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shell filling plant in the Commonwealth would be turned into a teaching centre to take care of the postwar rush of engineering students. All the students would be in the first or second year of the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering. Ajax would have to absorb more undergraduates than most Canadian universities. At the start, the great majority of those students would be ex-servicemen who had been used to a life of discipline combined with enthusiastic relaxation when they got the chance. Could they become civilian students almost overnight at Ajax? Ajax didn't have a "university" atmosphere. Would that make a difference? University authorities made their plans and hoped for the best. Professor W. J. T. Wright was appointed Director of Studies, and J. R. Gilley, Director of Ajax Division. Shell production stopped in July, 1945, and in September the first University officials moved in. A sizable amount of reconversion was already under way. For one thing, 40,000,000 shells had been manufactured in the $112,000,000 plant and there was bound to be a certain amount of explosive dust in cracks and corners of the buildings. Four buildings which were beyond recovery were burned to the ground. Others were refloored and reconditioned. But the real job was to turn a barren war plant into a village of classrooms and comfortable residences. It was a big job. When the work was done, there were 33 residences, 37 lecture rooms, 20 draughting rooms, 13 chem-ical laboratories and other special labs. And the bill was $l,400,000. An opening deadline of January 14, 1946, was set. It was the last day stu-dents could start an accelerated course and finish their first term in time for the next course to get going that September. On January 14 more than 1400 students turned up and got their first look at the Division. What they saw was a vast sprawling area hugging the main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway with a con-centration of wartime buildings near the track and, spreading south to-wards Lake Ontario, two widely separated lines of straggling frame structures connected by long cor-ridors. A system of heating pipes sup-ported above the ground on trestles, ran parallel with the buildings. There was a bleak look about it all, and the buildings in the lines seemed lost in the gentle slopes which a few years before had been farmlands. A high fence at the entrance to the L-shaped area leased by the University helped give the place the look of a military camp. It was a mile from one end of the property to the other and about the same distance across the base of the "L" at the entrance to Ajax Division. The military camp appearance of Ajax was accentuated by the students' garb —greatcoats, flying boots, tunics and a weird assortment of other military garments. A few of the men sported| Photographs on facing page: Dr. Sidney Smith is seen accepting the Ajax crest from a representative of the Admiralty. Picture at top of page gives some idea of the sprawling Division where 111 buildings were converted to University use. 2