1. Rev. John Ferguson, First Church, Invercargill.

I am very glad to know that you intend to offer yourself for the Chair of Mental Science in the Otago University. When I heard that the vacancy was probable, I at once thought of you as the man most likely and most fit. All your students within reach will he ready enough to testify to your qualifications as a teacher. I was in both your classes, and during my entire course in Edinburgh you took a very kindly interest in me. I am able to say that you are an effective teacher. You could invest the driest subject with interest; your statements on matters speculative, historical, or dogmatical, were as a rule, clear, comprehensive and weighty-well worth remembering, and from the way they were put likely to be remembered. It was, I think, the general opinion of your students that you excelled in speculative discussion. You always tried to make them see into things, and if you did not always succeed the fault was not yours.

I do hope you will be nominated for the Chair. You have my warmest support.