New Zeala/id Institute Science Congress. 491 



had there been no New Zealaml Institute : Kirk's Forest Flora, Kirk's 

 Students' Flora, Cheeseman's Manual of the New Zealand Flora, and Suter's 

 Manual of the New Zealand Mollusca. So, too, with many imjwrtant papers 

 and reports issued by various Government Departments. 



Certainly, training is given by the various University colleges in some 

 of the sciences, but the very nature of tlieir relation to that purely 

 examining body — the New Zealand University — reduces to a minimum 

 the value of these colleges as a training-ground for the all-important 

 scientific research. This crying want is supplied to some extent by the 

 New Zealand Institute, whose Transactions are open for papers from young 

 aspirants for scientific research if they appear to show a{)titude at all. Had 

 it not been for this, scientific career after career would have been stifled 

 at its birth. 



The meetings, too, of the incorporated societies an' not mere gatherings 

 for specialists. They are open to the public, and popidar lectures are 

 frequently delivered by the leading scientific men of the Dominion. Nor 

 are the ordinary evenings devoted to original papers barren for the student 

 or even for the non-scientific listener. To hear a master of his subject 

 detailing the methods, objects, and results of his research is most inspiring. 

 Mere technical papers are taken as read ; any one is free to ask questions 

 after the reading of a paper, and illuminating discussions may ensue. 

 Finally, the student comes into personal touch witli those working at that 

 branch of science he would pursue if he knew how ; he is inspired b}^ the 

 enthusiasm of the older worker ; friendships beneficial to science may arise 

 which endure for life. 



The various activities of the New Zealand Institute have been supported 

 by the statutory grant of £500 per annum, an amount deemed necessary 

 by the Government in 1868. However, the population of the Dominion 

 has greatly increased during the subsequent fifty-one years, and so, too, 

 in proportion the monetar}^ requirements of the Institute. So acute has 

 the position become that for some time ])ast it has been necessary to make 

 a levy of about £200 on the affiliated societies, who, with their resjjonsi- 

 bilities for their local museums or libraries, to say nothing of their other 

 activities, could ill bear the imposition of such a burden. Many papers of 

 great value await publication ; much work of national interest awaits its 

 initiation ; but there are hardly funds sufficient to publish the Transactions. 

 Happily, more than a gleam of hope appears. The Hon. Mr Russell is not 

 unmindful of the call of science ; full well does he know its inestimable 

 value to the nation. Already has he greatly assisted the Institute by 

 special grants for economic science, and now he has promised to do his 

 utmost to place the New Zealand Institute on a firm financial footing. 

 Tlius it seems not unlikely that this Congress heralds a new era of usefulness 

 for the Institute. 



The New Zealand Institute possesses a library of scientific works, at 

 present housed in that worn-out wooden building — a true fossil — called 

 '■ the Dominion Museum." The Transactions of the New Zealand Institute 

 since their commencement have been sent to a great number of the leading 

 scientific bodies throughout the world. The.se in like manner send the 

 Institute their publications. It stands out clearly, then, that an important 

 collection of scientific literature is in the possession of the Institute, and that 

 it is being added to year by year. For years there have been no funds for 

 binding, the resources of the Institute having been strained to breaking- 

 jioint to pay the rapidly-increasing cost of its Transactions. The Museum 



