INAUGURAL ADDRESS 
OF 
HIS EXCELLENCY SIR GEORGE F. BOWEN, G.C.M.G., 
TO THE NEW ZEALAND INSTITUTE, AS ITS FIRST PRESIDENT. 4rn AUGUST, 1868, 
GENTLEMEN,— 
Seventeen years—a period of great changes and of rapid progress in 
this country—have elapsed since my able and accomplished predecessor Sir 
George Grey, in 1851, opened, as its first President, the New Zealand 
Society. That Society may be regarded as the precursor of the New Zealand 
Institute, which has now been founded and endowed by the wisdom and 
liberality of the Colonial Legislature. The Board of Governors, over whom 
I have the honour, by virtue of my office, to preside, having conveyed to me a 
wish that I should deliver the Inaugural Address at the first public meeting 
of this Institute, I felt much satisfaction in complying with their request. 
In a colony possessing all the powers and privileges of parliamentary 
government, the representative of the Sovereign shares in that “ dignified 
neutrality ” which belongs to the Crown itself. I assure you that it will 
always be one of my highest pleasures, as well as one of my most important 
duties, to meet, as on the present occasion, members of all religious com- 
munions, of all social classes, and of all political parties, on the common 
ground of education, science, and literature. 
I will begin by briefly explaining the character and objects of the 
Association which we now inaugurate. Those objects are concisely stated in 
the preamble of the Act of the Session of 1867, (31 Victoris, No. 36), which 
recites that “it is expedient to make provision for carrying out the 
geological survey of the colony, and to establish and incorporate a public 
institution in the City of Wellington, to be called ‘The New Zealand 
Institute, which Institute shall comprise a public museum and laboratory, 
and a publie library ;” and that “it is also expedient, by means of lectures, 
classes, and otherwise, to promote the general study and cultivation of the 
various branches and departments of art, science, literature, and philosophy.” 
Moreover, provision has been made by law for the appointment of a 
director to superintend and carry out the general purposes of this Institute 
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