﻿Otago Institute. 409 



Third Meeting. 11 th July, 1871. 

 J. S. "Webb, Yice-President in the chair. 



New members. — Professor Sale, Jobn Douglas, Henry Tewsley, George 

 Miller, A. F. Oswin. 



The Chairman said that it had only dawned upon him late in the afternoon 

 that he would have to occupy the chair that evening, and therefore the few 

 remarks he should presently have to offer had been very hurriedly prepared. 

 It had been arranged that Mr. J. T. Thomson should preside that evening, but 

 that gentleman was at present engaged every night in astronomical observations 

 in connection with an observatory at the Hutt, Wellington, with which his own 

 observatory had been connected by telegraph, and as explained in a note 

 which he held in his hand, his presence there to-night would interrupt a 

 work in which many persons were engaged. 



The Honorary Secretary read the Annual Report, of which the following 

 is an abstract : — 



In presenting the second annual report of the Otago branch of the New 

 Zealand Institute, the Council has much pleasure in congratulating the 

 members upon _the advance made during the past year. The number of 

 members is now 124, showing an increase upon the proceeding year of 44. 

 The receijDts from subscriptions amount to <£112 7s., and £90 9s. have been 

 transferred to the Library Fund. During the year ^four Council, and eight 

 ordinary meetings of the Institute have been held, at the latter of which 

 several papers of importance and interest have been read. The first important 

 instalment of our Library arrived safely from home a few days ago, and con- 

 sists of many valuable works of reference. Mr. Justice Chapman has presented 

 a few works, principally on science. 



The Chairman then gave the following 



ADDRESS. 



Those who by former experience have become acquainted with the diffi- 

 culties with which associations such as ours have to contend — how quickly the 

 interest at first taken in them by their members abates — how little they 

 usually accomplish of the career sketched out for them by their founders — 

 how often a struggling existence is followed by a premature dissohition — will 

 be ready to agree with me that the success of the Otago Institute is a proper 

 excuse for self-congratulation on the part of those who took an active interest 

 in its formation. If we measure what we have accomplished by what might 

 have been done by the same men in the same space of time, there is not room 

 for boasting ; but how few are the human institutions which are not examples 

 of the same shortcoming ! That is not the proper standard by which to 



