420 Proceedings. 



PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 



The following is the presidential address delivered at the annual 

 nieetino; of the Board of Governors of the New Zealand Institute at 

 Wellington, 29th January, 1913, by Mr. T. F. Cheeseman, F.L.S., 

 F.Z.S., Curator of the Aaickland Museum : — 



Gentlemen of the Board of Governors,- The expiry of another year has 

 isgain made it necessary for me to prepare a short address dealing with the position 

 of the Institute and the work which it has performed since we last met. And, 

 ;!S this is the last occasion on which 1 shall occupy this chair, I wish to thank you 

 for the kindly support that has been awarded to me, and for the considerate indul- 

 ij,ence shown to my many shortcomings. 



In the address which I had the honour of placing before you last year I stated 

 that the financial position of the Institute was causing great anxiety to those who 

 had the management of its affairs ; that it was no longer possible to print the 

 Transactions for the amount of the annual grant of i.500 ; and that the Institute 

 was practically in debt to the CJovernment Printer for a sum which 1 estimated at 

 i'155, but which proved to be nearer £'250. Th'e obvious cure for this unsatisfactory 

 condition of affairs was to obtain a permanent increase of the statutory grant, 

 but as this cannot be done without an amendment of the New Zealand Institute 

 Act it was decided to apply to Parliament for a supplementary grant of £250. 

 In. support of this application a deputation waited upon the Premier, and fully 

 explained the position of affairs. It was shown that the statutory grant still stood 

 at the amount fixed on the formation of the Institute in 1868, when the circum- 

 stances of the Dominion were very different from what they are now, and when 

 the total membership amounted to only 178, a number widely different from the 

 present roll of nearly 1,0C0. It is satisfactory to state that the deputation was 

 sympathetically received, and that the proposed sum was placed upon the supple- 

 mentary estimates, and, having recsived the sanction of Parliament, has since been 

 duly paid to our Treasurer. I trust that this welcome addition to our funds may 

 be shortly followed by a permanent enlargement of the annual grant. 



The financial statement, which has already been circulated among you. shows 

 that the total receipts of the Institute, including the balance of £389 18s. 8d. in 

 hand at the beginning of the year, have been £1,229 5s. 2d. The total expenditure 

 has been £1,078 3s. 9d., the two chief items being a, sum of 1:648 12s. 6d. in pay- 

 ment of the cost of Vol. 43 of the Transactions, and one of £250 on account of 

 Vol. 44. The balance in hand is given at t'151 Is. 5d., but against this has to be 

 placed the amount of £292 Is. due to the Government Printer on account of Vol. 44 

 of the Transactions. The Institute is thus in debt to the amount of £140 19s. 7d. 

 But on the 31st March the annual subsidy of £500 will be payable, extinguishing 

 the debt, and leaving a surplus of about £350. If the Institute is successful in 

 obtaining a permanent addition to the statutoi-y grant, or if a special grant be 

 procured of equivalent amount to that voted during the last session of Parliament, 

 funds will be available for the issue of a volume of Transactions of average size ; 

 but without additional income there will still remain an indebtedness to the Govern- 

 n\eut Printer. 



Vol. 44 of the Transactions, which has been issued during the year, is con- 

 siderably smaller than its predecessor, the reason being the necessity of reducing 

 our printer's bill as much as possible. I find that the volume contains 594 pages, 

 of which 460 belong to the Transactions and 134 to the Proceedings, including in 

 this latter term all matter supplementary to the Transactions. The number of 

 separate papers is forty, but seventeen short communications appear in the Proceed- 

 ings, making a total of fifty-seven. In the index the number of plates is given as 

 twenty- four, but many illustrations appear in the text which are not in- 

 cluded in that total. The previous volume (43) contained 808 pages, of which 

 680 are referable to the Transaction and 128 to the Proc^eedings. The number 

 of articles (including twenty-five notes or abstracts given in the Proceedings) 

 amounted to eighty-two, and the plates numbered thirty-two. It will therefore 

 be noticed that the reduction in the size of Vol. 44 is entirely confined to the 

 Transactions, which contains 220 pages fewer than in Vol. 43. I think we all 

 regret that the necessary economy in publication has been effected at the expense 

 of the most important portion of the volume ; but, in justice to the Editors, I must 

 state that the reason for this is that the greater part of the Proceedings were in 

 type before the financial position of the Institute was fully known. As for the 

 total cost of the volume, the financial statement shows that the amount charged 

 by the Government Printer has been £542 Is. So far as I can ascertain, this shows 



