WELLINGTON PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. 



First Meeting. 6th August, 1881. 



Dr. Hector, President, in the chair. 



New Members.— B. G. Toiilson, T. Lidbefcter, W. G, Thistle, B.A., and 

 Rev. La Menant des Chesnais. 



The President dehvered an opening address : 



ABSTRACT, 



He reviewed the remarkable progress which had been made in the colony in scientific 

 pursuits since the time when the New Zealand Instititte was first established, and pointed 

 out that while most branches of education — primary, secondary, and University — were 

 now well provided for, there was still a great want of facilities for technical education. 

 The constitution of the New Zealand Institute provided for this ; but that part of the Act 

 had remained a dead letter, owing, in part, to the mistaken notion that the Universities 

 could provide such training. This, however, was not the case, as the University student 

 must devote the whole of his time to studying for his degree. What is wanted is the teach- 

 ing of applied science and other branches of education, by means of evening lectures, to 

 those who are engaged in business during the day. Such provision is now being made in 

 the other colonies, and New Zealand should not be behindhand, as it would do more for 

 developing colonial industries on a sound basis than the mere granting of bonuses or 

 the imposition of protective duties. In describing the present state of our knowledge 

 in various branches of science, he gave an account of the conclusions arrived at in 

 Wallace's recent work on "Island Life" with regard to the origin of the New Zealand 

 fauna and flora, vdaich he considers to have been in part derived from the eastern part of 

 Australia when it formed an island separated from the western portion by an extension of 

 the tropical sea. When these two islands were joined, the western forms of life displaced 

 the eastern, and caused the great dissimilarity which now exists between Australia as a 

 whole and New Zealand. He (Dr. Hector) showed reasons, however, for still maintaining 

 that New Zealand was at one time a portion of an extended antarctic continent that included 

 part of South America, which was the view brought before the Society by Professor Hutton, 

 but which Mr. Wallace considers untenable. Referring to the work of the Meteorological 

 Department, he gave a description, with diagrams, of the operations of the intercolonial 

 weather exchanges which have been lately instituted, and explained the manner in which 

 it had been found from experience that storms skirting the south coast of Australia 

 approach New Zealand from the westward, travelling at the rate of about 400 miles a day. 

 After dealing with this subject in detail, he drew attention to the advantages which would 

 be gained from the establishment of a magnetical observatory in New Zealand. 



The address, which occupied about an hour, was listened to with great interest. 



1. Dr. Hector then described a number of recent additions to the Museum, which 

 were on the table, the chief of which were the results of the geological explorations during 

 the past few months. Among these were further remains of the Kekenodon, a large fossil 



