AUCKLAND INSTITUTE. 



First Meeting. 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- 

 haps, long remain a still more difficult matter to satisfy the public at large that science is 

 in any 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 i3 

 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 material 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 Eoyal 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 

 service. 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 Eoyal School of Mines gives a technical training to mining 



