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The Head of the Department proceeded to the degree of Master of Science (Leeds) in May. Also in May he was elected an honorary life member of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Pensylvania, U.S.A.
I.
G. A. C. HERKLOTS,
Reader in Biology.
REPORT ON THE FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
FOR THE YEAR 1931.
Students. -The number of students in the Faculty has again increased, being 93 as compared with 85 in 1930. were distributed as follows:
First Year
Second Year
Third Year
Fourth Year
Total
39
23
15
16
93
They
Examinations. Of this number 82 students sat for the
2.
Degree Examinations, below:
the results of which
EXAMINATION RESULTS.
are given
No. of
Intermediate
Final
Total
Candidates Part I
Part II
Part 1 Part II
Entered
34
18
14
15
81
Passed
18
12
Failed
16
6
II
3
12
53
3
28
Of the 12 students who graduated in 1931, 9 took Civil Engineering and 3 Mechanical Engineering. Mr. Yau Fung Hon. (Civil) obtained Second Class Honours.
I have tried, without success, to find some reason for the large percentage of failures in the first year and I can
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3.
4.
5.
only conclude that this is due to the fact that many students entering the Faculty are incapable of taking adequate notes and need tutorial instruction in addition to lectures. Un- fortunately the lecture classes are so large that any individual attention is impossible.
Staff.-Prof. Middleton Smith was absent on long leave during the year. Mr. J. A. G. Anderson from the Taikoo Dockyard gave a course of 33 lectures on Machine Design and Workshop Practice to the 4th year Mechanical Engineer- ing class. This course of lectures was given for the first time and represents an attempt on the part of the Engineer- ing Faculty and the Senate to make the course in Mechanical Engineering more practical. This change in the curriculum was made to meet the criticism of engineers in the local dockyards. Unfortunately no new subjects can be introduced into a full curriculum without corresponding omissions and to enable this new course to be included a portion of the syllabus of Machine Design had to be discontinued. Mr. Lee Shan Chieh resigned from the position of Demonstrator in Mechanical Engineering in September and was replaced by Mr. Koh Nye Poh. Mr. Koh's work was very satisfactory and while we are sorry to lose his services we are glad that he has since been selected for the Student Apprentice course at the Metropolitan Vickers works at Manchester. Publications.- Tacheometric Tables" Prof. F. A. Redmond published by Messrs. Crosby Lockwood and Son. The third issue of the Engineering Journal was published in September and contained articles of general engineering interest by a member of the Staff, Prof. F. A. Redmond, a graduate Mr. H. Braga, a student Mr. Foo Eng Keng and other local con- tributors. We are grateful to all these gentlemen for their contributions and their assistance in maintaining the standard of the Journal.
Laboratories. Efficient laboratory instruction is one of the first essentials of an engineering course and the Faculty is severely handicapped by inadequate laboratory accommodation and equipment. Thanks to the generosity of Messrs.
Butterfield and Swire there is available the interest on a sum of $100,000 for the purpose of buying new apparatus for the engineering laboratories and this would enable a
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