Twelfth Annual Meeting. 631 



few books, from, time to time, might be lost in transit, or by the failure of those to 

 whom they had been sent to return them ; but with ordinary checks these losses 

 could be kept to a minimum, and it is far better to use your library even if a book is 

 occasionally lost than not to use it at all. It is not good policy to preserve your books 

 by destroying their use. For all practical purposes the great part of the Institute 

 library has been lost for many years. 



I am afraid I have kept you too long, and that, instead of giving you a presidential 

 address dealing in general terms with the work of the Institute, I have brought before 

 you debatable matters and detailed methods which would be better discussed by the 

 executive committee. But in doing so I have been trying to carry out the principle 

 of adaptation to the environment. A presidential address delivered to a large gathering 

 of general members of a society who are not directly concerned in its working can 

 appropriately deal in a wide and general manner with the objects or aspirations of the 

 society, while the details of its management are left to an executive committee, and 

 are therefore not dealt with in the address. But this Board is the executive committee 

 of the Institute, and I have, therefore, endeavoured to place before you some definite 

 suggestions for the more efficient carrying out of our duties, and, as my term of office 

 as President will naturally end at the conclusion of this meeting, I have been anxious 

 to take this opportunity of doing so. 



I have to thank you for the patience with which you have listened to me, and for 

 your assistance and courtesy during my term of office as President. I have been con- 

 nected with the Institute for a long period, and many of my most pleasurable experiences 

 have been associated with its work. In resuming my position as an ordinary member 

 I shall do so with the full intention of performing to the best of my ability the duties 

 appropriate thereto— that is, I shall endeavour to continue to be an active and, I hope, 

 a vigorous and efficient cell in the organism that we call the New Zealand Institute. 



Vc 





