Auckland Institute. 671 



Institute at the last annual meeting, and who died in October last, before 

 completing his term of office. Professor Pond's connection with the 

 Institute has been but short; but nevertheless his varied attainments and 

 amiable personal qualities had secured the respect and esteem of the 

 members generally. The Institute can ill afford to lose such an earnest 

 and sincere worker, and the Council feel sure that his premature death 

 will be deeply and widely regretted. Mention must also bo made of the 

 decease of Mr. G. B. Owen, who served on the Council in the early days of 

 the society ; and of Sir W. Fox, so well known from his intimate connec- 

 tion with those who laid the foundations of the colony, and from the im- 

 portant part which he has taken in its political history. 



Full and detailed information respecting the financial position of the 

 Institute will be found in the balance-sheets appended to the report, but 

 some remarks of an explanatory nature will be useful here. The total 

 income of the general account has been £944 5s. 6d. Last year the 

 amount received was £805 13s. 9d., so that there has been an increase of 

 £138 lis. 9d. during the year. The interest yielded by the invested funds 

 of the Costley bequest has been £474 7s. 6d., while the Museum endow- 

 ment has contributed in rents and interest on investments £314 5s. 8d. 

 The members' subscriptions have amounted to £129 3s., a sum slightly 

 below that received in 1892-93. The total expenditure has been 

 £890 10s. lid., leaving a credit balance of £53 14s. 7d. in the Bank of New 

 Zealand. The invested funds of the Institute amount at the present time 

 to £12,489 3s. lOd., showing an increase of £1,118 IBs. during the twelve 

 months. It has been found advisable to vary the mode of investment of 

 a large portion of this amount, with the object of placing it in a position 

 of unchallenged security, from which a moderate but reliable income 

 could be obtained. This has not been done without much and anxious 

 consideration on the part of the Council, and they are confident that the 

 result is in every respect satisfactory. 



The third and final payment of £1,000 on account of the Waikanae 

 Block has been received and duly invested. Some small sales, chiefly of 

 township allotments, have been made, realising in all £184 lis. 6d. In ad- 

 dition to this, a sum of about £150, derived from sales effected some time 

 back, and which was erroneously paid into the Public Account, is still in 

 the hands of the Government, but will doubtless be handed over before 

 long. The Council have been in constant communication with the Crown 

 Lands Board respecting the utilisation of the remainder of the endow- 

 ment, but, as has been pointed out in previous reports, there is little de- 

 mand for country lands except under perpetual lease, and under that 

 system the rerats are so small, and are paid with such irregularity, that 

 the Council are unwilling to sanction its adoption as a mode of dealing 

 ■with the endowment. 



Eight meetings have been held during the year, at which sixteen 

 papers were read and discussed. 



The attendance of visitors to the Museum on Sundays has been 

 10,288, being an average of 197 for each Sunday ; and 30,500 on week- 

 days : a total of 40,788 for the year. 



The total number of volumes in the library at the present time is 

 3,392. The collection of books and pamphlets relating to New Zealand, 

 for a large portion of which the Institute is indebted to the liberality of 

 the late Mr. J. T. Mackelvie, now contains 749 different works, and is 

 probably the most complete public collection of the kind in the colony. 



The Council have always taken a strong interest in the proposed 

 acquirement by the Government of the Little Barrier Island, for the pur- 

 pose of preserving thereon some of the rarer birds of New Zealand, which 

 otherwise will probably soon become extinct. In fact, the suggestion to 

 set aside the island for this purpose was first made by Mr. F. D. Fenton at 

 a public meeting of the Institute held many years ago. At the same time 



