Fourteenth Annual Meeting. 545 



What will be the effect of this levy ? Will it reduce the number of members 

 who are willing to pay one guinea to the local branches ? Will the branches be able 

 to lower the subscriptions payable to them by those who do not desire to take the 

 volume ? It seems likely that the number of volumes to be printed will be reduced, 

 and so relieve somewhat our finances. 



We shall have reports as to the disposal of grants made from the Hutton and 

 Hector Funds. 



2. The most important piece of work that has fallen to the .Standing Committee 

 during the past year relates to a scheme for making use of the grant of £250 provided 

 by Cabinet, at the instance of the Hon. the Minister of Internal Affairs, for the pur- 

 poses of research. The Minister communicated with me. as your President, outlining 

 his idea as to the way in which this sum should be expended; and when he was in 

 Dunedin he was good enough to receive Dr. Marshall, Mr. G. M. Thomson, and myself, 

 and we put before him a general outline of what we considered desirable. Later your 

 Standing Committee arranged for a deputation of Wellington members to wait on him, 

 and a scheme was submitted to him on behalf of the Governors; and a number of 

 grants have been made, as enumerated in the report of the Standing Committee. It 

 will be our duty to confirm their action. 



We are much indebted to the Hon. Mr. Russell for the interest he has taken in the 

 work of the Institute, and apjireciate his sympathetic attitude towards science, and his 

 evident desire to encourage scientific research, especially in relation to the industries 

 of the Dominion. We trust that he will be able to obtain a continuance of this giant, 

 and even an increase in the amount, as he has led us to understand is his desire. At 

 the same time it must be borne in mind that making important investigations cf a 

 class similar to those already being undertaken may require considerable time and the 

 expenditure of considerable sums of money for their proper solution, and may require 

 co-operation between workers along different lines. It must also be remembered 

 that some of these researches may have a negative result that will not necessarily be 

 a waste of money, for if the researches are properly recorded and published it will save 

 waste of time and money in the future in attempting work along the same lines. 



Mention may aptly be made here of the uncoordinated researches in Agricultural 

 and other Departments, the absence of good reports of many of these researches, and 

 the difficulties that lie in front of those who try to find out what has been the result 

 of the investigation of particular problems. These matters were brought before the 

 Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, and I trust that something will be done to remedy 

 the defects in the publications of this and other Government Departments. The 

 publication in full of these researches is a necessary complement to the work, for unless 

 this is done the research is wasted and the money is wasted. It will, I suppose, be for 

 the Government to find money for the proper publication of these reports, in such a 

 form and at such a price that if the results are of value to the industries they may be 

 readily brought under the notice of the industrial community. 



3. At the beginning of the war the University colleges placed at the disposal of 

 the Minister of Munitions the scientific apparatus in their laboratories, and the pro- 

 fessors expressed their willingness to assist in any way that they could : but, so far 

 as I know, little use has been made of the offer. Certainly, Professor Scott, of 

 the engineering department at Canterbury College, spent a considerable amount of 

 his time and energy in making the numerous gauges necessary for the manufacture of 

 shells and in making shells, but later it was found that these were not required. The 

 Professors of Chemistry, I understand, have been engaged on various works in connec- 

 tion with the war, and Professor Kirk placed his services at the disposal of the Defence 

 Department, and has done useful work in fighting the flies that invaded the camps. 



In the address of one of my predecessors in the chair reference was made to the 

 bequest of the late Mr. T. Cawthron, of Nelson, who had intended to leave money to 

 establish an observatory ; that, however, now seems unlikely to eventuate. But he 

 left a substantial sum of money to be used in establishing an institute for research. 

 It is the most important bequest of its kind that has been made in New Zealand, and 

 the only one, I believe, with a definite stipulation that research should be carried on. 

 The trustees under the will set up a commission of scientific men to draw up a, report 

 as to the best way in which to carry out the wishes of the donor. The report of this 

 commission is not yet completed, so that it is not right that I should say more than 

 this : If the recommendations contained therein are acted upon, an institute will be 

 established in which research into certain agricultural problems will be carried on 

 under a highly trained scientific staff, and I feel sure that the New Zealand Institute 

 will welcome this addition to the opportunities for research in our primary industiy. 



This leads us naturally to consider the improvement that is in progress in the 

 Home-country and the Dominions towards a closer co-operation between science and 



18— Trans. 



