes and need tutorial instruction in addition to lectures. He adds that
unfortunately the lecture classes are so large that individual attention is impossible.
Laboratories.- -The Dean observes that efficient laboratory instruction is one of the first essentials of an engineering course and that the Faculty is severely handicapped by inadequate laboratory accommodation and equipment.
Additional equip- ment may be gradually purchased, but unfortunately the Steam and Hydraulics Laboratories are both housed in an old building which is quite unsuitable; both the laboratories are overcrowded even with their present inadequate equipment, and expansion on the present site is impossible.
THE FACULTY OF ARTS.
The Faculty of Arts as at present organised offers seven courses or groups of studies, viz., Group 1- -Letters & Philosophy, Group 2-Experimental Science, Group 3-Social Science, Group 4-(4) For Teachers of Science and Mathematics, Group 4-(b) For Teachers of Science and Biology, Group 4-(c) For Teachers of General Subjects, Group 5-Commerce. The work of teaching these groups is divided among 10 Departments, viz., English, Education, Science, Commerce, History, Chinese, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology. Of the 97 undergraduates in the Faculty of Arts at the end of 1931, 20 were women. were 8 external students. Fourteen students were taking Group 1, 7 Group 2, 24 Group 3, 11 Group 4 (a), 20 Group 4 (c), and 29 Group 5.
There
Department of English.-The Professor of English remarks that the general objects of an English department in a University
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