2 28 JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 



Sir James Hector in proposing a vote of thanks to the President 

 for his most interesting address, reminded members that within the last 

 few months they had been indebted to Mr. Tregear for a most useful 

 addition to our local scientific literature in his Comparative Dictionary 

 of the Polynesian Languages. His address showed that outside mere 

 Philology Mr. Tregear was able to take a wide grasp of the great 

 problems of anthropology. With the President's permission he took this 

 opportunity of introducing Professor Pond, who had just arrived from 

 Cambridge to take the Classical Chair in the New Zealand University 

 at Auckland. 



Prof. Pond considered it a high honour that he should, on his first 

 landing, have the opportunity of attending the meeting of such a 

 Society. He complimented Mr. Tregear on the admirable arrangement 

 of his new dictionary, — the method was excellent. He was told at 

 Cambridge before leaving, that he ought to consider it a high privilege 

 his being selected for his appointment in the New Zealand University 

 as the Examiners in England thought most highly of the work done by 

 the New Zealand students. 



Mr. Travers in seconding the vote of thanks spoke in flattering 

 terms of the address. 



2. Sir James Hector exhibited a young salmon which had been 

 caught in the Aparima River and forwarded to him by the Marine 

 Department. He said that there could not possibly be any mistake 

 with regard to the specimen being a true salmon. The fact that salmon, 

 after years of fruitless experimenting, had now been acclimatised, was 

 highly satisfactory, though he feared that the formation of our coast 

 line was such as forbade the return of salmon to their own rivers. 

 Should however the salmon prove its attachment to the streams in 

 which they were hatched, the colony would have gained a most valuable 

 asset and one which it would be well to protect with the greatest 

 care. 



3. Sir James Hector exhibited samples of the different coals and 

 rocks from the coal fields lately visited. With reference to the Black 

 Bull mine a tunnel of 1,230 feet had been driven to reach the coal and 

 two seams had been cut of first-class quality coal, making a total of 

 20 feet thick of coal. Samples of the rocks from the tunnel were also 

 described. Samples of the coal from the New Cardiff and Mohikinui 

 Company's lease were exhibited, and also samples from the Kaitangata 

 mine, Otago, and a number of fossils found in the new shaft at Castle 

 Hill (Kaitangata), were also on the table and desci-ibed. Samples of 

 coal from Orepuki were shown, together with a series of fossils from 

 the Middle Waipara in the northern district of Canterbury. These 

 latter were described as being geologically of the very greatest impor- 

 tance on account of the presence of Belemnites australis in association 

 with Dicotyledonous leaves, and in the same boulders remains of 

 Leiodon haumuriensis, this being the first time that these secondary 

 fossils have been found in the Canterbury District. 



Wellington, 8th July, 1891.— Edward Tregear, Esq., F.R.G.S., 

 President, in the chair. 



New Member. — William Percival Evans, M.A^, Ph.D. 



