NELSON INSTITUTE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume II, Issue 34, 11 February 1867, Page 2

NELSON INSTITUTE.

The following is the annual report of the Committee of the Nelson Institute, for the year endiug 31st December, 1866 : — In reporting upon the proceedings of the Institute during the past year, the Committee are glad to be able <o state that the number of members is steadily increasing, and that the funds of the society are in a better position than they have been for some years past. The exhibition held in March last yielded a nett profit to the Institute of £47 Os. 4d., and this has enabled the Committee to add considerably to the Library, JSO volumes of popular modern works haviug been added during the past year, including 33 volumes from the Book Club. The two remaining rooms upstairs have been let to Mr. Pollock, the Inspector in Bankruptcy, at a rental of £30 per annum, which, with the rooms let to the Chamber of Commerce and the Governors of Nelson College, yield a gross rental of £77 per annum. The new specimens contributed to the Museum have accumulated to such an extent, that the present room ia not large enough to exhibit them to advantage. The Committee have therefore ordered glass cases to be placed in the further part of the reading-room, by which space for several hundred specimens will be provided. Another reason why the Museum is not as instructive as it might be made, consists in the fact that many interesting miuerals have not been examined or named by competent authorities. The Committee have much pleasure, therefore, in referring to the seasonable offer made by Dr. Hector, F.R.S., Director of the Geological Survey of New Zealand, who has expressed his willingness to devote the requisite time, at an early date, to the work of classifying and labelling the numerous minerals in the Museum, which have not as yet been arranged. The committee regret to report that no lectures have been delivered during the past year, but hope to be able to report more favorably on a future occasion, and would urge upon the members the desirabi-

lity of providing for this want by exerting themselves in supplying such a necessary and manifest element iv the successful working of the lustitute. In concluding this report the committee hope that the members will second their efforts in making the lustitute as attractive as possible, as "without the cordial assistance of the members, the committee can effect but little, while with a hearty co-operation the lustitute may speedily become in reality, what is at present but little more than a name. John Percy, Hon. Sec. February 8, 1867.