Professor Cotton.

Dr. Cotton began his studies at Otago University, in 1905. He continued both at the University and at the Otago School of Mines, and graduated in 1907, collecting both the Junior and Senior Scholarships.

In 1908 he obtained the M.Sc. degree, with 1st Class Honours in Geology. At this time he was engaged in research work on the petrology of the volcanic rocks of the Dunedin district.

After leaving the Otago School of Mines he went to the Coromandel School of Mines as Director, and from there he came to Victoria College in 1909. as Lecturer in Geology.

At this time he changed his line of work and started on the physiography and structure of New Zealand from a new viewpoint. His numerous excellent papers in this connection began with the Wellington district; then the Nelson and Marlborough districts; and finally he worked on the Central Otago district.

Dr. Cotton started the Geological Section of the Wellington Philosophical Society, and was chairman of the section. He was joint editor of the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute with Dr. Cockayne, and then for two years was editor.

He has also been on the editorial staff of the Journal of Science and Technology since its formation.

In 1915, Dr. Cotton obtained the D.Sc. degree, and this year he has been elected a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute—the highest honour conferred in New Zealand.

Professor Cotton's lectures are clear, concise, and to the point, and he is ever ready to help. His students realise that were it not for his ability they would not have passed their exams.

We wish Professor Cotton every success, and offer him our heartiest congratulations on his appointment.

Professor Wilson.

F. P. Wilson, M.A., F.R.E.S., was one of the first students of Victoria College, when the College opened in 1899. There were then only four professors and 80 students.

In 1904, Prof. Wilson took his B.A. degree, and the following year he took his M.A. degree with Honours in Political Science.

In 1906, he was appointed the Graduates' Representative on the College Council, but resigned this position in 1908, when he was appointed Lecturer in History and Economics, which position he held until the appointment of Professor Murphy to the Chair of Economics, and the foundation this year of the Chair of History, of which he is the first Professor at V.U.C.

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Professor Wilson was the founder of the Glee Club, which was one of the first College clubs, and he has been the conductor since its inception.

He has been a prominent member of the Tennis Club for years. In 1902, he obtained the College championship. He also played in all the tournaments and shield matches up till 1905, when V.U.C. won the Tournament Tennis Shield.

Those attending the Law Lectures during 1920 will be pleased to hear that Mr. S. Goodall recently rendered "distinguished" and valuable services in connection with a fire in Boulcott Chambers. Mr. Goodall, together with a small street urchin, located a fire in a room in the above chambers. P.C. 49 was summoned, who, together with P.C. Goodall, effected an entry by means of fire escapes and window-sills; but we regret to say that on discovering that the fire was an evening party, and that the proprietress of the room was decidedly annoyed at the privacy and sanctity of her rooms being violated by two police-officers without reasonable cause, P.C. Good-all, under cover of the fact that he was at an advantage in being a plain-clothes constable, left his colleague to pacify the aforesaid lady on his own, and departed to ponder over the rights of intrusion on personal privacy by a plain-clothes constable.

Mr. I. L.G. Sutherland, M.A., who was awarded the Post-Graduate Travelling Scholarship for 1920, has been granted a free passage and will be leaving shortly for Great Britain. Mr. Sutherland intends to take up research work at Glasgow University.

Mr. J. A. Allan, M.A., who last year won a senior scholarship in Philosophy, and this year gained his M.A., with 1st Class Honours, has left V.U.C. for Edinburgh University. Prior to his departure, a small farewell gathering was held in the College tea-rooms, at which several members of the staff and representative students wished Mr. Allan success in his new sphere of study.

Notwithstanding our thankfulness that the new buildings are at length under way, we regret that part of our picturesqueness has been lost in the process. We publish a photograph of the College, taken by Mr. R. V. Kay some three or four years ago—in the days when the pine-trees still waved above us, to the delight of spring poets and the chagrin of the tennis club. We trust this will prove an interesting reminder of the fast-vanishing "Old Clay Patch."

War Memorial Number of "The Spike."

The War Memorial Number of "The Spike" was published early in the first term. This publication forms a valuable record of the part played by V.U.C. students in the Great War, and should be of interest to all students, past and present. The Students' Association desires the fact of the completion of this number to be widely known, especially among past students and their friends. A large number of copies are still on hand, and any person interested may obtain a copy on application to the Students' Association.

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The New Wings.

There is little more that need he said, for Virgil, having foreseen such a state of affairs, has graphically expressed the position in one or two sentences which are not to he improved upon.

The Memorial Wing, however, is to he completed by next session. The Memorial Window is under construction, and the Library floor is almost complete, and, under favourable circumstances, we should see the roof on inside eight months.

The new wing which is under construction is to complete the present block of buildings. The architecture is to be uniform with that of the present buildings, except that Oamaru stone is not to be utilised for facings. The ground floor is for the Geology Department. and the building is also to accommodate the machinery-room and workshop and the Physics Department.

The College, when complete will form an imposing structure and a landmark from the harbour and city; but, nevertheless, this and the beautiful view do not recompense for the narrow-sighted policy of the College Council in making the present site a permanent one.