Presidential. Address. xvii 
Palmerston North gives every encouragement. Such meetings are, without 
doubt, highly stimulating, and they serve to bring the members of the 
Institute more in touch with each other, enabling them to realize more fully 
the greatness of their common aim. At present many members recognize 
only that they are members of their local society, and fail to realize that 
they belong to the association of the scientific men of the land. 
e standing of the Institute abroad continues to improve from year 
to year, if one may judge from the increasing number of applications from 
learned societies and scientific libraries to be placed on the exchange list. 
here, and they are in no difficulty ; but many that are not co vepres 
employed in scientific work feel diffident in taking the time of men 
they, КЕ. flatteringly, 2 сын as busy. Help might be given to пок 
visitors, and received from them, if an inset in the Transactions informed 
them that application to the office of the Institute, whether personally 
or in writing, would result in their being placed in communication with the 
workers they would most like to meet. In this conneétion, one of the most 
pressing needs is a suitable building in the city, easily found and likely 
to be noticed by those that are not looking for it. Such a building would 
meet also the very urgent need of the Р for room in which Е store 
its stocks of Transactions and other matter 
The long delay in the appearance of Volume 54 of the Transactions 
has been calculated to damage the prestige of the Institute both at home 
and abroad. From 1888 onwards the annual volume has been printed 
at the Government Printing Office. and the work has always been done 
well. It has been ve do es that the талера must be in the printer's 
Institute's Honorary Editor. For many years the Printing Office got the 
work of the volume out of hand in good time. Gradually, however, more 
and more of the other work of the office came to take precedence of the 
volume, until its issue was pushed late into the year, then into the early 
part of the following year, and now it happens that the volume con- 
taining the papers read in 1921 is only just ready to leave the Printing 
Office. The effect on the Institute has been exceedingly bad. Many 
ns ea of the various societies join only because “ = value they set 
e Transactions : scientific papers published in ransactions are 
tik pee to workers in other parts of the world put the volume is 
> “ separates ” are issued іп 
advance of the volume: thus the tendency to send important work abroad 
for publication has increased, and the value of the volume and the prestige 
of the Institute have suffered. The Board of Governors has several times 
considered the advisability of again getting the volume printed by a private 
firm, but has always been faced by the difficulty that, owing to the see 
high price of printing, it was in debt to the Government Printer. Now 
the improved circumstances referred to in the report of the Publication бев 
mittee, it will be possible to consider the question without the embarrassing 
feeling that we should be leaving the Government Office while still Ads 
a financial obligation to it. If the Board decides that a change ought to 
ii— Trans, 
