OTAGO INSTITUTE. 



First Meeting : 9th May, 1905. 

 The President, Mr. J. C. Thomson, in the chair. 



New Members. — Professor J. Malcolm, Dr. Rile}*, Messrs. 

 E. J. Parr, W. Downie Stewart, Robert Browne, and J. Blair 

 Mason. 



The President delivered his presidential address on " The 

 Resources of New Zealand " (fully reported in the Otago Daily 

 Times, 10th May). 



He dealt, firstly, with agricultural and pastoral callings, tracing out 

 the developmental history of the frozen-meat trade and the export of 

 butter. In regard to flax, he pointed out the great need for experimental 

 work in the direction of treating the fibre and producing the sort of 

 material familiar to Maoris ; he insisted on the suicidal policy pursued 

 by flaxmillers in destroying the flax over large areas, and making no pro- 

 vision for propagation of the best varieties. The fruit industry and fishing 

 industry both needed systematic study ; in the latter, the desirability of 

 utilising waste products, for the extraction of oil and manufacture of 

 manure, was referred to. Passing on to the mineral resources, he gave 

 statistics with regard to gold, silver, coal, iron-ore, antimony, scheelite, 

 copper, &c, as well as of limestone, phosphate rock, and cement. He 

 pointed out the value of our timber-supply, and the need for Government 

 to interfere in order to obviate the waste caused by annual clearings of 

 bush land. The excellent work carried on by the Forestry Department 

 was discussed ; and finally, reference was made to the valuable resource 

 that New Zealand has in its water-supply, both for irrigation purposes and 

 for power. 



At the conclusion of his remarks he was, on the motion of Dr. Hocken, 

 seconded by Mr. E. Herbert, accorded a hearty vote of thanks for his 

 very instructive practical address. 



Mr. Gr. M. Thomson made some remarks upon a specimen 

 of mistletoe growing on a hawthorn, submitted by the Hon. 

 ! ■< rotary (Mr. Robert Gilkison). 



He pointed out that mistletoes usually put their radicles into the 

 heart of the trees upon which they grew and sucked the unassimilated 

 sap, while dodders sucked the formed sap from the outside. This speci- 

 men showed both types of nutrition. 



Second Meeting: \'Mh June, 1905. 

 Mr. J. C. Thomson, President, in the chair. 

 Exhibits. — Professor Benham exhibited and made remarks 

 upon a cast of the skull of an early ancestral horse (Mesohippus) 



