Page:Convocation Addresses of the Universities of Bombay and Madras.djvu/72

 in Calcutta the percentage of passed men, calculated for the first ten years, is one-half or 50 per cent. In Madras it is greater than in Calcutta, being about 60 per cent., while in Bombay for the same period it is only rather over one-third, or say 34 per cent. These statistics have also enabled me to draw your attention to another very interesting circumstance; that is, a comparison of the numbers who in the first ten years presented themselves for Matriculation, compared with the male population included in the territorial ranges of the Universities. The figures from the same return show the following results:—

Males. Candidates for Matriculation. Calcutta, including Bengal, j Cenl/p.?vt elTn^ «'.0»0.0<"' 13,185 or 1 in 4.660 British Bormah. ) Madras... ... ... 15,000,000 2,993 or 1 in 6,000 Bombay, including Sind ... 7,000,000 2,679 or 1 in 2,600

Now, bearing in mind that under the sister Universities the Matriculation Examination is conducted at 33 places by Calcutta, and at 18 by Madras, while we conduct it solely in Bombay, to which place candidates come from Sind and Gujarath in the North, the Berars on the N. E., and the confines of Madras on the South, we may, I think, congratulate ourselves on the greater desire for a University education which the Natives under our own Presidency evince than those residing in either of the others.

The following is a comparative statement of the degrees conferred by the three Universities, including the Convocations of 1870:—

M.A. B.A. LL.B. B.C.E. L.O.E. M.D. B.M. L.M. ^ 1,082 236 143

Here Bombay shows as to numbers at a disadvantage, but it must be borne in mind that we have, from the first, fixed and demanded a higher standard for most of our degrees than have Calcutta or Madras—in fact, they have within the last few years been raising their standard and are still considering the subject, so that any comparison drawn from the proportion of graduates to under-graduates would only be liable to mislead. The results