Animal Presidential Address. 375 



Grabriel Street Church died, leaving a sum of £1,000 

 currency to maintain an annual course of lectures in con- 

 nection with the Society. Exactly how this money was 

 utilised at first I am not aware, but we all know that 

 eventually it was put into our building, the Society, how- 

 ever, making itself responsible for the provision of an 

 annual course of free lectures. I do not say that this 

 appropriation of the money was unwise, but I have long 

 felt it to be the duty of this Society to raise an equal, or if 

 possible, a very much larger sum, the interest of which 

 could be made available in connection with the lectures. 

 Had the Society means at its disposal, the usefulness of the 

 lecture work could be greatly extended. It would, for. ex- 

 ample, be possible to secure from time to time, seiwices of 

 distinguished lecturers from the neighbouring republic, and 

 to hire a larger hall than ours for special occasions. During 

 the past few years we have been able to induce scientific 

 men to come from other cities of the Dominion to address 

 us, but have been unable to offer them anything but their 

 travelling expenses in return. Nor is it right that gentle- 

 men from our midst should be called upon so often, not only 

 to lecture without remuneration, but to pay the cost — often 

 considerable — of the materials used to illustrate their 

 lectures. 



It is to be regretted that our own hall is not larger ; for 

 on lecture evenings it is often overcrowded, and for the past 

 five years we have been afraid to advertise our courses fully, 

 knowing that it would be impossible to accommodate larger 

 audiences. 



The interest shown by the public in our lectures convinces 

 me that they are one of the needs of our growing city, and 

 I sincerely hope that before long it may be possible to 

 greatly expand the work. During the past five years we 

 have done what we could to improve and systematise the 

 courses, and in this we trust wo have not wholly failed. 



Apart from our Somerville lectures, it would perhaps be 

 worth while to try short courses on special subjects by ojie 

 lecturer. Such courses have recently been tried in the 



