Annual Meeting. 7 



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

 a sum 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 vohime contains 608 and xvi 

 pages, and 34 plates. The contents of the last two volumes are comxmred as follows : — 



Miscellaneous 



Zoology 



Botany 



Geology 



Chemistry 



Proceedings . . 



Appendix 



576 608 



Copies of Vol. XL were presented to Parliament on the 8th September. 1908. 



In fi,ccordance with resolutions passed at the last annual meeting, the volumes of 

 the Transactions now stored in the vault of Parliament Buildings have been insured 

 for the sum of £500, and the Institute's books stored in the Dominion Museum, Wel- 

 lington, have been insured for £2,000. 



As decided at last annual meeting, the Standing Committee has given consideration 

 to the question of reprinting papers which have appeared in the Transactions. After 

 going carefully into the subject, the committee has come to the conclusion that it is not 

 desirable for the Board in the meantime to imdertake the reprinting of papers. 



A questioir which has engaged the attention of the Standing Committee, and which 

 seems deserving of consideration by the Board as a whole, is that of the constitution 

 of the committees which are sometimes appointed by the Board for the conduct of special 

 business. Several such committees were set up at last annual meeting. These were 

 composed of members residing in widely separated districts of the colony, but in no 

 instance was a convener or an executive officer appointed. The result has been unsatis- 

 factory. Each member of a committee has been in doubt as to who was to take the 

 initiative, and in consequence great difficulty has been experienced by the committees 

 in getting to work. 



The Standing Committee has found it impracticable to make the arrangements 

 necessary for holding, in terms of the resolution passed at the last annual meeting, a 

 special general meeting of the members of the Institute on the 29th January, 1909, 

 and, in consequence, the meeting in cpiestion must lapse. 



It seems advisable the.t the practice of granting diplomas of membership to gentle- 

 men who are elected honorary raemljers of the Institute should be revived. Such 

 diplomas were regularly issued under the original Act, and were appreciated by the 

 recipients ; but the passing of the Act of 1903 rendered the wording of the old form of 

 diploma obsolete, and no diplomas have been given during the past five years. With 

 a few unim])ortant alterations the phraseology of the old form could be adapted to 

 present-day requirements, and the supply of amended forms could be printed for a 

 trifling sum. 



On the 16th December, 1908, the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury gave notice 

 that Professor Charles Chilton had resigned his seat on the Board, and that Mj-. R. Speight, 

 of Christchurch, had been elected in his place to represent the Christchurch society. 



The Secretary, Mr. Thomas King, has explained to the Standing Committee that 

 he finds that the secretaria.1 work takes up very much more time than he anticipated, 

 or than he can spare, and that he has therefore, with regret, decided not to seek re-elec- 

 tion. 



The amount standing at the credit of the Carter Beciuest Fund with the Public 

 Trustee on the 31st December, 1908. including interest accrued to the 31st December, 



