REPORT OF THE NEW ZEALAND INSTITUTE, 1878.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5485, 25 October 1878, Page 2

REPORT OF THE NEW ZEALAND INSTITUTE, 1878.

We have received a copy of the tenth annual report of the New Zealand Institute. We extract the following particulars of general interest from its pages :•—* “ In accordance with tho Act the following members retired from the Board :—Mr. W, T. L. Travers, tho Hon. Mr. G. M. Waterhouse, and tho Hon. Mr. E. W, Stafford. The two former gentlemen were re-appointed, and Mr. Thomas Mason was appointed in the room of the Hon. Mr. Stafford. “In compliance with clause 7 of the Act, the Incorporated Societies elected the following : gentlemen as governors of the institute : —Mr. J. C. Crawford, F.G.S., Mr. Thomas Kirk, F.L.S., and tho Bishop of Nelson. “The honorary members elected under Statute IV. of the rules of tho institute aro:— His Excellency Governor F. A. Weld, C.M.G., Tasmania; Professor Spencer Baird, U.S.A.; and Dr. D. Sharp, Scotland.” The number of hon. members is 27 ; of ordinary, members 1116. Volume X. of the Transactions of the Society has been printed and circulated, but tho whole edition having been exhausted, none can bo offered for sale. In reference to tho Museum, we find that tho names of 15,000 visitors were entered during the past year. Tho herbarium is in a great measure still inaccessible to students, owing to there being no spaco for tho disposal of the gift from the British Museum, containing 28,000 species of plants. In speaking of the natural history collection, tho report says : The detailed study and classification of the collection is rapidly advancing, and arrangements have been made with the Education Department to secure the services of a wood engraver, so that the illustrations for tho new editions of the Natural History Catalogues, which are now out of print, may bo obtained in a form that will admit of thorn being also used for tho illustration of elementary text books for tho use of schools. Numerous additions have been made to the other- departments. Under tho heading ethnological, wo note the only important addition has been a collection of the weapons of tho Isle of Paris, New Caledonian natives, the most interesting of which are sling-stones made of steatite, which are projected from a sling made of cloth spun from tho hair of the flying fox. ~ A-valuablc addition has -been made to tho minerals by tho receipt of a collection of speej* mens from Canada, collected by Mr. A, B. C. 3olwjn»

The necessity for certain additions and repairs to the Observatory have been represented to the Government, and, in. particular, tha desirability of having a second rating clock, as at present, when the single astronomical clock is under adjustment, intervals occur during which the time-ball cannot be dropped with accuracy. The-accouuts show the receipts to have been £661 53. 4J., the expenditure £624 3s. bd., leaving a balance in baud of £37 Is. lOd, Two hundred and thirty-one analyses have been performed in laboratory during the year, n full account of which will be published separately.