b • INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 



Charlotte Sound and in Dusky Sound, wliere all night long 

 the cry of the kiwi must have been heard just as now_, and 

 that he also obtained and took Home mats and other 

 articles of Native manufacture trimmed with kiwis' skins; 

 and that most likely the mouse-coloured quadruped which 

 was seen at Dusky Sound by his men when clearing the 

 bush was only a grey kiwi ; and yet the discovery of this 

 interesting bird was not made till forty years after Cook's 

 visit. As a scientific geographer Captain Cook stands un- 

 rivalled, considering the appliances at his disposal. His 

 longitudes of New Zealand are wonderfully accurate, espe- 

 cially those computed from what he called his " rated 

 watches," the first type of the modern marine chrono- 

 meter, which he was almost the first navigator to use. 

 Indeed, the result of a recent measurement of the meridian 

 difference from Greenwich by magnetic signals is only two 

 geographical miles east of Captain Cook's longitude. He 

 also observed the variation and dip of the magnetic needle, 

 and from his record it would appear that during the 

 hundred years which elapsed up to the time of the " Chal- 

 lenger's " visit the south-seeking end of the needle has 

 changed its position 24° westward, and inclines 1^° more 

 towards the south magnetic pole. Captain Cook also 

 recorded an interesting fact which, so far as I am aware, 

 has not been since repeated or verified in New Zealand. 

 He found that the pendulum of his astronomical clock, 

 the length of which had been adjusted to swing true 

 seconds at Greenwich, lost at the rate of 40'^ daily at Ship 

 Cove, in Queen Charlotte Sound, which is, I believe, an 

 indication of a greater loss of the attraction of gravity 

 than would occur in a corresponding north latitude. The 

 additions to our scientific knowledge of New Zealand, 

 acquired through the visits of the other exploring ships of 

 early navigators, the settlement of sealers and whalers on 

 the coast, and of pakeha-Maoris in the interior, were all 

 useful, but of too slight a character to require special 

 mention. The greatest additions to science were made by 

 the missionaries, who, in the work of spreading Christianity 

 among the Natives, had the services of able and zealous 



