1919 .] 
New Zealand Institute Science Congress. 
243 
The societies originally incorporated with the New Zealand Institute 
were the Wellington Philosophical Society, the Auckland Institute, the 
Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, and the Westland Naturalists’ and 
Acclimatization Society. A year later (1869) the Otago Institute was incor¬ 
porated, and in 1874 and 1875 the Hawke’s Bay Philosophical Institute. 
Each incorporated society had by statute to consist of “ not less than 
twenty-five members, subscribing in the aggregate a sum of not less than 
fifty pounds sterling annually for the promotion of art, science, or such 
other branch of knowledge for which it is associated.” Moreover, each 
incorporated society had to spend not less than one-third of its annual 
revenue towards a local public museum or library, or towards the exten¬ 
sion or maintenance of the museum and library of the New Zealand 
Institute. 
This provision has led to the building-up of scientific libraries in 
Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin, which, though inade¬ 
quate for many classes of research, have been and still are of no small 
benefit to New Zealand science. 
The most important feature of the New Zealand Institute was, however, 
that it provided, and at first adequately enough, for the publication of 
scientific papers of all kinds. This was made -possible by a statutory 
grant of £500 per annum—quite a bold step for a young colony, and one 
which showed great foresight in the Government of the day. The publi¬ 
cations were to consist of Transactions of the New Zealand Institute and 
Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute; the latter was to give a 
current abstract of the proceedings of the incorporated bodies and the 
former to consist of selected papers read before them. These two publi¬ 
cations are issued in one volume under the title Transactions and Proceed¬ 
ings of the New Zealand Institute , which,, in citation, is usually limited to 
Transactions of the New Zealand Institute , as the Proceedings are at best 
of mere local or ephemeral interest. So far fifty volumes have been 
published—fie., a volume every year since 1869. 
In addition to publishing scientific papers and forming a library, the 
Institute at first had control of the Colonial Museum, the Colonial Labora¬ 
tory, and the meterological records. All the above were under the 
direction of Dr. Hector, who was also Director of the Geological Survey. 
The inaugural meeting of the New Zealand Institute was held on the 
evening of the 4th August, 1868, “ when ” (so read the minutes of the 
meeting) “ many members of various local societies for the promotion of 
art and science assembled to listen to the inaugural address of the 
Governor,” who at that time was ex officio President of the Institute. 
In his prefatory remarks His Excellency, referring to the presence of so 
many members of the Legislature while an important debate was in 
progress in the House of Representatives, said their presence was “ a proof 
that the attractions of intellect and science could even triumph over the 
excitement of politics.” After His Excellency had delivered his address, 
which may be seen in volume 1 of the Transactions of the New Zealand 
Institute , Mr. Fox delivered a truly eloquent speech. I should like to 
quote it in full, but must be content with a few extracts. Everywhere, 
he said, describing what he had seen during his recent visit to Europe 
and Asia, the mighty developments of Western civilization were marvellous. 
It was something to see in Egypt—the cradle of learning, and the tomb 
of a past civilization—Western Europe taking back to her the results, of 
a little seed which ages ago had been sown on the banks of the mighty 
