Canterbury College.

For this Institution, and the various departments connected with it, Canterbury has to thank its now defunct Provincial Government and Council. It is managed by a Board of Governors, who have under their control the College proper, the Museum (of which we give an account in another place), and the Public Library, besides a Girls' High School, a Boys' High School, a School of Arts, and a School of Agriculture, all of which they have established. The several stone buildings devoted to the different branches of this institution, in Hereford-street, Worcester-street, and Armagh Street, have been erected, from time to time, by Government grants, and out of the funds accruing to the College from endowments, page 56and will, doubtless, be considered by visitors as among the handsomest in the city. Views of them are among our illustrations.

In 1873 the Provincial Council passed the Canterbury College ordinance, the object being to provide the means for the higher classes of Education. By the ordinance a Board of Governors was instituted, and the Provincial Government procured a site and voted a sum to build the first part of the College, while to ensure the maintenance of the institution in future years considerable blocks of land were reserved for an endowment.

The Board entered on its duties in July, 1873. There was in existence, affiliated to the University of New Zealand, a body consisting of representatives of the Fellows of Christ's College and the trustees of the Musuem, called the "Collegiate Union," doing good service in the cause of higher Education. The teaching staff and students of that institution came voluntarily under the authority of the Board, and in a great measure the early success of the College was assured by their labours.

Three professors of Classics and English Literature, of Chemistry and Physics, and of Mathematics, selected in England, arrived in Christchurch and commenced their duties in 1875.

In 1877 the College staff consisted of four professors and three lecturers, while there were 78 students on the roll, of whom 16 had matriculated in the University of New Zealand. At this time the whole of the work was confined to one building, situated at the corner of Worcester and Antigua-streets. It is of the Gothic order, from plans by Mr. B. W. Mountfort. The contract price was £6370. It had eighty feet frontage to Hereford-street, the entrance being under a high clock tower. On the ground floor were:—a large entrance hall; Registrar's office; Porter's room; and a lofty class-room. The gallery consisted of eight tiers, fitted for the reception of benches. A wide staircase leads from the entrance hall to the upper floor, where there are a Governor's room, a waiting - room, two professors' rooms, and a large class-room. Since then this building has been enlarged by the addition of a stone wing on the eastern side, and a large stone hall, eighty feet long and thirty-five feet wide, on western side.

The professional staff now consists of F. W. Haslam, M.A., late Scholar of St. John's College, Cambridge, Classics; J. M. Brown, M.A., late Snell Exhibitioner, Balliol College, Oxford, English language, literature, and history; C. H. H. Cooke, M.A., late Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, mathematics and natural philosophy; A. W. Bickerton, F.C.S., Associate and late Senior Queen's Scholar, Royal School of Mines, page 57chemistry and physics; J. F. Julius von Haast, Ph.D., F.R.S., geology and palæontology; F. W. Hutton, Biology. The lecturers are Rev. C. Turrell, M.A., French and German W. Izard, B.A., Cambridge, Barrister-at-Law, Inner Temple, Jurisprudence. The Director of the Museum is Professor von Haast, and the Director of the School of Agriculture is W. E. Ivey, M.R.A., C., F.C.S., F.I.C.

From the statements of this college, presented year by year to both Houses of Parliament, we find that the number of students has steadily increased term by term. Last year the number of matriculated students attending classes was fiftyseven, and the total number of students, matriculated and non-matriculated, attending lectures was 157.

This college now numbers twenty-seven, thirteen of whom have attained the degree of M.A., and fourteen the degree of B.A. Two of these have also attained the degree of L.L.B. Of the Masters of Arts one gained double first-class honours, ten first-class honours, and two third-class honours. Of the thirty-nine senior and third year scholarships awarded by the University of New Zealand during the last five years, twentyfive have been awarded to students of Canterbury College.

Lectures on Jurisprudence,—The Board held a conference with the Canterbury Law Society, the result of which was that the Society agreed to contribute one half the amount of the salary of a duly qualified lecturer, and the Board have therefore been able to secure the services of Mr. William Izard, B.A., Cambridge, Barrister-at-Law, Inner Temple, who gave two lectures each week to a class of eleven students.