“The Bursar is the Rev. Mr. Abbott, who has a Salary of £100 a year, and is permitted to do his duty by Deputy. He does not, he says, understand accounts; nor do those of his Deputy appear to be regularly and correctly kept.
“There are only two Governors resident in Montreal—the Chief Justice of the District, and Dr. Bethune, who is a Governor in consequence of his holding the interim appointment of Principal. The other Governors, who occasionally act, are the Chief Justice of Upper Canada, and the Bishop of Montreal, both too distant from the College to take much part in the management of its affairs, and the latter having only very recently a title to do so. The Chief Justice of Montreal is unwilling, as a Roman Catholic, to interfere more than he can avoid in the government of a Protestant Institution; and the practical result of this state of things in the governing body is to throw almost the whole management of the Institution into the hands of Dr. Bethune, the acting-Principal. Both the resident Governors resisted the authority of the Visitors, and refused to co-operate with them.
“Between the Governors and the Board of the Royal Institution certain differences do also exist in respect of the possession of the funds of the College, now held in trust by the Board. The Governors are of opinion that such funds should be unreservedly handed over to them. The Royal Institution, acting on the opinion of eminent Counsel, and holding that in this course they are supported by manifest expediency, as well as Law, decline to make such transfer. The knowledge of the Public that such differences exist is also stated as one ground of the want of public confidence in the Institution.
“A more full and accurate account of the whole investigation, contained in the Minutes of the Board, is herewith respectfully submitted for Your Excellency's information; but such, we have to state to Your Excellency, is generally the disorderly and inefficient state of an Institution from which the public looked, and were justly entitled to look, for great benefits.
“The remedy for existing evils is, it appears to the Board of Visitors, to be sought in various quarters. In part, it rests with the Board itself to apply a remedy; and, in so far, they are prepared to act without delay.
“The differences between the Board and the Governors may be settled by an amicable suit in a Court of Law; or by the opinion of the Law Officers of the Crown. The Board have repeatedly expressed to the Governors their desire to have the matter so decided.
“And the debts of the Institution the Board are also prepared to liquidate, though in doing so they must of necessity trench deeply on the capital in their possession.
“And the changes of the Institution itself, which the Board consider necessary, and which it is more immediately the province of the Governors to effect, are these:
“1st. To obtain the services of an able and efficient Principal, possessing the public confidence, who should reside in the College, and take an active part in the education of the students.
“2ndly. To dispense with the Office of Vice-Principal altogether, which, in that case, would be unnecessary, and to confine Professor Lundy's duties entirely to the work of Classical Instruction.