522 Proceedings. 



Membership.— During the year the membership has slightly increased, 

 there being now 206 on the roll. Forty-one new members were elected, 

 nine resigned, and four were removed from the roll, as their letters were 

 returned. Six ordinary members and one life member died, and one 

 member was elected a life member. The associates number twenty -nine. 



Library. — The periodicals have been received regularly by the Librarian. 

 Some back numbers have been written for to complete the files. 



The sum of £62 7s. lOd. was allocated to the library, which, added to 

 last year's balance, makes a total of £174 9s. 7d. Of this sum £48 18s. was 

 spent, leaving a balance* of £125 lis. 7d. to be expended. 



Committee and Officers for 1921. — President — C. E. Adams, D.Sc, F.R.A.S. 

 Vice-Presidents— P. G. Morgan, M.A., F.G.S. ; J. Allan Thomson, M.A., 

 D.Sc, F.G.S., F.N.Z.Inst. Council— C. G. G. Berrv ; Elsdon Best, 

 F.N.Z.Inst. ; L. Birks, B.Sc, M.I.E.E. ; C. A. Cotton, D.Sc, F.G.S., 

 F.N.Z.Inst. ; H. T. Ferrar, M.A., F.G.S. ; A. C. Gifford, M.A., F.R.A.S. ; 

 R. W. Holmes, I.S.O., M.Inst.C.E. ; Captain Hooper, F.R.A.S. ; G. V. Hud- 

 son, F.E.S., F.N.Z.Inst. ; H. B. Kirk, M.A., F.N.Z.Inst. ; J. S. Maclaurin. 

 D.Sc, F.C.S. ; E. Marsden, D.Sc, F.R.A.S , M.C. ; P. W. Robertson, M.A., 

 M.Sc. D.Ph. Secretary and Treasurer — H. Hamilton, A.O.S.M. Auditor — 

 E. R. Dymock, F.I.A.N.Z. Representatives to the New Zealand Institute — 

 T. H. Easterfield, M.A., Ph.D., F.N.Z.Inst. ; H. B. Kirk, M.A., F.N.Z.Inst. 



ASTRONOMICAL SECTION. 



Three meetings of the committee and five of the section have been held, at the 

 latter of which an average attendance of twenty was maintained. 



The society having introduced a rule admitting associates to any one section at 

 a small subscription, advantage has been taken of this, and two associates have joined. 

 This form of membership when it becomes more widely known may tend towards an 

 increase of interest in astronomy. 



The bad weather conditions prevailing during the session, and the lack of leisure, 

 were factors in reducing the work done at the Observatory. Predictions were 

 calculated and observations made of a few occultations of stars by planets and by the 

 moon. In one case valuable observations were made at Lick of an occupation bj' 

 Jupiter of an eighth-magnitude star as the result of data supplied by Dr. Adams and 

 Mr. West! and. 



Papers were read as follow : — 



1st October, 1919 : Professor E. Marsden, " Some Recent Work on the Constitution 

 of Matter." 



3rd June, 1920 : A. C. Gifford, " The Initial Radiation of a Nova," " The High 

 Velocities of the Planetary Nebulae " ; Dr. C. E. Adams and Professor E. Marsden, 

 " The Samoan Observatory." 



7th July : Mr. C. J. Westland, " The Prediction of Eclipses " ; Dr. C. E. Adams, 

 "Notes on Time Observations." 



4th August : Professor E. Marsden and Professor D. M. Y. Sommerville, " A 

 Symposium on Relativity." 



1st September : " An Evening at the Observatories." 



Observatory and Instrument. — The building is in fair repair, but requires painting, 

 and the dome dressing. The instrument is in good order ; electric lights have been 

 titled to the circles and the cross-wires. The lighting has been rearranged, and a 

 sounder, beating seconds from the clock, has been added. A micrometer eye-piece 

 has been obtained, but so far no systematic work has been done with it. 



The Observatory has been open during the year on the second and fourth Tuesdays 

 in each month, and a good attendance has been the rule. The public are learning to 

 take advantage of the combined tramway and Observatory tickets. A special evening 

 was arranged for the Brooklyn School, when twenty scholars and a teacher were shown 

 some of the wonders of the sky. An invitation was sent to the Workers' Educational 



