502 Proceedings. 



and payable deposits. The investigations carried on uj) to the present are of the nature 

 of field-work, and it is hoped that during the ensuing year arrangements may be 

 possible with the Chemical Laboratory at Canterbury College which will allow the 

 chemical and physical properties of the sands and clays to be determined with accuracy. 

 The work involved an expenditure of £15 3s. 6d. 



Mr. L. J. Wild, who in 1918 was granted £30 through the Philosophical Institute 

 of Canterbury for a research on soils, reported on the 10th December, 1920, that some 

 of the material collected in connection with this grant had been used in a paper " On 

 the Calcium-carbonate Content of some Canterbury Soils," which had been published 

 in the N.Z. Journal of Science and Technology, vol. 3, No. 2. The sum of 18s. only had 

 been expended. 



Messrs. Lancaster and Comes, who in 1919 were granted £50 through the Auckland 

 Institute for a research on the growth of New Zealand timber-trees, reported on the 

 30th October, 1920, that owing to Mr. Cornes's removal to Nelson and to a heavy 

 University College session very little headway had been made with this research. 

 Mr. Lancaster trusted, however, that he would soon be able to devote a considerable time 

 to the growth of kauri, and he was engaged in making a careful analysis of microscope 

 sections of the stems of young kauri to determine whether the kauri, particularly when 

 young, produced one ring of wood per year. None of the grant had been expended. 



The late Sir David Hutchins, who in 1920 was granted £60 through the Wellington 

 Philosophical Society for research in forestry, reported on the 1st November 1920, that 

 he had made journeys to Napier, to the Taupo Totara Timber Company, and to the 

 King-country, making daily journeys into the bush with the bushmen and examining 

 the trees as they were felled. At the same time collections of young planted + rees of 

 known ages were examined and measured up as opportunities offered. He had obtained 

 sufficient figures to complete his growth-data for white-pine, rimu, and totara (kauri 

 being already completed). He required only data for celery-top and a few minor timbers. 

 Expenses amounting to £53 lis. had been incurred. A further application for a grant of 

 £25 to Sir David had been approved by the Standing Committee, but his lamentable 

 death rendered this grant unnecessary. Your committee learns with satisfaction that 

 the whole of the notes and the manuscripts left by the late gentleman have been handed 

 over unconditionally to the Forestry Department, the chiefs of which are anxious to 

 have some use made of the material. It is suggested that a grant from the research 

 vote should be made to some competent person working under the direction of the 

 Secretary of the Forestry Department to collate the material left by Sir D. Hutchins 

 in order that what is suitable should be finally edited by Mr. E. Phillips Turner and 

 published. 



Professor W. P. Evans, who in 1920 was granted a further £200 through the 

 Philosophical Institute of Canterbury for a research on New Zealand coals, reported 

 on the 10th December, 1920, that an analysis had been made of Avoca, Taratu, Coal 

 Creek Flat, Puponga, and Charleston coals ; distillation tests, producer runs, and 

 extractions had been made of a number of coals ; and calorific values had been taken of 

 Homebush, Mossbank, Mount Somers, Inangahua, Taratu, Kaitangata, Coal Creek 

 Flat, Puponga, and Charleston coals. An analysis of gas from Charleston coals, an 

 estimation of sulphuretted hydrogen in producer-gas, and experiments with residues 

 from oils in Kaitangata, Avoca, and Charleston coals had also been completed. 

 Experiments with coaldust had been postponed pending further more detailed reports 

 of work in the United States of America. Mr. Gilling had been most assiduous in 

 carrying on the experimental portion of the work. Professor Evans applied for a further 

 grant of £200, as there remains only about £60 of the old grant. £150 is for the salary 

 of an assistant and the remainder for the apparatus. This grant has been approved 

 subject to the Hon. Minister's approval. 



Mr. G. Brittin, who in 1919 was granted £100 through the Philosophical Institute 

 of Canterbury for a research in fruit-diseases, reported on the 7th December that the 

 work for the past twelve months had been very satisfactory in regard to the experimental 

 portion, but, owing to the instruments and books indented not having arrived, very 

 little could be done microscopically. Priming had again been carried out on the same 

 lines, and had again proved beneficial in regard to die-back of the fruit-trees. Spraying 

 had also been conducted experimentally, and had proved very satisfactory in preventing 

 bud-dropping. A paper on the research was now ready for publication, and is to be 

 forwarded to the Journal of Agriculture. Experimental work had also been done in 

 regard to Venturia inequalis (black spot) and Sclerotinia fructigena (brown rot). There 

 remained a balance of about £97. 



Professor C. Coleridge Farr, who in 1919 was granted £100, and in 1920 an addi- 

 tional £30, through the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, for a research on the 



