488 Proceedings. 



before it, while plants or animals to be of interest must be " rare." There 

 is hardly a mention of those subjects which have filled most of the fifty 

 volumes ! 



In the year 1903 Sir James Hector resigned the Directorship) of the 

 Museum and the Geological Survey, and witli these the position of Manager 

 of the Institute. For a number of years the members of the incorporated 

 societies had been dissatisfied with their scanty representation on the 

 Board of Governors and their right of nomination only. Consequently the 

 retirement of Hector gave a chance for the Institute to be reconstructed. 

 The matter was taken up, in the first place, by the Philosophical Institute 

 of Canterbury, which, supported by the other societies, succeeded in 

 getting a new Act passed in 1903 by which the major societies each 

 elected two Governors and the minor societies each one Governor. Thus 

 at the present time the nine affiliated societies are represented by thirteen 

 members, there are two ex officio members (His Excellency the Governor- 

 General and the Hon. the Minister of Internal Affairs), and there are four 

 members nominated by the Government. Instead of there being a permanent 

 Manager, the Governors must elect a President, who need not of necessity 

 be one of themselves. The above and other regulations which need not 

 be detailed put the New Zealand Institute on an entirely new footing. 

 No longer was the policy to be directed entirely from Wellington ; no 

 longer was the supreme power to be in the hands of one alone — no matter 

 how capable — but the whole Dominion could take a hand ; in short, from 

 autocratic the Institute became democratic. 



The first President of the reconstructed Institute was the late Captain 

 F. W. Hutton, F.R.S. What he has done for New Zealand science need 

 not be told to a Christchurch audience. He was succeeded by the late 

 Sir James Hector, F.R.S., a fitting compliment to one Avho had virtually 

 founded the Institute, raised it to a proud position amongst the learned 

 societies of the world, and gained an honoured name amongst the scientific 

 men of the last century. Next came the Hon. G. M. Thomson, F.L.S., 

 whose connection with the Institute dates from 1872. He has published 

 many excellent papers, both zoological and botanical, one of the latter, 

 dealing with the pollination of New Zealand plants, being a classic. 

 Further, above all, in season and out of season has Mr. Thomson striven 

 to advance the cause of science. Then the late Mr. Augustus Hamilton 

 occupied the chair, a man oF wide knowledge with many scientific interests ; 

 the author, too, of that s!)lendid pioneer work Maori Art. Then came 

 New Zealand's premier botanist, Mr. T. F. Cheeseman, F.L.S., who has 

 been a member of the Institute since its foundation, and whose first paper 

 in the Transactions appeared in 1871, in the fourth volume. But not in 

 pure science alone is Cheeseman truly great ; under considerable difficul- 

 ties he has built up the admirable Auckland Museum. After Cheeseman 

 came Professor Charles Chilton, D.Sc, C.M.Z.S. Since he first joined the 

 Institute in 1881 he has year by year added to the world's knowledge of 

 the Crustacea, so that now he is the foremost authority of the day on that 

 group so far as the great Southern Hemisphere is concerned. Mr. Donald 

 Petrie, M.A., was the next President. He has done much for the Institute. 

 Paper after paper shedding a flood of light on the New Zealand flora he has 

 produced since the year 1879. He and the Hon. G. M. Thomson were 

 the first to explore Stewart Island scientifically. Furthermore, Mr. Petrie 

 is the leading authoritv on the classification of New Zealand grasses. 

 Then (1916-17) Professor W. B. Benham, F.R.S., occupied the chair. He 



