Fourth Annual Report by the Governors of the 

 New Zealand Institute. 



Meetings of the Board of Governors were held during the past year on the 

 24th August, 12th September, 1st November, 1871 ; and 28th Febmary and 

 nth Apiil, 1872. 



The following gentlemen were re-nominated to be Governors : — W. T. L. 

 Travers, F.L.S., and Charles Knight, F.R.C.S. ; and a vacancy occasioned by 

 the retirement of J. E. Fitzgerald, C.M.G., has not yet been filled up. 



The Governors elected by the affiliated Societies for the present year 

 are : — His Honor William RoUeston, the Hon. W. B. D. Man tell, His Honor 

 Mr. Justice Chapman. 



On the 11th April, 1872, Alfred Ludlam, Esq., resigned the honorary 

 Treasurership, and the Hon. W. B. Mantell, M.L.C., accepted the office. 



In accordance with the provisions of Statute TV., three foreign members 

 were elected; namely, J. E. Gray, Ph.D., F.R.S., Charles Darwin, M.A., F.R.S., 

 William Lauder Lindsay, M.D., F.R.S.E. 



The Institute now includes five affiliated Societies ; the total number of 

 members being 577, showing an increase of 24 on last year. 



Members. 

 Wellington Philosophical Society ... ... ... 132 



Auckland Institute ... ... ... ... ... 157 



Philosophical Institute of Canterbury .. . ... ... 81 



Otago Institute ... ... ... ... ... ... 136 



Nelson Association ... ... ... ... ... 71 



The appended statement of accounts shows the manner in which the 

 endowment of the Institute has been applied. 



The fourth volume of the Transactions and Proceedings was issued in May 

 last. It consists of 472 pages, and contains sixty-four original communications 

 by forty -five authors, illustrated by nineteen lithographed ])lates. Of these 

 papers, nineteen are on zoology, twelve on botany, nine on chemistry, thi^ee on 

 geology, and nineteen on miscellaneous subjects. 



The Board of Governors having decided that, in publication, preference is 

 to be given to those papers which add to the knowledge of observed facts 

 relative to New Zealand, several papers of a general character have been held 

 back, or only published in an abridged form. 



