N. Z. INSTITUTE.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1661, 30 January 1913, Page 3

N. Z. INSTITUTE.

ANNUAL MEETING OP BOARD. FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES. STATEMENT BY HON H. D. BELL

The annual meeting of the Board of Governors of tho Neiv Zealand Institute was held in the. Museum yesterday. There wore present: Mr. F. Cheesemaii, IMj.S. (president), the Hon. H. D. Bell (Minister for Internal Affairs), Messrs. A. Hamilton, A. H. Tumbull, and J. Young (nominated by tho Governor), Mr.' Martin Chapman, K.C., and Professor Kirk (Wellington Philosophical Society), Dr. Cockayne (Nelson Institute), Dr. D. Petrie, M.A., and Mr. J. Stewart, C.E. (Auckland Institute), Professor Marshall and Mr. G. M. Thomson, M.P. (Otago Institute), Mr. A. Wilson (Manawatu Philcsophical Society), Dr. Coleridge Farr and Mr. li. Speight (Canterbury Philosophical Institute), Mr. W\ Hessel (Wanganui Philosophical Society), and Mr. B. C. Aston (Government Analyst), who is acting as secretary. Apologies for absence were received from Messrs. C. A. Eweu and H. S. Hill.

. Presidential Address. The president delivered a brief address setting forth the" position of the institute and the work done during the year. A deputation had approached the, Prime Minister to ask for a grant of '£250 to pay up arrears of the cost of printing the record of the transactions of tho institute. As a result, a sum of J250 had been placed upon tho Supplementary Estimates, and approved by Parliament. Ho trusted that this welcome addition to the funds would shortly.be followed by a permanent enlargement of the annual grant. Tho financial statement showed that the total receipts of tho instituo,' including tho balance of X 389 18s. Bd. in hand at the beginning of tho year, to havo been .£1229 ss. 2d. The total expenditure had been ,£IO7B 3s„ 9d., tho two chief_,items baring been .£6lB 12s. Gd. in payment of the cost' of Volume ii of the transactions, and ohe of JC2SO on account of Volume 41. The balance in:hand was .£lsl, but against, this must be placed tho amount of .£292, duo to tho Government Printer .on account of Volume ii of the Transactions, so tbat the institute was thus in debt to the amount of ,£l4l. If the institute was successful in obtaining a permanent addition to the statutory grant, or if another special grant of £230 were obtained, funds would bo available for the issue of a volume of Transactions of average size, but without additional - income thero would still . remain an indebtedness to the Government Printer. He suggested that, in order to reduce the cost of printing, publication of proceedings of incorporated societies should.be discontinued, and that the funds thus saved should be devoted to the quarterly or half-yearly publication of the transactions. Ho referred to the fact that the library was most inadequately housed and inconveniently arranged; it was stored in.a wooden; building which might at any time be destroyed by fire, and it .required tho. constant care and attention of some competent person. To his mind; the present state' of the library was a disgrace to both the Government and the-Institute, and should be rectified as .soon as possible. Mr. Hamilton had suggested' that the Institute should support tho proposal made to Parliament in the report of the Museum and Scientific Departments Committee, where it was recommended that the whole of the scientific literature belonging to tho Government, together with the library of the institute, should bo conjoined to form a general library of scientific worki. Much could be said in favour of such a scheme, for the institute was .without' funds to build a library of its own. The subject ijaara little complicated on' hccojipt.of'the muniber of independent 'libraries which' it was .'proposed !to include in .tlio scheme, and; also from the . uncertainty respect.ing.the'6wnership;pf some.of the books, but-these wero".difficultiesi'which tact and

careful negotiation would probably . remove. The Minister is Encouraging. The Hon. H. D. Bell, K.C., spoke of the reference made by tho chairman to an increase in the grant. He said he had no doubt that the matter would be dealt with next session. "In tho meantime," he continued, "'I may say, so far as my -memory goes, it is not'necessarily tho Government's intention to limit tho allowance for the past year .to- tho sum of .£250, because there was a Mini due to the Government which might be the sub; jc-ct of other representation. However, I should have to discuss that with Mr. Fisher. That matter of immediate urgency of finance can be disposed of to tho satisfaction of yourselves and tho Government. (Hear, hear.) Turning to the question which has so ably been discussed by Mr. Thomson in Parliament—the question of the establishment of tho Museum in a proper building which should contain the valuable exhibits and these books —the institute had necessarily to be disappointed. I think I convinced even Mr. Thomson of that, though I did not succeed in convincing Mr. Hamilton. It _ was purely a question of the financial exigencies of tho Government. The control of the museum is distinct from the construction of tho building, and the establishment of the. Museum in a suitable home. The Government is in unison with the governors, and tho committee of Parliament, nnd as I have said in my letter, I do not doubt that a measure will be introduced into Parliament next session, which, the Government has reason to hope, will be satisfactory to the institute. (Hear, hear.) We can't hops to satisfy everybody. Speaking not for the Govern" ment, but entirely, for myself,. I am not satisfied with the Board of Control pronosed by the Committee of the House, and I myself should not propose a board exactly on the lines'stated in the report of the committee. With regard to scientific publications, there can be no doubt that tho Governors have raised a question which should be dealt with. I have already stated my personal view in the letter, and I have no doubt that is tho view of my colleagues. I have not been able to ascertain the views of the several Departments which Mo concerned in scientific publications, entirely outside the institute's transactions. There arc questions of plans and charts which require the consideration of every Department of the'Stato before uniformity can. he arrived at. I doubt very much whether a volume of tho present size will be approved by the Departments, and it is not desirable to alter the size of the volumes if it is possible to preserve it. I hope to be able to arrive at an agreement b'etwfen the several Departments, and I trust myself wo shall bo able to preserve the same size of volume. I think' that the Board of Advice -which has been suggested bv Mr. Thomson, is quite satisfactory, with one exception. I should like to ask the judges of the, Supreme Court to elect one of their number tn that board and also to the Museum Board. (Hear, hear.) T do not propose that the Government should appoint - Judge, because there are obvious objections to that, but the Judges of the Supreme Court can be. trusted to make a satisfactory selection."

The Hector! Medal. The Hector medal'was awarded to 1 Professor Ea'sterfield. Mr. G. M. Thomson read a letter from Professor W. G. .Evans protesting aeainst the terras now prescribed for the award of the Hector Prize, on' the 'ground that they restricted tho scientific research for which the prize was to be awarded to New Zealand subject matter. Dr. Cockayne agreed thai the. terms of the Deed of Trust were in direct contravention of the resolutions of the Board of Governors. All that the Board of Governors had intended was that the'research work should' be done in New Zealand, and not necessarily oh New Zealand matter. > It was decided tojinstrnct the solicitors to advise as to' whether the, conditions governing the award of tho Hector Prize could bo altered in such a way as to give 'effectf to tho expressed intentions of the Board of Governors. < Dr. Cookayne,' discussing, the terms under which the Hutton'medal muft be 'awarded, pointed out that the conditions did not permit of tho riiedal being awarded for a series of brilliant researches;'but only for one piece of • research iivqrky .'Ho gavo notice of his intention to move.that'

stops be taken to have the regulations so altered as to permit of an award being nindo for a series of researches, as well as for one research alone.

Publishing Difficulties. The report of tho Publications Committee was discussed at length, and finally adopted.

On the motion of Mr. A. Hamilton, itwas resolved that the minutes of the proceedings of the institute and its branches l>e published only in the annual volume, and not quarterly as at present, and, further, that tho records of proceedings bo severely cut down by the editor before publication. It was further resolved that it be a recommendation to tho Publications Committee that the transactions be published as soon as possible at more frequent intervals than once a year. A long discussion ensued on the general method to be followed in the future in the publication of the transactions and proceedings of the institute. The Scientific Advisor}' Committee of the House of Representatives recommended tho Government last session to publish in uniform shape all scientific matter in Departmental reports, which is now most often buried amongst other matter in Blue-books and the like, and in different forms, so that it cannot be collated into one volume. The proposal is that tho Government shall undertake, the separato publication of all vahiable scientific work, and it was suggested that the proceedings and transactions of the institute might como under this heading. This' latter point raised the question of control— whether the institute or the Advisory Board should . say whether the matter submitted by the institute for publication was fit for publication .or not. The majority of the members thought tho institute should reserve, to itself absolute control, and it was eventually decided to retain the present system of publishing the transactions.

Mr. G. M. Thomson then proposed that it be a recommendation to the Government that tho annual grant to the institute be incrensed from ,£SOO to The Hon. 11. D. Bell pointed out to members that the institute was only just finaneinl now with .£750, and this did not provide for a payment to the secretary. They had decided* to go on publishing the transactions themselves, and an annual grant of did not seem to be adequate. He did not suggest .that they ought to apply for a larger grant, but ho warned them that while he was in charge of the scientificdepartments of the Government he would liever sanction supplementary grants from year to year. 1 The motion was carried, The report of the librarian was adopted. The report recommended that the institute should support the suggestion of the Museum and Scientific Departments Committee of the House that a conjoined scientific library should be established v:ith some person permanently in charge. A special motion in support of this was carried, which motion urgedalso that the institute should be given more liberal reoresentation on the Board of Control to, .have charge of the librarv, museum,'and art gallery.

Election of' Officers. The election of officers for 1913 TesnHed ns follow:—President, Professor Chilton (Ckristchurch): honorary treasurer; Mr. C. A. Ewen: joint editors. Mr. It. Speight, M.A., and' Professor Chilton; miblieations committee. Professor Chilton, Dr. Benhani (Otago), Dr., Coleridge Farr (Christchurch), Mr. G. M. Thomson (Otngo); lion, librarian, Mr. A..Hamilton; secretary, Mr. B. C. Aston; Ilecfor Award Committee for 10U (subject, ethnology), Dr. BaldwinSnencor (Melbourne Museum VMr. Robert Etheridgo (Sydney Museum), and Mr. T. Cheesman (Auckland Museum); honorary members. Mr. .Botting Heinsl»v. 4i botanist, of Km; England, and Professor W. M. Davis; geographer, of Harvard University. ■ , _ It. was decided-that flip next .annual meeting 1>» held at Wellington on Friday, January,3o, 191}. . Votes of thanks were accorded to the honorary editors for their services during the past year. .