ARCHITECTS' INSTITUTE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2633, 2 December 1915, Page 3

ARCHITECTS' INSTITUTE

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. In the course of Lis presidential address before _ the council of the New Zealand Institute of Architects yesterday, Ml'. W.C. Chatfield said:— "The association of the present occasion takes mc back to October 19, 1905, when this institute was.born, and those present on that occasion did me the very greatest honour of electing me its first and founding president, also its president for the_ subsequent year. At that period the initiation of this institute wss playfully referred to as tile birth of an infant prodigy, which was predicted to grow for the future advancement of all the interests of our profession, to cultivate its ascendancy in all its branches or skill, learning, proficiency, and the highest standard of personal character, not only of the matured professors of our noble art, but to educate , the younger members and students of the profession of architecture—also the general public—that those who founded this institute and have . watched the growth of that infant prodis;y may look along its career of youth with a justified feeling of pride and every hope for its briljiant future. What has been done during tlie last ton years for the benefit of our infant prodigy? In 1905 the first step was the fusing of tho scattered architectural units in this Dominion, the formation of an inscitute ; the framing of perhaps crude regulations for its government. The infant flourished apace until, on November 22, 1913, it became an established and constituted body corporate, with perpetual succession, under the New Zealand Institute of Architects Act, upon the Statute-book of the Dominion of New Zealand. Then followed the stupendous task of framing mora detailed and complete regulations for the good government of " the members and affairs of our institute, which were finally adopted at a general meeting of the institute on August 31 of this year. On September 20 following, the regulations so adopted were approved by the Governor-in-Council, and on October 7, 1915, duly gazetted. Copies of such regulations, printed in book form, have been circulated to each member. The various periods I have noted 1 , I venture to say, gentlemen,, show the remarkable career and healthy constitution of our infant prodigy, as evidence that- in 1905' there, was no institute in this Dominion, while to-day, in 1915, we are a strong institute ivith statutory recognition, ,a membership of 315 registered architect's, and a gazetted set of rules for its good government.

"I conic now to the most f«idamentil and imperatively essential point of all, the unhesitating loyalty, of the members of our institute to its rules, regulations, and governing body. What happens if the roughost, uneducatod specimen of labour is approached and asked, rightly or wrongly, to do something contraryto the regulations or instructions'of his trade union ? The answer is 'No. I must stand by my union and its instructions at any personal sacrifice if necessary.' How much more should we, professing a very high profession—one that embodies skill, knowledge, education, and the attributes of refinement—as men of honour and usntlomen, stand by the rules and regulations and code of ethics we ourselves have made, ■ and in doing so stiffen up he of'the weak knee?"