NEW ZEALAND INSTITUTE. 



ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS 



OF 



THE PRESIDENT, 



HIS EXCELLENCY SIE W. F. D. JEBVOIS, 



G.C.M.G., C.B., Etc., 



Delivered to the Members op' the New Zealand Institute, at the 

 Anniversary Meeting, held on the 8th August, 1883. 



Gentlemen, — 



There is, I think, a special value in meetings such as the present, 

 affording as they do an opportunity for looking back, not only at the 

 proceedings of the Institute, but also at some of the principal events in 

 the literary and scientific world, during the past year, and then of 

 glancing forward at the aim and objects of the Society in the future. 



The New Zealand Institute already possesses a history of its own, 

 and one which reflects great credit on the members of its various 

 incorporated Societies, and I may add on the colony as a whole. 

 Thirty-two years ago, when the total European population was but 

 32,000, the New Zealand Society was founded, mainly through the 

 instrumentality of Sir George Grey ; and, although it never met with 

 the success that it deserved, we cannot regard the efforts of its pro- 

 moters as thrown away. They were the real pioneers of the move- 

 ment ; they broke up the virgin soil, and planted the germ out of 

 which has sprung the present Institute, with branches established h-. 

 almost every provincial district, and an influence extending from 

 Auckland to Invercargill. 



The existing Association, however, dates only from 1867, when the 

 Act for its establishment was passed, or rather from the following 

 year, when the separate bodies then existing at Wellington, Auckland, 

 and Christchurch became incorporated with the central Institute. 



