468 Proceedings. 



Election of Office-bearers for 1888 : — President — Alex. 

 Wilson, M.A. ; Vice-presidents — F. R. Chapman and Dr. de 

 Zouche ; Hon. Secretary — George M. Thomson, F.L.S. ; Hon. 

 Treasurer — J. C. Thomson ; Auditor — D. Brent, M.A. ; Council 

 —Rev. H. Belcher, L.L.D., D. Petrie, M.A., C. Chilton, M.A., 

 Dr. Hocken, Professors Parker, Scott, and Gibbons. 



Hon. Member. — Baron von Ettingshausen was nominated as 

 an honorary member of the New Zealand Institute, in room of 

 the late Dr. Carpenter. 



The retiring President then delivered an address. 



Abstract. 



After alluding to the life and services of the late Sir Julius von Haast, 

 he referred to the Jubilee of Her Majesty the Queen, and reviewed the growth 

 of the Colonial Empire of Britain during her reign. He further pointed 

 out the contrast between the condition of affairs in the reign of George 

 III., and that of Queen Victoria, in all parts of the British Empire. 

 When Queen Victoria came to the throne there was no settlement in 

 New Zealand in the ordinary sense. In the North Island there were 

 whaling stations, and a considerable trading settlement had sprung up 

 at the Bay of Islands ; but with the exception of the missionaries, and some 

 of the whalers and traders of the better class, the population was a very 

 vicious one. Lawless sailors and still more lawless expired convicts formed 

 the bulk of the people, and, without law or restraint, their morality was of 

 the loosest order. In this island there were only a few scattered whaling 

 stations. Two years after the commencement of the reign the first settlers 

 sailed for New Zealand ; and six months after this, law was established and 

 the Colony became in a feeble way a settled State. He (the speaker) did not 

 propose to trace all its vicissitudes. It had, and still has, many advantages 

 over its neighbours ; but it had in early times a drawback to which none of 

 the others were subject, in the shape of frequent and long wars. He then 

 touched upon the causes of the present commercial depression, and discussed 

 the questions of Protection and Free Trade, and absentee land-owners. 



At the conclusion of the address he introduced his successor, Mr. A. 

 Wilson, M.A., who took the chair. 



