THE DECREASE OF THE MAORI RACE. Bs 
THE DECREASE OF THE MAORI RACE. 
ee ee 
BY DR. BULLER, C.M.G., F.R.S. 
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Dr. Buller delivered an address at theannual meeting of the Wel- 
lington Philosophical Society on Wednesday evening, February 
13th, having special reference to the decrease of the Maori people. 
Dr. Buller commenced by thanking the Society for having, after a 
lapse ofseven years, re-elected himtothe honourable position of pre- 
sident. It was the custom of the retiring president to deliver an 
addressattheannual meeting, but he had been asked bythe, Council, 
in the absence of Mr. Randall Johnson, to offer some remarks on 
the progress and future prospects of the Society. Hecongratulated 
the meeting on the increased library accommodation now afforded, 
and the larger facilities offered to members for access to the 
museum. Every other large centre of population in the colony 
had an university, with its staff of professors, and all the necessary 
appliances for scientific research. In Wellington nothing of the 
kind at present existed, and active workers in the field of science 
were cast very much upon their own resources. He had, there- 
fore, great pleasure in announcing that under the new arrange- 
ments of the Director private tables would be placed in the 
lecture hall for students, who would have free access to the library 
of reference, and unrestricted use of the valuable collections in 
the Colonial Museum. Dr. Buller then referred to the practical 
work done by this society and other affiliated bodies as shown 
by the “Transactions of the New Zealand Institute.” This 
publication had now reached its fifteenth volume. That for the 
past year was already well in progress, and, as he was assured by 
Dr. Hector, would fully equal, both in bulk and quality, any of 
its predecessors. Speaking for himself, as a governor of the In- 
stitute, he felt proud of this fine series of local volumes. which 
had received more universal praise at the hands of English and 
foreign reviewers than any other colonial publication. Itseemed 
to him from a careful perusal that the articles year by year 
maintained their high character, keeping pace with the onward 
march of science and the progress of discovery. To the future 
historian of the colony this publication would be invaluable, and 
much credit was due to Dr. Hector for his untiring labours as 
editor during the whole period of its existence. He (Dr. Buller) 
wished, however, having said so much in praise of the work, to 
call attention to what appeared to him a very serious defect in it. 
He referred to the extreme paucity of articles relating to the 
Maori inhabitants of the country, their mythology, their manners 
and customs, their traditions, their habits of life, their treatment 
the sick, burial of the dead, and so forth. The ethnologist of the 
