Fifteenth Annual Meeting. 341 



is ended, close to the city of Nelson. The work will be scientific research into the pro- 

 blems of agriculture, particularly as affecting the growing of fruit, as this is the leading 

 feature of the provincial district. It is hoped that agricultural problems of all kinds 

 will in the future be studied — diseases of trees, improvement in culture, the chemistry and 

 physics of the soil, the development of forest land, &c. ; and in time the work may be 

 extended in other directions. Hitherto, as we are aware, no institution in New Zealand 

 has been wholly or even mainly given up to scientific research, but theCawthron Institute 

 will be equipped, financed, and organized for this purpose alone. The sum of money 

 at the disposal of the Trustees is about £200,000, and the Trustees, who are for the most 

 part business men, are determined that the annual expenses shall not exceed the income 

 from the principal. Interest is accumulating, and from this it is proposed to erect the 

 necessary buildings after the Director has been appointed and in consultation with him. 

 The site has already been purchased and surveyed ; a caretaker has been appointed 

 and is now looking after the orchard on the property. The Institute will be governed, 

 under the Trustees, by an Advisory Board acting with the Director. On the Advisory 

 Board the following bodies will be represented: the Cawthron Trustees, the Board of 

 Agriculture, the Nelson Institute, the Board of Studies of the New Zealand University, 

 and the Governors of the New Zealand Institute. Whether any formal intimation* to 

 this effect has been received by our Secretary I do not know, but according to the report 

 of the Commission we ought to nominate our representatives at this meeting. As a 

 Director it is hoped to obtain a first-class chemist from England who has had experience 

 of agricultural problems, but is not likely that he will be appointed until the war is over. 

 When fully staffed it is intended that plant -physiology and plant- pathology, economic 

 zoology and geology will be represented — but that will be in the future ; at the outset 

 the Director will be assisted by a plant-pathologist and an orchardist, to whom adequate 

 salaries will be paid. 



Provision will be made for the award of scholarships as follows : (a) A Nelson 

 Scholarship to allow boys and girls to equip themselves at a University college to become 

 students of the Institute ; (b) a Cawthron Scholarship to encourage brilhant scientific 

 graduates to continue their work at the Institute ; (c) a Cawthron Fellowship of suffi- 

 cient value to retain the services of such scholars and other students ; (d) an Industrial 

 Fellowship which may be established by any body of industrialists who desires any 

 special researches undertaken and who will pay the salary of this Fellow ; (e) an annual 

 Cawthron Lectureship, the first holder of which is Professor Easterfield, who has already 

 given the lecture. Of these scholarships it was suggested that the first should be awarded 

 at once, but no proposal reached the Senate at its recent meeting ; the others not till the 

 Institute is in full working -order. Every encouragement will be given to students pro- 

 perly qualified to pursue research in agricultural matters, and it is hoped that in the 

 future a constant stream of graduates who have received training in the fundamental 

 sciences will be attracted by these scholarships and fellowships, and that from them 

 will eventually be supplied expert teachers in agricultural subjects. It is important 

 to notice that the Institute is quite independent of Government control. 



Some time during the year I noted a suggestion, made either in Parliament or in 

 the Press, that all topographical features that have at present Austrian or German names 

 should have these names changed. To me, and I suppose to most other scientific men 

 and intelligent men generally, this appears to be not only a ridiculous proposal but one 

 that is highly undesirable. The names of many mountains in the Alps and those of 

 some of the glaciers would thus be altered, and, if this were done, books of travel in New 

 Zealand, of mountain-climbing, maps, and other documents, would in the future be 

 unintelligible. The Franz -Josef Glacier, for instance, is mentioned in books on geography 

 and geology for certain peculiar features, and to alter its name on the ground that at 

 present we are at war with Austria would render all such references meaningless. If 

 there is any proposal of the kind on foot I think that this Institute should enter a strong 

 protest against it, and obtain the support not only of the affiliated societies, but of 

 associations of all kinds, such as the University colleges, professors, the Alpine Club, 

 tourists, &c. 



In my last address I referred to the need of taking steps to protect the interesting 

 rock shelters in Otago and Canterbury on the walls of which are paintings executed 

 by the early inhabitants of New Zealand. I suggested that a committee should be set 

 up, but I do not know that anything further was done. I understand that the matter 

 is to be brought forward at the meeting of the Board of Science and Art ; but it seems 

 to me distinctly the province of this Institute to persuade the Government to take 

 some action to protect these interesting records. 



* Note by Hon. Secretary. — -No intimation has been received. 



