ANNUAL MEETING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8041, 31 January 1906, Page 2

ANNUAL MEETING.

The annual meeting of the Poly- i nesian Society was held in the Town Hall, New Plymouth, on Tue.day, There were present: —Mr S. Percy Smith (President), Mcs<r.<. O. Samuel, M. Fraser. P. P. Oil-kill, W. K-rr, J. U. Hoy, W. L. New,inn. li. O. Hughes, and \V. 11. Skinner (lion. S-.v.1. ax.stai, !(i:i'oiir. The anmt il ivpn-1 of I lie Cmii-il for the year ending :!lsl IleeiMib -r l;i>t, which will be„ printed in the Society's journal, was presented as follows and adopted:— The Council of the Society Ims pleasure in reporting to the annual meeting for the I'ourlcenth lime since Ihe foundation of (lie Sociely. Nothing very prominent lius marked the year jusl passed, except I lie loss of some prominent members through death. Amongst these must be mentioned Captain P. W, Hutton, P.U.S., Curator of the Canterbury Museum,

who died on the voyage out from England on his return from a well- 1 deserved holiday. Not only the ' Society, but New Zealand at large, 1 loses in him a man who occupied Ihc highest 1-auk in the roll of our scientific men. The Hon. Captain C. W. A. T. Kenny, M.L.C., also passed away during the year after a lengthened ueriod of ill-health, lie was one of our original members, aijd a genial, kiudly gentleman of a high stain]). We have also had four resignations during the year, three of whom were original members. It is, of course, natural that our original members must, in process of time, disappear from our roll. Out of the 110 original members who formed the Society in IS!>2, there are only 111 now left, Some members' names have also been si ruck oil for non-payment of their subscriptions, so that on the Ist January, I'JOli, our members stood as follows Patron, 1; honorary members, !); corresponding members, l(i; ordinary members, KM. This shows an increase of only three members during the year, which is not, we think, as it should be, when it is considered that this Society is really doing, what in most other countries, is done by their Governments, i.e., the preservation and publication of original documents connected with the history of the country and with the race which preceded our occupation. In the publication of our quarterly "Journal," and the incidental expenses connected with carrying on of the Society since its foundation, we have expended a sum of £21.13, including about £9l) pi id to the capital account. For this expenditure we have published I t volumes of Transactions and Proceedings, the value of which are acknowledged, more particularly by the Societies with which we cxchaigc publications. It is obvious this could not have been accomplished with )ut the aid of many writers, who, together willi the ofli.-ers of the Society, have given their services gratuitously, Ihc only assistance the Society have had, has been the concession made by the New Zealand Government, in alloying our postal matter to go free to all pirts of the British Empire. Without this concession our balance sheet for the last twelve months would have been ou the wrong side, A subject that caused the Council some anxiety is our library, Through , the kindness of the Borough Council of New Plymouth, the largest part of our books, etc., are given free sloragc ; bill I hey increase iu volume so rapidly that there is no longer space IV.r them iu ; the Borough Council Chamber, and all the later additions lo Ihc library are stored with the President or Secretaries, and are therefore not available for references. AVhaf | the Council would be glad to see, is a room provided in which all our books and documents could be placed in proper order, with aceonunoI dalion lor those who might wish to I avail themselves of the many valuable . works the library contains. During < the last year Mr Harry ,Skinner has , rearranged part of the books and [. commenced a catalogue of them. > The supply of original papers coni tiuues [ many of thein in Maori, which , require translation These later are f of especial value, Il is to be regretted, however, that we receive so few papers . from outside New Zealand, for the i Council does not desire to see our ° transactions become of too local a t character. There are many gentle- [. men within the area defined by the r term " Polynesia" in our rules', who < are quite capable of adding largely to our "Journal."

The treasurer's accounts attached hereto, show the total receipts (inclusive of Inhmce brought forward) to be £203 tls 3d, and the expenditure to be £l'j;l 5s 7d, leaving a balance in hand of £lO 5s i)d towards next year's expenditure. The capital account now stands at £IOO 17s od. This fund has only once been drawn ou during the past 11. years, viz., in copying Mr Christian's long list of words in several dialects of Indonesia and Polynesia, and part of the sum spent in this work has been refunded to the capital account. It was originally started to provide means for publishing special memoirs. We are as usual indebted to Mr R. Couphind Harding tor the compilation of the index to the hist volume, and also to Mr W. D. Webster for auditing our accounts.'

The treasurer reported on the state of the finances, showing that the society's position had improved to the extent of .Co during the year. A number of back numbers of the journal had been purchased for Samoa, South Australia, and America. ui.mrnox ok omcKiis. In nominating Mr Percy Smith tor re-election as President for ihe third term, Mr W. H. Skinner paid a warm tribute to the valuable assistance rendered the society by that gentleman. Mr Smith s assistance to the Polynesian Society was recognised bv members of the society throughout the world. For years past he had done practically all the translation work for Polynesia. His valuable services as editor of the journal were generally recognised. 11l seconding the motion, Mr 0. Samuel said he would be very sorry indeed should the society lose the services of so valuable and enthusiast iu a resident as Mr Smith. Mr Smith was then re-elected. Messrs W. Kerr, W. H. Skinner, and J. 11. Parker, who retired, from the committee by ballot, were re-elected to the position, the other members of the committee being .Messrs Fraser, I'. P. Corkill and W. L, Newman. Mr W. D. Webster was re-elected auditor,

Tin; maoiins, Mr Hoy said the cpicslion of Ihe storing the society's library was a very important one. lie was id' opini >ll that an ellort should be made lo secure ji room ill the new Technical Sc.lio >l. I'ho building was to be built in brick, ai|d Ihe (Society's properly would be safe from destruction there, The President believed I lie authorities would meet the Society in the matter, especially if the students were allowed to use the books. Very few 'people had any idea of the value of the books of the Society, many of which were out of print, and could not he replaced in thii event of the library being destroyed by lire. On the proposal of Air Samuel il was resolved to communicate with Ihe authorities oil flic mailer

Air Samuel proposed a vote of il|aii].;s to (lie President and olljccrs of tl\e Society for their work during Ihe pas| year. Their labors were purely labors of love, and the members and .New Zealand generally were indebted to them for llicir Worl;. Air li. Hughes seconded the motion. The work tlyit w.is being done by Ihe Sucjcly iu the preservation of Polynesian works and records was id' immense value. The proceedings then terminated.

MB PUIiSS ASSOCIATION CuiusTcilt'iicil, January 30. William Kennedy, a farmer at Kreenpark, was gored by a bill 1 to-day, mid died from the shock.