342 Proceedings. 



There remain one or two suggestions that have occurred to me in regard to the 

 annual volume. One is that the report of our annual meeting should be published as 

 soon as possible after it has been held. In the case of the affiliated societies the report 

 of their annual meeting is issued to members very shortly after that meeting, but in 

 the case of the meeting of the Governors it is, as you are aware, delayed till the volume 

 of Transactions is issued, and it happened that this year I did not see the volume till 

 early in January. I do not see why the report should not be published (with a separate 

 paging, if necessary in roman numerals) within a month of our meeting, and circulated 

 to every member of the Institute. I believe more interest would be taken in this meeting 

 if this were done. At present the pagination of this report is continuous with that of 

 the scientific transactions, but if roman numerals were used for this report and all that 

 succeeds it in the volume there would be no difficulty in binding up this report with the 

 rest of the volume. 



Why should the proceedings of the various societies be printed in the volume at 

 all ? Nowadays they consist almost wholly of a list of the new members elected at each 

 meeting, with the title of the addresses delivered or papers read. Formerly some 

 epitome was given of what took place at these meetings, and that had its interest; but 

 the present bare record can have no interest for any one. It is true that an abstract of 

 the annual report is given, and this is the only part of the Proceedings that has any 

 interest whatever to members of the Institute at large. 



Professor Kirk at the last meeting gave a notice of motion allowing the Board of 

 Governors some discretion in this direction, and I hope he will move this motion to-day. 



I would suggest that the Publication Committee consider these two matters. 



A third matter has occurred to me — viz., whether the Treasurer of the New 

 Zealand Institute examines the balance-sheets of the affiliated societies and ascertains 

 whether they comply with the regulations under the Act of 1903 — as to the number of 

 members, and the subscription annually paid towards the promotion of art, science, 

 or other branch of knowledge ; and as to the expenditure in support of a library or 

 museum. 



At our last meeting it was resolved to urge the Government to take immediate 

 steps to form a scientific and technological library. Has anything been done in this 

 direction ? No mention of the need of such a library occurs in the report of the Com- 

 mittee on scientific and industrial research, yet surely before any work of value can be 

 carried out it is necessary that the researchers should have access to what has already 

 been done. 



By "library " I do not mean a building ; but there ought to be undertaken the 

 making and printing of a catalogue of all books on science and technology — and the 

 latter should perhaps be listed first — which are in the various Government Depart- 

 ments, in the General Assembly library, in all University colleges, the Institutes, and 

 Museums. No such comprehensive catalogue exists here as there is, for instance, in 

 Victoria. Though it is true that a printed catalogue soon gets out of date, yet it does 

 serve a very useful purpose, and additional leaflets could be added annually. For we 

 must not overlook the fact that many, perhaps most, of the problems that may present 

 themselves to the manufacturers in the Dominion, such as the utilization of by-products, 

 the improvement in methods of manufacture, and so forth, have already been met in 

 other parts of the world as a result of research : there is a store of scientific knowledge 

 which is no doubt unknown to most of our industrialists, but which would be of great 

 service to them, for it is only in a few cases that the problems are of such a peculiar 

 character in New Zealand that special research is needed. 



I trust, therefore, that the Institute will take steps to carry into effect that resolution 

 at an early date. 



It seems to me that at our annual meeting many resolutions are proposed and 

 carried which are mere pious resolutions, such as are supposed to be made on New Year's 

 Day, and nothing comes of them. 



