504 Proceedings. 



thousand. On receipt of Washington's second edition of Superior Analysis of Igneous 

 Rocks it was found that the number greatly exceeded the three thousand estimated, 

 and that the grant of £100 would not suffice to j>slj assistants to calculate them all. 

 He therefore restricted the employment of the assistants to plotting the chief constituents 

 against silica, and this has been completed for A1 2 3 , Fe 2 3 , FeO, MgO, CaO, K 2 0, 

 and Na 2 0. Owing to his absence from New Zealand during the latter part of 1920, 

 Dr. Thomson has been unable to study the plots in detail and decide whether it is 

 advisable to apply for a further grant for completing the calculations, or to publish the 

 results deducible from the work already carried out. This he hoped to do during 1921. 

 An amount, £15 12s. 6d., of the grant is unexjjended, and Dr. Thomson applies for a 

 renewal of this, in case it is found desirable to prepare the plots for publication. 



Hon. G. M. and 0. S. Thomson, who were in 1919 granted £50 through the Otago 

 Institute for a research on the economic value of whale-feed, reported on the 

 11th November that owing to delay in obtaining ajjparatus required it had not been 

 possible to make much progress as yet with the research. A considerable amount of 

 material had been collected and observations made on the occurrence of the whale- 

 feed, but no actual analytical work had yet been done. Advice had been received 

 that the apparatus ordered had arrived in New Zealand, and £50 would be required 

 on account, which would in all probability, owing to the increased prices, be considerably 

 over £80, making it necessary to apply later for an increased grant. 



Professor T. H. Easterfield, who in 1919 was granted £250 through the Wellington 

 Philosophical Society for an investigation of New Zealand oils, waxes, and resins, 

 reported on the 6th January, 1921, that £98 19s. had last year been spent in salaries 

 of assistants, and a further £98 in the year following, leaving a balance of £53 Is. 

 A paper embodying the results of the investigation will be read at the Palmerston North 

 Science Congress. The research is being continued. 



Publication Committee 's Report. — The report of the Publication Com- 

 mittee was read and received. 



Report of Publication Committee. 



Tliirty-seven papers, by twenty-six authors, were accepted for publication in 

 volume 52 of the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, and the volume was issued 

 on the 9th August, 1920. It is practically the same size as the previous year's volume, 

 and contains xxx plus 544 pages (of which 78 are devoted to the Proceedings and 

 Appendix), 30 plates (one coloured), and a large number of text-figures. 



No extra publications were issued during the year, but two bulletins — viz., Dixon's 

 Mosses and Broun's Coleoptera — and also the Index to volumes 41-51, are now in the 

 printer's hands. For the Committee. 



Johannes C. Andersen, Hon. Editor. 



Library Report. — The report of the Library Committee was read and 

 received, and, on the motion of Ven. Archdeacon Williams, seconded by 

 Mr. Wright, it was resolved, That the Board of Governors of the New 

 Zealand Institute desires to urge once more upon the Cabinet the para- 

 mount necessity for the erection, with the least possible delay, of a 

 suitable building for the accommodation of the Museum and the library 

 of the Institute, and in doing this would point out once more that the 

 continued neglect of the Government in this respect is involving the risk 

 of the irreparable loss of many unique and priceless specimens and volumes 

 which are still housed in an unsuitable wooden building. 



On the motion of Dr. Cockayne, seconded by Mr. Eliott, it was resolved, 

 That the Board of Governors are of the opinion that the Dominion 

 Museum would be greatly benefited by being placed under the control of 

 a National Board of Trustees ; and that this resolution be forwarded to the 

 Government. 



Report of Library Committee. 



No favourable change in the condition of the library during 1920 can be reported. 

 The accommodation available is too small to house all the books of the library, and a 

 large proportion of the older books are packed away in boxes in the Museum store- 

 shed. During the coming year it will be necessary to store a further proportion to 



