366 Proceedings. 



tion. The New Zealand Institute has hitherto received very little in this way. We 

 have the Carter Bequest for a special purpose, for which we have so far been unable to 

 make proper provision; and we have the Hector and Hutton Funds, raised by contribu- 

 tions fi'om our members, aided by Government subsidies, and these funds are perform- 

 ing the useful function of perpetuating the memory of those in whose honour they were 

 established, and in stimulating research in New Zealand science. But when the needs 

 of the Institute and the facilities it possesses for promoting the welfare of the country 

 by the researches of its members are known, is it too much to hope that we shall receive 

 many other contributions from private liberality ? In this country, so blessed with 

 natural advantages that make for prosperity, and where so much is spent on sport and 

 pleasure, on motor-cars, racehorses, and golf, surely we ought to be able to count upon 

 subscriptions from this source equal at least to the cost of one motor-car per year. 

 Many of our citizens have made most generous gifts for the support of educational and 

 religious institutions, for art galleries and libraries, and it is with sincere pleasure and 

 gratitude that 1 refer to the great assistance given to the Nelson Institute by Mr. Thomas 

 Gawthron, and to his munificent gift for the establishment of an astronomical obser- 

 vatory at Nelson. So far as I am aware, this is the first great gift in New Zealand for 

 the promotion of pure science, and it sets an example worthy of imitation by others. 



I need hardly remind you that the meeting of the British Association this year is 

 to be held in Australia, and that many distinguished men of science are coming from 

 Europe to attend its meetings at Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane. 

 It is hoped that the great attractions of our New Zealand zoology, botany, and geology 

 will induce many of these members to extend their visit to New Zealand, and that we 

 shall have the great advantage of being able to meet them, of showing them what 

 is worthy of scientific interest in New Zealand, and of receiving their advice and assist- 

 ance in connection with the work that is still to be done. An energetic committee in 

 Wellington has long been at work making the necessary arrangements, a substantial 

 grant for the expenses has been made by the Government, and there is little doubt that 

 very great benefit to New Zealand science will be the result. 



It gives me great pleasure to be able to report that the text of Mr. Suter's " Manual 

 of the New Zealand Mollusca " has at last been issued, and is being distributed by the 

 Education Department. The work was recommended many years ago by our Institute, 

 and though it has been long delayed for various reasons, into which 1 need not now 

 enter, it is gratifying to know that it has at last appeared, and we can congratulate 

 the author on its publication and on the faithful and conscientious work in this subject 

 that he has performed with such painstaking industry for so many years. The plates 

 to illustrate the work have long been in hand, many of them are already prepared, 

 and we must relax no effort in seeing that the same delay in their production does not 

 occur as there was with the text. The work will be of very great value not only to 

 zoologists, but more particularly to palaeontologists, and I have little doubt that it will 

 greatly aid in the solution of many geological problems that still require working out. 



There is a still more important subject that I must speak about. The unsatis- 

 factory housing of the valuable specimens and the Institute library in the Dominion 

 Museum has been drawn attention to time after time by the Director and by others ; 

 and my predecessor in this office, Mr. T. F. Cheeseman, in his address last year, 

 speaking of the library, declared that the condition of affairs was a disgrace both to 

 the Government and to the Institute. I feel it my duty, as the President of this Insti- 

 tute, to repeat that statement in the most emphatic manner possible. The Museum 

 contains a vast collection of valuable specimens of Maori art and workmanship, of 

 geological and zoological specimens, including the very large and valuable collections 

 of insects gathered with so much energy and judgment by the late Director ; and it 

 contains the very valuable library of the Institute. The great majority of these are 

 quite irreplaceable, yet they are still housed in a wooden building that is almost 

 falling to pieces through age, and the greater part of which has been declared to be 

 insanitary for human beings. Despite the repeated appeals, little or nothing has 

 been done to remedy this state of affairs. It is true that a Science and Art Act 

 was passed at last session of Parliament, setting up a Board for the control of the 

 Dominion Museum ; but an Act of Parliament is not an efficient fire-preventive, nor has 

 it any inherent power of counteracting the effects of damp and mould in a wooden building 

 that lets in the rain at all places ; and many of the specimens, collected at the expense 

 of the life-blood of Sir James Hector and of Mr. Hamilton, are rapidly being ruined, 

 while the whole collection might be destroyed by fire in a single night, to the eternal 

 disgrace of New Zealand. Whose fault is it ? It is no use our blaming the Govern- 

 ment. Ministers come and Ministers go, and they have many things to think of that 



