Twelfth Annual Meeting. 627 



spectacle, and it is a poor consolation to the evolutionary biologist to be able to recog- 

 nize the war as only a part of that great and grim, struggle for existence, universal 

 among organisms, by which nature evolves to higher things. We can only hope 

 that as the final result nations will arise with loftier ideals, and a higher and nobler 

 appreciation of the claims of humanity, righteousness, and justice. In the meantime, 

 we must all sympathize with one of our number, Dr. Cockayne, the result of whose 

 years of labour spent in the preparation of a work on the vegetation of New Zealand 

 for the German series " Die Vegetation der Erde " seems likely to be lost beyond recovery. 

 Of the business arising out of our last meeting that will come again before you, 

 perhaps the most important is that dealing with the proposed contribution by the 

 district Institutes towards the funds of the New Zealand Institute. I am glad to say 

 that practically all the Institutes have agreed to the principle of the contribution, 

 some of them, naturally enough, restricting their acceptance of it to one year only. Not 

 only will the levy be a valuable means of assisting the scanty funds of the central body, 

 but it will, I feel sure, strengthen the connection between the Institutes and this Board, 

 and make the district Institutes feel that they are really, as they are legally, an 

 integral part o* the New Zealand Institute. In case there may be any misapprehension 

 on the point, let me say at once that in my opinion the payment of this contribution 

 will not in any way lessen the necessity or the justice of appealing to the Government 

 at the proper time to increase the amount of the statutory grant ; it will show, rather, 

 that we are prepared to contribute from our funds as readily as we have always con- 

 tributed by our labours towards the requirements of the Institute, and thus demonstrate 

 that we are deserving of further assistance. Even for the work that we now do, our 

 funds are far from adequate, and the Institute could easily widen its sphere of work 

 and of usefulness if it were assured of adequate funds ; for example, our publications, 

 creditable through they are, appear small and unimportant in comparison with those 

 of many other similar societies. 



Last year I endeavoured to draw attention to the condition of our library, and of 

 the collections housed in the Dominion Museum. I regret to say that things are pretty 

 much in the same unsatisfactory condition still. The Museum is stdl standing in the 

 same place, and, though one or two minor alterations have been effected to make it 

 more habitable, there has been no real improvement, and the valued collections are no 

 safer from destruction than they were when I addressed you on the subject last year. 

 The Science and Art Board appointed by the Act of 1913 was constituted in May, 1914, 

 by the appointment of its members, and it is gratifying to know that in addition to 

 the President of the Institute, who is a member ex officio, two other members of this 

 Board have been appointed to the Science and Art Board. As yet, however, the Board 

 has not been called together, and no steps have been taken to carry out the work for 

 which it was established. 



Under the Science, and Art Act of 1913 provision is made for the formation of a 

 Dominion Library, and proposals were made at your last annual meeting by. which, 

 under proper conditions and safeguards, the Institute might be willing to allow its 

 library to form a part of this Dominion Library. Further and more detailed sugges- 

 tions in the same direction will be laid before you at this meeting, and will require your 

 earnest and careful consideration. 



The genuine worker in any department of knowledge — in science, history, economics, 

 or literature — requires books, not because of any pride he may take in their possession 

 but for the use he can make of them. Provided he can have ready access to them, and 

 make full use of the information contained in them, it is a matter of indifference to him 

 whether they are owned by himself or by some one else. Similarly, as the Institute 

 is never likely to want to sell its library, it does not matter whether the books legally 

 belong to the Institute or to the Dominion Library; all that is necessarj 7 is that the 

 working members shall be allowed to use the works with no restrictions other than those 

 that are absolutely necessary for the safety of the volumes and for securing similar 

 privileges to other members. It is important that we should definitely make up our 

 minds as to the kind of library we want. It was pointed out clearly by one of our 

 members at a meeting of the Standing Committee that what we require is a library 

 that will be used for the purposes of research — a library, therefore, partaking largely of 

 the character of what is generally known as a reference library, and as unlike the 

 ordinary circulating library as possible ; and yet if the library is to be of any real use 

 there must be adequate provision for sending its volumes freely to those who wish to 

 make use of them. 



Much has been said about the erection of a suitable building in which the library 

 could be safely housed. The difficulty of providing the funds that were deemed to be 

 necessary for this purpose is the chief cause of our want of progress in this matter in the 

 past, and during the present European crisis, while all our available resources must 



