THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE ANNUAL REPORT Report of the Proceedings of the University for the year ended 31st December, 1949. To His Excellency, Sir Dallas Brooks, K.C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O.,, Governor of Victoria. May it Please Your Excellency, I have the honour, in accordance with Section 43 of the Uni­ versity Act 1928, to submit to Your Excellency the following report of the Proceedings of the University during 1949. 1. Student Numbers: The first falling off in numbers, since the post-war inflation, took place in 1949 when the total number of students was 9,254 compared with 9,497 in 1948. This was the direct result of the reduction of ex-service entries from 3,770 in 1948 to 3,460 in 1949. The 1950 enrolments are bound to recede sharply and 1951 will probably see the lowest point of the recession in as much as our recent surveys, which are similar to those prepared by the Universities Commission for all Australian Universities, indicate that numbers will start to rise again in 1952. The restrictions on entry remained as in 1948 and applied only to the second year of the Medical Course (42 students who had passed First Year being deferred till 1950) and to the "extra-Victorian quota" in the first year. 2. Staff: The size of the University can be measured to some extent by the number of those on the pay-roll, which increased from 1,344 in 1948 to 1,534 in 1949 (1,186 full-time and 348 part-time). The Council is glad to acknowledge the value of the services rendered to the community by this army of workers of all grades. Only the continuous and self-sacrificing loyalty of members of the Staff has enabled the work to be done at all—but examination and research results all testify that the work has been done well. 3. Buildings: The era of temporary buildings is still with us. The new huts for Architecture were completed during the year and, while the exterior still bears the imprint of its origin, the interior has been so designed and furnished as to provide excellent drawing offices and studies. 477 478 ANNUAL REPORT, 1949 Some slight extensions of existing temporary buildings are in progress to provide for the return of students and teachers from the Mildura Branch in 1950. The only permanent addition has been the recently started, northern, brick extension to the Central Library. 4. Finances: The uncertainty regarding the future basis of the University's revenue, referred to in the 1948 Report, in view of the diminution in fees and subsidies received from the Commonwealth Government, was relieved to some extent by the provision of £408,000 by the State Government in its 1949-50 Budget, an increase of -£104,000 over the previous year's total and 2£ times the amount provided only three years ago. In this way the Government of Victoria has again affirmed its intention to maintain the efficiency of the University insofar as monetary grants will do this and the University is extremely grateful to the Government. Rising costs, particularly in salaries and wages, have precluded any substantial development. A new salary scale for sub-professorial ranks was introduced in mid-year which provided small but immediate increments with the promise of additional aid in 1950 when increments will be £40 annually instead of £25 and maxima would be £100 higher. The Prime Minister, before the change in the ministry in December, appointed a small committee to report on the finances of all the Aus­ tralian Universities. With the support of the Universities and their State Governments, it is hoped that a factual report will lead to a permanent basis of Commonwealth aid on a scale approaching that of the British Universities, subsidized so realistically through the University Grants Committee. A five-year plan on the British pattern would do much to stabilize Australian Universities and allow them to develop along their own distinctive lines with an assurance that whatever was well begun would come to fruition. 5. Council: I was re-elected as Chancellor in March and thus began my ninth year as titular head of the University. According to convention the Deputy Chancellor, Dr. L. S. Latham, retired after two years in office and was succeeded by the Hon. T. D. Oldham, State Attorney General and Prices Commissioner. Mr. J. A. Seitz ceased to hold office on his retirement from the position of Director of Education and the new Director, Major-General A. H. Ramsay, ex officio succeeded to the vacancy. Professor Turner resigned on leaving for a year's leave at Cam­ bridge and Professor Gibson replaced him in April. Sir Walter Massy-Greene, Chairman of the Finance Committee, resigned from the Council and Mr. Ian Potter has replaced him. Mr. Herbert Taylor was appointed Chairman of the Finance Committee. The Rector of Newman College, Very Rev. J. M. Murphy, retired as a College Head from the Council in December and Mr. S. L. Prescott, Master of Ormond, succeeded him. ANNUAL REPORT, 1949 479 In June Sir Alan Newton felt impelled by failing health to resign from the Council and its committees and, soon afterwards, the'University and his many friends heard of his death. Though a member of the Council for only two years, he had wielded a strong and wise influence, particularly in medical matters, and tributes paid to him at the memorial service in St. Paul's Cathedral indicated how greatly the whole com­ munity mourned his death. In December, Sir John Latham retired after being a member for 28 years and Chancellor from 1939 to 1941, when he resigned on his appointment as Minister to Japan. Sir John lectured in Logic and then in Law from 1904 to 1919 and greatly influenced the University's development over many years. His learning, wisdom, energy and kind­ ness have placed the University and many of its members greatly in his debt. The Council has recorded its sense of pride in and gratitude for his many services. Sir John Newman Morris was appointed b}' the Standing Committee of Convocation to the vacancy caused by Sir Alan Newton's resignation and Dr. Lucy Br}'cc was elected by Convocation to the vacancy on Sir John Latham's retirement. Other retiring members, Mr. Justice Fullagar, Sir Edmund Herring, Dr. L. S. Latham and Mr. J. G. Burnell, were all re-elected unopposed at the December biennial election. 6. The Professors: Professor Amies received the honour of C.M.G. for distinguished public service and was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh. Professor W. Macmahon Ball became the first occupant of the Chair of Political Science. Professor C. H. Down was appointed to the new Chair of Con­ servative Dental Surgery. Professor Sir Bernard Heinze received the honour of knighthood in the New Year Honours and the Universitv of Western Australia conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Music. Professor P. L. Henderson took up duty in the Department of Mechanical Engineering in succession to Professor Blackwood. Professor B. Higgins resigned from the Ritchie Research Chair of Economics and returned to his former chair at McGill University, Montreal. Professor J. A. La Nauze, formerly Reader in the Sydney Faculty of Economics, was appointed to the Chair of Economic History, a third new Chair. Professor H. K. Worner was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Metallurgists, London, and a Fellow of the Australian Chemical Institute. 7. Honours: In addition to the honours conferred on Professor Sir Bernard Heinze and Professor Amies, the University noted with pleasure the knighthoods bestowed on Sir John Behan, for 28 years Warden of Trinity College, and Sir Raymond Priestley, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Birmingham and our own first salaried Vice-Chancellor. 480 ANNUAL REPORT, 1949 8. Associate Professorships: The following Senior Lecturers were promoted to the rank of Associate Professor: Mr. G. J. Thornton-Smith (in charge of the Department of Sur­ veying) . Mr. H. H. Dunkin (in charge of the Department of Mining). Mr. W. A. Rawlinson (Biochemistry). Mr. H. A. K. Hunt (Classics). Dr. C. B. O. Mohr (Physics). Dr. E. R. Love (Mathematics). 9. Resignations: Mr. J. R. Bainbridge resigned as Commonwealth Research Fellow in Engineering. Mr. M. Brown, Academic Secretary, was appointed Assistant to the Registrar of the Australian National University. Mr. C. M. H. Clark, Senior Lecturer in History, was appointed Professor of History at Canberra University College. Mr. W. E. Cremor, Guidance Officer, was appointed as Government Representative on the Teachers' Tribunal. Dr. F. J. Fenner, Haley Research Fellow at the Walter and Eliza Hall Research Institute, was appointed Professor of Microbiology at the Australian National University. Mr. R. M. Johnson resigned his position of Lecturer in Civil Engineering. Dr. F. N. Lahey, Senior Lecturer in Organic Chemistry, was appointed to a similar position in the University of Queensland. Miss K. A. O. Law, Lecturer in Biochemistry, was appointed to the staff of University College, London. Dr. T. E. Lowe, Senior Lecturer in Pathology, became the first Director of the Clinical Research Unit at the Alfred Hospital and later Director of the Baker Institute for Medical Research. Mr. C. E. Palmer, Senior Lecturer in General Science, was appointed consultant in meteorological matters to the United States Air Force in the Northern Pacific Area. Dr. R. T. Patton retired from his position of Senior Lecturer in Botany. Mr. J. J. Pratt, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, was appointed Chief Educational Officer (Research) with the Commonwealth Office pf Education.