Page:Convocation Addresses of the Universities of Bombay and Madras.djvu/186

 The new benefactions of this year are from the province of Gujarat. The most interesting is that of a Fellow of last year—the Thakore Saheb of Gondal—who has presented Rs.6,000 to form a collection of ancient records of the literature of India to be placed in the University Library, The second is the endowment of a scholarship in memory of the late Majumdar Manishankar of Kathiawar. The third is an endowment of two scholarships by Mr. Haridas Veharidas Desai, of Nadiad, and Divan of Junagad, a filial tribute to the memory of his respected father. It is worthy of record that one female student passed the First Examination in Medicine, and eleven female students passed the Matriculation Examination. Of the latter, three are Parsi young ladies, and I am informed that all of them will carry their studies further, one in the Grant College and the other two in a college of Arts. Examination results show, in Matriculation, 2,262 candidates, of whom 837 finally passed. Last year the numbers were 2,036 and 840. There is a decrease in the number of candidates who passed the Previous Examination, and in those who have qualified for the degree of B.A. The successful candidates for the degree of B.Sc. numbered only three. There is an increase in the new graduates in Law and Medicine; a decrease in those in Civil Engineering. There are no doctors in Medicine this year, and a fall from 9 to 3 in Masters of Arts. Looking back some fifteen years to the time when I was more specially connected with the administration of public instruction, I observe that the yearly average of men who Matriculated was then under 200. The B.A.'s were about 12 to 18 yearly. The average of the past three years is over 70. The M.A.'s were very much as they are now. The number this year represents the average since 1865. Some thoughts are suggested by these numerical results reviewed side by side with the means of teaching. We have four Arts Colleges of old standing, with a College of Medicine, a College of Science, and a School of Law, all recognized between 1860 and 1869—chiefly about 1860. Then comes the younger generation—the Gujarat, Kolhapur, Baroda, and Bhavnagar Colleges, and the Fergusson College at Poona, all recognized in the last five or six years. But these are elementary colleges, teaching the less advanced part of the Arts course; they are all concerned with the Arts course; they are also scantily provided with European Professors. Three of these are supported by Native States. The other two, though partly supported by subscriptions or endowments, make a demand on our public taxation fund. So also will the college to be established in Sind. It would seem, then, that the increase of the higher teaching power—by which I mean the fresh acces-