Otayo Institute. 613 



4. Mr. Chapman exhibited some Katipos from the North 

 Island, 



5. The Secretary read the annual report, as follows : — 



Abstract. 

 During the session nine general meetings have been held. The first 

 took the form of a conversazione. At the other meetings eleven papers were 

 read. The Council has asked the Eev. Tenison - Woods, of Sydney— a 

 corresponding member of our Institute — to represent this Society at the 

 proposed Association of Scientific Societies in Australasia. During the 

 year eleven new members have joined the Society. The receipts for the 

 year are £109 19s. 6d. The expenditure has been £67 ITs. 9d. The balance 

 of assets over habilities is £210 13s. lOd. 



6. The President delivered an address. 



Abstract. 



It now only remains for me to bring my term of office to a conclusion 

 by delivering the usual presidential address. 



First of all, I must refer to the great loss which this Institute has sus- 

 tained by the death of Mr. Eobert Gillies. Mr. Gillies took an active share 

 in the preliminary meeting for the establishment of the Institute, and was 

 at once elected on the Council, continuing a member of that body until last 

 year, when the illness which finally proved fatal prevented his attendance. 

 In 1876 he occupied the presidential chair at a time when the Society was 

 at the height of its prosperity. 



In 1875, Mr. Gillies read a paper on " The Habits of the New Zealand 

 Trap-door Spiders ;" and in 1887 a paper " On the Nests of some Trap-door 

 Spiders fi-om other Localities ;" and one " On recent Changes in the Fauna 

 of Otago," all three papers being published in the " Transactions." Of late 

 years Mr. Gillies's spare time was chiefly given to astronomy, and he spared 

 no expense in furnishing his private observatory with the latest and best 

 instruments. 



I may mention some matters in which Government assistance is 

 urgently needed in the cause of science. One is the adequate protection of 

 native birds, especially of the kiwi, kakapo, and weka. Lately, by some 

 unaccountable blunder, some of the ferrets so rashly introduced to keep 

 down the rabbits have been liberated on the western side of Lake Mana- 

 pouri, where there are no rabbits but large numbers of flightless birds. I am 

 told, on good authority, that the wekas in the Manapouri District have 

 already visibly decreased ; and unless vigorous measures are taken to 

 counteract this foolish — nay, criminal act, the most interesting members of 

 our unique avifauna will be doomed to speedy extinction. 



A second subject to which I wish to draw attention is the advisabihty 

 of establishing a Fisheries Board for the Colony. Our marine fisheries 

 ought to be among our most important industries ; but to make them so, 

 accurate information as to the habits, food, and reproduction of the food- 

 fishes is absolutely necessary. At present I beheve I am correct in saying 

 that we know nothing, or next to nothing, of the life-history of a single one 

 of them, and much of our knowledge as to their food and habits is derived 

 from the frequently untrustworthy and always inexact information of fisher- 

 men. 



What is wanted for the purpose of developing our fisheries is a marine 

 laboratory, presided over by a competent naturalist who has been trained 

 for this particular work, and furnished with aquaria and breeding grounds, 

 a small steamer for dredging and trawling, etc. In such an institution 

 systematic observations would be made and recorded from year to year, and 

 a series of exact statistics compiled, which would serve as the basis for 



