368 Proceedings. 



have nevei' been hitherto obtained, and he had given notice of the title of a 

 paper describing them, which he intended to have laid before the Society this 

 evening. I am sure that you will all agree with me that his loss will be felt 

 at our meetings, and we shall miss the good example which he set ns, of the 

 strong and earnest love of science for its own sake. 



Our Society has now been re-constituted for six years, and I think there 

 is every reason for congratulation in the progress which has been made during 

 that period, not only in the increased value and interest of the communications 

 which are read to the Society, but also in the gradual increase in the number 

 of members, and, what is still even more important, in the number of members 

 who take an active part in our meetings. 



The annual I'eport of the aifairs of the Society has been, for the first time, 

 printed in the current volume for the year. Hitherto it has been included in 

 the pi'oceedings for the subsequent year. From this report it appears that, 

 with those we have just elected, the Society includes 142 members. 



The fifth volume of Transactions of the New Zealand Institute has been 

 distributed to our members for some months, so that I may assume all who 

 are present this evening have, at least to some slight extent, made them- 

 selves acquainted with its contents, and with the share which is occupied in it 

 by the contributions of this Society. At our meetings last year forty-eight 

 original papers wei-e presented to the Society, some of which possess a value 

 from the originality of research which they show, which will make our 

 Transactions in future times important for reference. 



In reviewing these communications, the first in order, and also in 

 importance from the general interest which it cannot fail to excite, is Mr. 

 Travers' history of "The Life and Times of Te E.auparaha." The career of 

 this remai'kable man is not merely of interest from its association with the 

 early history of the colonization of these islands, but it aflfords a useful subject 

 for study in connection with the moi'e general histoiical question of the 

 rapidity with which changes have been eflTected in uncivilized races, and the 

 aptitude which they show in acquiring the arts, both peaceable and warlike, 

 from conquerors or colonists, as the case may be. At the same time, this is 

 only a small poi'tion of the valuable material relating to the Maori I'ace which 

 would find a fitting place in the publication of this and the other afiiliated 

 Societies of the Institute. The Maori present a peculiarity of mental type, 

 the I'eason for which is not yet fully explained. As a race they show evidence 

 of greater mental vigoui' than might have been expected in a people possessing 

 no written language. The f;icility with which they acquire our written 

 language, and the delight which they take in exerei.sing it — in reducing to 

 writing their ancient watatas (songs) and traditions — is of itself a remarkable 

 evidence of this vigour of mind. In jxissing, I should, however, say that the 



