New Zidhnid Inxfifufe Science Congress. 487 



scientific pai)ers of all kinds. Tliis was made possible by a statutory 

 grant of £500 per annum- quite ;i. bold step for a young colony, and one 

 which showed great foresiulit in the Government of the day. The publi- 

 cations were to consist of Tnuimctions of the New Zealand Institute and 

 Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute; the latter was to give a 

 current abstract of the proceedings of the incorporated bodies and the 

 former to consist of selected papers read before them. These two publi- 

 cations are issued in one \'()lume under the title Transactions and Proceed- 

 ings of the New Zealand Institute, which, in citation, is usually limited to 

 Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, as the Proceedings are at best 

 of mere local or e])hcmeral interest. So far fifty volumes have been 

 published — i.e.. a. volume every year since 1869. 



In addition to publishing scientific papers and forming a library, the 

 Institute at first had control of the Colonial Museum, the Colonial Labora- 

 tory, and the meterological records. All the above were under the 

 direction of Dr. Hector, wlio was also Director of the Geologic^il 

 Survey. 



The inaugural meeting of the New Zealand Institute was held on the 

 evening of the 4th August, 1868, " when " (so read the minutes of the 

 meeting) "' many members of various local societies for the promotion of 

 art and science assembled to listen to the inaugural address of the 

 Governor,'" who at that time was ex officio President of the Institute. 

 In his prefatory remarks His Excellency, referring to the presence of so 

 many members of the Legislature while an important debate was in 

 progress in the House of Representatives, said their presence was " a proof 

 that the attractions of iiitellect and science could even triumph over the 

 excitement of politics." After His Excellency had delivered his address, 

 which may be seen in \()hiin(' 1 of the Transactions of the New Zealand 

 Institute, Mr. Fox delivered a truly eloquent speech. I should like to 

 cjuote it in full, but must be content with a few extracts. Everywhere, 

 he said, describing what he had seen during his recent visit to Europe 

 and Asia, the mighty developments of Western civilization were marvellous. 

 It was something to see in Egypt — the cradle of learning, and the tomb 

 of a past civilization — Western Europe taking back to her the results of 

 a little seed which ages ago had been sown on the banks of the mighty 

 Nile. In Greece the same metamorphosis was in progress. Rome, too, 

 was being elevated from its ruins. We in New Zealand were not 

 behindhand, the speaker declared, but were engaged in the heroic work 

 described by Lord Bacon wt» were here to lay the basis of a true 

 civilization ; luit only to subdue nature and till the soil, but, impelled 

 by Anglo-Saxon ardour and energy, to develop all that was worthy of 

 development. 



The first volume (jf the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute 

 appeared, in May, 1869. In the preface is a list of thirty-one subjects 

 which the Editor sviggested should be dealt with by the various incorporated 

 societies. Most of these subjects are strictly utilitarian — e.g., fisheries, 

 best localities and seasons for fishing ; habits of animals, especially of 

 those destriictive to trees and cultivated plants ; plants suitable for live 

 fences in this country ; experiments in the improved breeding of stock ; 

 plans and descri])tions of mines ; harbour improvements ; proposed lines 

 of railway ; machines and processes for washing sheep ; adulteration of 

 food. It rather looks as if the Manager were attemjiting to camouflage 

 the public ; even meteorological phenomena has the word " extraordinary " 



