1919.j 
New Zealand Institute Science Congress. 
245 
to advance the cause of science. Then the late Mr. Augustus Hamilton 
occupied the chair, a man of wide knowledge with many scientific interests ; 
the author, too, of that splendid pioneer work Maori Art. Then came 
New Zealand’s premier botanist, Mr. T. F. Cheeseman, F.L.S., who has 
been a member of the Institute since its foundation, and whose first paper 
in the Transactions appeared in 1871, in the fourth volume. But not in 
pure science alone is Cheeseman truly great ; under considerable difficul¬ 
ties he has built up the admirable Auckland Museum. After Cheeseman 
came Professor Charles Chilton, D.Sc.. C.M.Z.S. Since he first joined the 
Institute in 1881 he has year by year added to the world’s knowledge of 
the Crustacea, so that now he is the foremost authority of the day on that 
group so far as the great Southern Hemisphere is concerned. Mr. Donald 
Petrie, M.A., was the next President. He has done much for the Institute. 
Paper after paper shedding a flood of light on the New Zealand flora, he has 
produced since the year 1879. He and the Hon. G. M. Thomson were 
the first to explore Stewart Island scientifically. Furthermore, Mr. Petrie 
is the leading authority on the classification of New Zealand grasses. 
Then (1916-17) Professor W. B. Benham, F.R.S., occupied the chair. He 
was the first representative of our men of science who had come much 
later into the Institute than the foregoing. His scientific work in New 
Zealand broke new ground when he carefully studied the earthworms and 
through this study threw great light on the relation of the New Zealand 
biological world to that of South America. 
Perhaps the most noticeable change brought about since the reorganiza¬ 
tion of the New Zealand Institute has been a considerable improvement 
both in the matter and in the mode of presentation of the papers published. 
The greater number of the papers which have appeared of recent years 
would have been accepted by the scientific journals of Great Britain or 
America, if the numerous papers strictly of local interest be excluded from 
this estimate. 
This too brief history of the New Zealand Institute has cleared the 
path for an account of what the Institute has done towards advancing 
science. This can be seen, in part, by giving a few statistics regarding 
the papers which have appeared in the fifty volumes of the Transactions. 
To begin with, the total number of papers in the fifty volumes is 3,117, 
making about sixty contributions each year. The above estimate does not 
include abstracts of communications published in the Proceedings ; if such 
are considered, the contributions of all kinds exceed four thousand. The 
whole of these papers, many the results of months of toil, have been pro¬ 
duced without pay of any kind, while many have represented no small 
monetary outlay. Only a few of the authors were professional scientific 
men ; most were daily engaged in other pursuits—they had only their few 
hours of leisure for study and research. All classes of the community have 
borne their share in the labour' of love : there are contributions by more 
than one Governor of the colony ; there are others by working-men. Class 
distinctions cease to be in the pages of these historic volumes. Taking 
the papers themselves, there are certainly various degrees of merit. Some 
have gained a place in the select scientific literature of the world—no 
mean achievement—while a few should never have been published. 
Generally speaking, there are not many papers which do not fill a want, 
and as a whole they shed a strong light upon the natural history of New 
Zealand, and tell not a little regarding the general progress of the Dominion. 
Surely no five hundred pounds yearly of the people’s money has been spent 
