444 New Zealand Institute. 



In accordance with resolutions passed at last annual meeting, Professor T. W. E. 

 David, Professor W. A. Haswell, and Mr. J. H. Maiden, all of Sydney, were asked to act 

 as a committee to suggest a suitable recipient of the Hutton Memorial Medal. The two 

 last-mentioned gentlemen have consented to act, but no reply has yet been received 

 from Professor David, who is absent in the far south as a member of the " Nimrod " 

 Antarctic Expedition. The dies for the medal, and several specimens of the medal, 

 have been received from England, and (by permission) have been lodged by the Secre- 

 tary in the Dominion Museum for safe keeping. 



The Committee set up at last annual meeting " to examine the books of the library 

 with a view to determining their ownership" has never met, two of the members being 

 resident in the South Island ; consequently the position remains unaltered. 



The same committee was set up to revise the exchange list ; and Professors Benham 

 and Chilton submitted suggestions to Mr. A. Hamilton, the Wellington member of the 

 committee, as to the alterations required in the list. The matter is dealt with in the 

 report of the Hon. Librarian, presented at this meeting. 



At the last meeting a committee was set up to go into the matter of the delay in 

 the issue of the 39th volume of the Transactions. This committee interviewed the 

 Hon. J. A. Millar. Minister in charge of the Printing Department, and the Government 

 Printer, and obtained a promise from those gentlemen that steps would be taken to 

 expedite the issue of future volumes. The delay in the pe.st year was in part attributed 

 to the unprepared manner in which papers intended.' for publication were sent in ; and 

 the Government Printer undertook to supply a memorandum on the subject for the 

 guidance of Secretaries of affiliated societies and of authors of papers. This memorandum 

 was received by the Editor in February last, and copies were forwarded to the Secre- 

 taries of the several affiliated societies. It is, however, evident that the delay was largely 

 due to the block of parliamentary business ; and to obviate this in future it is advisable 

 that the volume should be printed as early in the year as possible. 



The committee appointed to make arrangements for the preparation of an index 

 to the forty volumes of the Transac^tions has not been able to come to a final decision 

 as to the course to be pursued. The committee has obt?*ined specifications from two 

 persons cpialified to undertake the work, and is in communication with a third, b\it so 

 far is unable to report definitely. 



A geographical difficulty similar to the one spoken of in the paragraph referring to 

 the Ownership of Books Committee has prevented the Hector Memorial Committee of 

 the Institute from meeting. The members of the committee live in different parts of 

 the Dominion, and have not found it jn-acticable to assemble in Wellington. They are, 

 however, co-operating with the main Hector Memorial Committee, which has the matter 

 in hand. That committee has been reconstituted, and is in corres])ondence with the 

 other bodies which are acting in the interests of the movement. The amount so far 

 collected by the committees is, unfortunately, too sma-U for the end in view. The main 

 Hector Memorial Committee, at the instance of the Standing Committee of the Board 

 of Governors, has therefore suggested to the Memorial Committee of the Institute, and 

 to the allied committees in Auckland, Wellington, C"hristchurch, and Dunedin, that a 

 joint circular should be issued, signed by representatives of all the committees, appeal- 

 ing for further subscriptions to the fund. This suggestion has been adopted. A draft 

 circular has been drawn up by the main Memorial Committee and submitted to the 

 other committees, and its terms are now being discussed. Members of the Christchurch 

 and Dunedin comnxittces have stipulated for one or two fundamental changes in the 

 wording of the circular. This has temporarily delayed matters ; but it is hoped that 

 agreement will shortly be arrived at upon the points at issue, and that as soon as the 

 circtdar is ready for distribution all the committees will make a vigorous effort to raise 

 a STim of money sufficient for the establishment of a worthy memorial. 



The volumes of the Transactions remaining on hand are — Vol. I (second edition), 

 313 ; Vol. V. 30 ; Vol. VI, 21 ; Vol. VII. 143 ; Vol. IX, 214 ; Vol. X, 138 ; Vol. XI, 

 392 ; Vol. XII. 305 ; Vol. XIII, 142 ; Vol. XIV, 107 : Vol. XV, 280 ; Vol. XVI. 270 ; 

 Vol. XVII. 530 ; Vol. XVIII. 308 ; Vol. XIX, 555 ; Vol. XX, 450 ; Vol. XXI. 454 • 

 Vol. XXII. 560 ; Vol. XXIII, 570 ; Vol. XXIV. 670 ; Vol. XXV. 626 ; Vol. XXVI, 

 613 ; Vol. XXVII, 605 ; Vol. XXVIII, 688 ; Vol. XXIX. 591 ; Vol. XXX, 684 ; Vol. 

 XXXI, 695; Vol. XXXII 517; Vol. XXXIII. 611; Vol. XXXIV, 563; Vol. XXXV. 

 525 ; Vol. XXXVI, 686 ; Vol. XXXVII. 604 : Vol. XXXVIII. 750 : Vol. XXXIX, 

 192 ; Vol. XL, 91. 



The advance copies of the new volume (XL, 1907) were not received from the printers 

 until the first week of September, 1908, and the main supplies were not available for 

 distribution until towards the end of that month. The volume contains 608 and xvi 

 pages, and 34 ]>lates. The contents of the last two volumes are compared as follows : — 



