With the approval of the amended Charter in the autumn of 1852, efforts were made to reorganise the University, and to commence a forward movement. The new Board of Governors authorised and established under the amended Charter found the University in an unsatisfactory and almost hopeless predicament. It was struggling under lamentable deficiencies in its educational arrangements; it was faced by heavy pecuniary embarrassments and altogether inadequate resources. It was, in short, destitute of funds. Even its buildings had been abandoned, but it was hoped only temporarily. Conditions in the Faculty of Arts were particularly bad. Yet there was hope. It was evident to the Governors that an attempt at resuscitation must immediately be undertaken. An agreement was entered into with creditors for the making of small periodical payments with interest. Arrangements were made for the appointment of a competent Treasurer, and for the holding of regular meetings of Governors and of Corporation. A Committee on Ways and Means was selected, consisting of the President, Judge Day, and Messrs. Davidson, Ramsay and Dunkin. The Provincial Government was appealed to, and in December, 1852, the Legislature gave the College a grant of £1000 "to help liquidate the debts." It was clear that a new era in the University's life was about to begin, but that persistent energy and determination would be required to guide the University through the night that still covered it. In February, 1853, a Finance and Building Committee of the Board was appointed, consisting of James Ferrier, Benjamin Holmes, and T. B. Anderson. One of the first acts of this Committee was to take legal proceedings against the purchasers of lots, for the most part "persons of ample means" who had failed to make payments long overdue. In June, 1853, a sum of £75 was voted by the Governors to complete the portico of the Arts Building, "the Board being very desirous of correcting as soon as possible the present unsightly aspect of the Centre building." They also called for estimates for "the putting up in front of the College on Sherbrooke Street of a fence of the same description as that of the new Cemetery." To effect greater efficiency the office of the Secretary of the Royal Institution was moved to one of the rooms of the McGill buildings--the East wing--in July, 1853, and the Secretary became also Secretary of the Governors. The two offices became identical. Later, because of the cold and the general discomfort, the office was transferred for some time to a building at the corner of Dorchester and University Streets, known as Burnside Hall. But that conditions there were not ideal is evident from an appeal made in December, 1854, to the firm that had previously repaired the antiquated furnaces. The Secretary wrote: "Instead of imparting to us an equable and cheering warmth such as might reasonably be expected from their matronly development ... to me they are painfully and consistently cold.