AUCKLAND INSTITUTE. 
First Meetinc. 138th June, 1881. 
T. Peacock, President, in the chair. 
New Members.—C. Alexander, J. M. Alexander, A. Buckland, H. Camp- 
_ bell, M. A. Clark, W. C. Coleman, P. Comisky, J. Fisher, T. T. Gamble, 
D. Goldie, G. Johnstone, G. Hemus, T. W. Hickson, T. Mahoney, A. 
MeGregor, T. Mackay, D. Nathan, E. B. Parsons, A. Saunders, G. Sibbin, 
J.C. Sharland, R. H. Stevenson, E. H. Whitaker, W. R. Waddel, Major 
T. Benton, N. Kenny, G. T. Wilkinson, T. P. Moody. 
The President then delivered the anniversary address. 
ABSTRACT. A 
In accordance with the usual custom, it now becomes my duty to deliver the inaugural 
address. In the first place, I desire to express my appreciation of the honour which the 
members of the Institute have conferred u upon me in electing me to fill the President’s 
chair—an honour to which my own feelings would not have prompted me to aspire. 
on the threshold of our fourteenth session, and looking back to the meeting in 
November, 1867, at which, with zealous intentions, not unmingled with misgiving as to rae. 
__ its permanence, our society was launched, I feel that there is true cause for congratulation = 
_ at the progress made and the success achieved. And looking forward, there is every 
_ reason for encouragement. With a membership numbering 305—the largest rollof any — 
of the affiliated societies—including 28 names just added, we have the evidence of @ 
_ Sustained interest in our important operations. Having been associated with the Institute 
a3 a member of council at its beginning, I know that much of the success has been owing 
_ to the fostering care and ever willing assistance rendered by Mr. Kirk and Professor 
Hutton in the early years of our existence. : 
Our aims embrace the cultivation of science, art, literature, and philosophy, : _— ce 
_ Of subjects which gives ample scope for the indulgence of every taste, while our 
afford a congenial sphere where each votary can minister to the pleasure and edification 
of his fellows, receiving in return an impulse to fresh exertion, whether it be to study, to 
assimilate, and profit by the wealth of thought, feeling, and wisdom, treasured up in our 
national literature; or in the field of Nature, animate and inanimate, to observe and 
classify her phenomena, and evolve the laws that regulate her processes, 
“Wi Kare curious 53 
42 tie) 
Tr olan -% ra 
Chincha sacks ok er es ac 
: mabe nae 
tea pla oo iri ‘During the ron nt 
