AUCKLAND INSTITUTE. 



First Meeting : 18th May, 1886. 

 Professor F. D. Brown, President, in the Chair. 

 Neiv Members.— W. T. Fii'th, G. Thorne, jun. 



1. The President delivered the anniversary address. 



Abstract. 



I propose this evening to place before you my views as to the future 

 of this Institute, and I venture to think that the present is a very appro- 

 priate time for deahng with this subject, for it is a time at which the entire 

 conditions of its existence are undergoing change. For many years after 

 its foundation it was forced, owing to want of means, to restrict its atten- 

 tion to the barest necessities of its existence ; its every step was a struggle, 

 and those who helped to found it must now reflect with justifiable pride upon 

 the condition which, in spite of all obstacles, it has attained. Now this 

 long struggle is over, and, owing to the munificent bequest of the late Mr. 

 Costley, and to the setting apart by the Government of certain lands to be 

 sold for the benefit of the Museum, we have passed from a state of penury 

 to one almost of afliuence. Under these circumstances, it is absolutely 

 necessary that we should each and all seriously concern ourselves about the 

 work which shall be done, by what is now a great public institution, and one 

 which, if it be rightly conducted, may exercise incalculable influence for 

 good. If our means have been augmented, our responsibilities have been 

 increased in no less proportion ; what in the past might have been a trivial 

 mistake may become in the future an error, the gravity of which we cannot 

 estimate. By thus defining our plan of action beforehand, we shall avoid 

 great waste both of labour and money, and shall, at the same time, advance 

 more rapidly along the road of progress. Sir George Grey is fond of re- 

 peating the statement that a great nation is being founded in New Zealand, 

 and if this be indeed true— and who shall deny it ? — then we also are engaged 

 in the work ; and if our portion of the foundations, and it is no inconsider- 

 able portion, be not well and truly laid, if we do not do our utmost to 

 prepare for those who come after us and to hand down to them such a 

 legacy as they have a right to expect, we shall most certainly earn their 

 most hearty condemnation. 



Of the many things which lie in the path of a Society like this, founded 

 to encourage literature and science, and to foster the study of the Maori 

 race, three were undertaken from the first — the formation of a Museum, 

 the establishment of a Library, and the holding of meetings of the members 

 of the Society. 



First, then, let us consider what shall be our ideal museum, a museum 

 which is by no means beyond our reach, and for the possession of which 

 we might always be striving, though it might be many years before we 

 realized it. 



Formerly a museum was regarded as a place in which curiosities of all 

 kinds might be provided with safe keeping. Remarkable stones, the arms 

 of famous soldiers, the clothes of sovereigns, curious works of art, the heads 

 of criminals, all had their places in the museum, and a most extraordinary 



