PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 



The following is the presidential address delivered at the annual meeting 

 of the Board of Governors of the New Zealand Institute, at Wellington, on 

 the 30th January, 1920, by Dr. L. Cockayne, F.R.S. :— 



Gentlemen op the Board of Governors of the New Zealand 

 Institute, — First of all it is my sorrowful duty to record the great loss 

 which the New Zealand- Institute has experienced since our annual meeting 

 last year through the death of two of our foremost members — Major T. 

 Broun and Mr. T. W. Adams. A full account of Major Broun's scientific 

 activity will appear in the next volume of our Transactions ; here I need 

 only express my admiration of our accomplished member's services to 

 science — services, indeed, that have laid an enduring foundation in a 

 domain of New Zealand zoology virtually unexplored prior to his investi- 

 gations. Regarding my esteemed friend Mr. T. W. Adams, I have already 

 recorded in the last volume of our Transactions my high appreciation of 

 his pioneer researches in New Zealand forestry and their extraordinary 

 economic value. The influence of such men must be felt for many 

 years ; their place in our scientific circle will be hard to fill. 



But if the past year has brought its sorrows, as must all years, joy has 

 also come in the safe return after the hardships and perils of war of most 

 of our members who so willingly set forth to serve their King and country. 

 To those who fell, and whose laurels won on the field of battle are entwined 

 with those gained in the peaceful path of science, has gone forth long ere 

 this both our deepest grief and most fervent admiration. You will see 

 from the report of the Standing Committee that the Roll of Honour is now 

 completed, and wiU be printed in this volume of the Transactions. 



The scientific year just concluded will, I feel convinced, be looked upon, 

 in time to come, as the most important for the New Zealand Institute since 

 its reconstruction in 1903 — or, indeed, perhaps since its foundation. This 

 wiU be for the reason that two important advances have been made — 

 the holding of a Science Congress and the founding of the Fellowship. So 

 successful was this Congress, notwithstanding the many unforeseen diffi- 

 culties which stood in the way, that it was proposed to make it a biennial 

 function. There is no need for me to give any details regarding the 

 proceedings, since such have appeared in two special numbers of the 

 Journal of Science and Technology/, where also some of the papers read at 

 the Congress are printed. It has been decided to hold a second Congress 

 at the beginning of next year in Palmerston North. The idea of the 

 Congress was not new, since such meetings were provided for in the New 

 Zealand Institute Act of 1903, but for its successful inauguration full 

 credit must be given to that very active body, the Philosophical Institute 

 of Canterbury. Without doubt these gatherings will do a great deal to 

 bring the Institute into touch with the non-scientific public, and in this 

 lies no inconsiderable part of their value* 



