AUCKLAND INSTITUTE. 



First Meeting. 2nd June, 1879. 



Eev. Dr. Purclias, President, in the chair. 



New Members.— W. P. Hales, N. Harker, Neil Heath, T. Herbert, T. J. 

 Harbutt, Eev. J. Paul, C. W. Sanders. 



The Secretary read the Hst of donations to the Library and Museum, since the last 

 meeting. 



The President delivered the following opening address : — 



ADDRESS. 



We enter to-day on our twelfth session. Those of us who can look back to our first 

 meeting for the reading of papers on the 4th of May, 1868, will note with pleasvire the 

 signs of progress by which we are surrounded. Our first list of subscribers recorded in 

 our earliest minute-book, contains 23 names ; now we number 288. We began without a 

 home, and when, after many delays, we obtained possession of the site on which this 

 building stands, we were lodged in a ricketty old conglomeration of wooden boxes, which 

 did not contain an apartment fit to meet in, and in which we had difiiculty in preserving 

 such specimens as we possessed, while their suitable exhibition was altogether impossible. 

 Now we possess the first instalment of the requisite buildings, erected in no niggardly 

 spirit, with a fair portion of suitable furnishing, and a large number of valuable and inter- 

 esting specimens, illustrative of several branches of science. 



In literature, we have also made a good beginning. Our library contains a consider- 

 able number (about 1200) of scientific works of a high class. These have been obtained, 

 partly by the expenditure of our own subscriptions and other funds entrusted to us, and 

 partly by donations and bequests. Among the latest additions to our literary treasures, I 

 may call attention to Gray's splendid " Book of Birds," in 3 vols., and to several volumes 

 of " Conchologia Iconica," which has just been completed, after occupying many years in 

 pubHcation. We have at present but a part of this magnificent work, but hope, ere long, 

 to obtain the remaining volumes. It is said that some persons have found fault with the 

 Council for buying such costly books ; but we maintain that this is just the place in 

 which such works ought to be found. One of the objects for which we have united in the 

 establishment and maintenance of our society is to provide works of reference which we 

 could not attain in any other way. We have always cherished the hope that we might be 

 able to obtain the means of providing a Free Public Library for the city on such a scale 

 as should satisfy the requirements of readers in all branches of literature. But the hope 

 still remains unfulfilled. We have indeed undertaken the custody of the collection of 

 books formerly known as the Provincial Council Library, and have expended more than 

 we could well afford in providing for the convenience of readers of those books, and so far 

 the germ of a pubHc library may be said to exist. It is, however, obvious that a large 



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