452 
ANNUAL MEETING. 
If he read the charter he would find that it rested with the 
Council to regulate the time and manner of the examina¬ 
tions ; therefore it was constituted for the Council. 
Mr. Wilkinson saw it had been found of great advantage 
from time to time to examine at Christmas instead of in the 
spring only. 
Mr. Helmore inquired whether any proceedings were now 
being taken in the matter of obtaining a Charter for Scot¬ 
land. 
Professor Spooner said he did not think the question re¬ 
specting Mr. Ernes’ suggestion was sufficiently understood 
by the meeting. Mr. Ernes proposed, and it was only a 
proposition which had been introduced into the report under 
inverted commas, that the examinations of the pupils from 
the various schools should be only held once in twelve months. 
The Committee of the Council had rather adopted that view 
than otherwise. Now, it was very true that the Council had 
authority to fix the periods of examination, but it was also 
true that they acted in accordance with the convenience of 
the schools. It should be borne in mind that some pupils 
entered at one period of the year and others at other periods, 
so that a young man entering into a course of lectures, say 
after Christmas, that was only calculated as half a course; 
but he had the opportunity of attending the next whole 
course and the succeeding half course, and he was thereby 
entitled to present himself for examination for his diploma. 
The Charter provided that, if a young man had been duly 
educated and presented a certificate to that effect, he was 
entitled to an examination. It therefore was clear that the 
meetings of the Court of Examiners should be so arranged as 
to be rendered applicable to the convenience of the autho¬ 
rities of the schools, and the course which had heretofore 
been pursued was thought very advantageous, and he for 
one should undoubtedly oppose any alteration in that respect. 
He would add to these observations the remark that he 
thought the Council should leave within the hands of the 
examining court the power to reject a pupil for three, six, 
eight, or ten months. Some pupils nearly passed, while 
others were very bad; and the examiners were the best 
judges as to the time for which a student ought to return to 
his studies. 
Professor Williajns said there had been no Christmas 
examination of the Edinburgh students, and he did not think 
that the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons could afford 
to send a board to Edinburgh to examine two or three 
students only, but he would suggest to the Council the pro- 
