WELLINGTON PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5131, 3 September 1877, Page 3

WELLINGTON PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.

The meeting of this society held on Saturday evening was not so well attended as usual, owing no doubt to the inclemency of the weather. Mr. W. T. L. Travers, the President, occupied the chair, and announced that Mr.-A. J. Maginity, M.S.T.E., and Mr. J. J. Cherrett had since last meeting been elected members of the society. Attention was also drawn to several additions to the library, viz., publications on the survey of the United States and other works received through the Smithsonian Institute, further works on results of the Novara expedition, and sun and weather reports from the Philosophical Society of New South Wales. Mr. Coleman PuiLLiPsjtben read his paper on “ A peculiar method of Arrow Propulsion as observed by the Maoris.” The author gave an interesting description of how the arrows were thrown by means of a string, which he illustrated before the meeting with a model. He expressed surprise that, as far as he was aware, nothing was known of the bow among the Maoris, a weapon so commonly used by natives of other islands. The President, in inviting discussion on this paper, regretted that Mr. White had not been able to attend the meeting, as he felt sure that that gentleman would have afforded interesting information on the subject. Mr. White hoped to be able to deposit a large collection of such weapons in the Museum, Mr. Carkcthers said that the absence of the bow among the Maoris was certainly curious; but the same might be said of the Malay race, who were familiar with the smelting of iron, while the Maoris knew nothing of it. It was proof that in the migration of the Maori race certain arts were lost.

Mr. Grace, who had been in New Zealand from his youth, said that the bow and arrow was a common weapon in the interior with the Maori youths, and he believed that it was originally used by the natives. It was, however, foundby them to be an inconvenient weapon in the bush, and hence their reason for adopting the plan mentioned by Mr. Phillips. The Maori scarcely ever throw a spear by hand ; they used the string twisted round a fork in the spear. The notch mentioned by the author was new to him.

The President read a paper on “ Grasses and Fodder Plants” by Dr. Curl, being a continuation of a paper by the same author read last year, and printed in Yol. IX. of “ The Transactions.” The Hon. Mr. Holmes considered this a most important paper, as on the proper cultivation of grasses would depend in a great measure the future prosperity of the colony. At the present time a very small variety were grown, and not sufficient to last throughout the year for pasture ; the principal grasses in use being the ryegrass (Lolium'porenne), Cocksfoot (Dactylus glornerata), Timothy grass (Phleum pratense), Dutch clover (Trefolium repeus), red clover (Trifolium pratense); and the cow grass (Trifolium medium.) Of the latter the cow grass was the moat valuable. He believed that some of those mentioned by Dr. Curl were among the best that could be introduced. He had himself two consignments on their way to New Zealand, of about twenty-two different varieties, that he believed would be of peculiar value to this country. If they proved successful, it would make a vast improvement in the permanent pasture of the colony. With regard to ergot, he did not consider it peculiar to the ryegrass, nor did its presence indicate any falling off in the quality of the grass, and there is no reason why the grass should fail in consequence of it. As an instance that nature had made provision for a great variety, it might be mentioned that a square foot of ground that had not been broken up for years, was found on examina- ' tion to contain seventeen different varieties. The President stated that the Canterbury Society had offered a prize for information regarding ergot. But it seemed strange that the valuable information on this subject af-

forded by Dr. Berggren in his paper printed in the “ Transactions of the New Zealand Institute,” should have been entirely overlooked. Ho thought that by good draining ergot might bo kept down; excessive moisture was favorable to it. • He considered Dr. Curl’s paper of great importance. M. Carruthers read a paper on “ A System of Weights and Measures,” in which it was proposed to change the radix of counting from 10 to 10, and to adopt the latter number as the radix for all weights and measures. Dr. Newman did not altogether object to the decimal system, it was most useful in some cases. He considered 12 a better number than 16. - It was generally felt that the discussion of this paper should be postponed in order that members might have an opportunity of studying it. The meeting adjourned until next Saturday week.