AUCKLAND INSTITUTE. 
First Mretinc. 9th June, 1884. 
H. G. Seth Smith, President, in the chair. 
New Members.—Professor Aldis, Dr. Bond, A. Kidd, W. C. W. McDowell 
D. Nolan, and C. King 
1. The President delivered the anniversary address. 
ABSTRACT. 
After referring to the Costley bequest, and other local matters, the President shortly 
reviewed the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute. In the course of his remarks, 
he said: “ I rejoice to see that a branch of science, still in its infancy, and which may even 
yet have a hard struggle before its claim to be regarded as a branch of science is fully 
recognized—I mean the science of jurisprudence—is represented by a paper on the law of 
gavelkind, by Mr. Coleman Phillips. It has hitherto been considered a difficult task to 
convince an English lawyer that there is such a thing as the science of law. It will, per- 
bape, long remain a still more difficult matter to satisfy the public at large that science is 
y way connected with legal practice. The writings of Sir Henry Maine, however, 
have laid the foundation for a new method of investigation in jurisprudence—new, that is 
as far as jurisprudence is concerned, though the method is nothing but the application of 
inductive philosophy in place of the a priori methods which had hitherto been adopted by 
theoretical writers on legal subjects—e.g., Bentham, etc. A systematic study of the 
customs of the aborigines of these islands would probably afford valuable materia] for 
further investigations in the history of law, as the labours of Sir George Grey, Mr. Colenso, 
and others seem to show.” He then gave an account of the theories which bave been 
offered to explain the Sunda eruption; and proceeded to make the following remarks 
on Technical Education :—‘‘The purposes for which an institute of this kind exists, 
should aim both at the accumulation and diffusion of scientific and other knowledge. I 
hope, therefore, that the time is not far distant, when we shall see established in connec- 
tion with this Institute, series of lectures somewhat similar to those to which Friday even- 
ings at the Royal Institution of London are devoted during a portion of the year. We 
have now in Auckland a number of men competent to undertake such a task; and I, for 
one, should be glad to see a portion of the revenues of the Institute, which we may now 
hope will increase from year to year, devoted to defraying the necessary expenses of such 
lectures. There is another direction in which, I believe, this Institute may do valuable 
ice. I cannot help thinking that one of the needs of this city is a school of technical 
education. I would commend to the consideration of all those who are interested in the 
matter, the scheme for the organization of the Central Institution of the City and Guilds 
of London Institute, which is printed in full in the number of ‘Nature’ of the 21st Feb- 
ruary, 1884. The object of the Central Institution is to give to London a college for the 
higher technical education, in which advanced instruction shall be provided in those 
kinds of knowledge which bear on the different branches of industry, whether manufac- 
tures or arts, Just as the Royal School of Mines gives a technical training to mining 
