POLYNESIAN SOCIETY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVIII, Issue 81918, 16 February 1907, Page 3

POLYNESIAN SOCIETY.

I'IK'IiTKKNTIt AXNCAL MISUTIXG. Tlie I'ourteeiilh annual meeting of (he Polynesian Sieiely was nrid at Mr F. I'. C'orkiU's ollica last night. There were present, amongst others, \!i S. I'erey Smith (President), Messrs Corkil!, Govett, Newman, an,! Skinner. AaXI'AL ULPOIiT. 'J lie President presented tlie annual report, as follows: The Cuii.icd has t-j report to this annua! nieelmg dim 110 striking le.iLure has marked the proceed,ligs of the Society during the past twelee months. I.'his i., li.eluartivifcli annual in i-ting, and te,,' -..id i.,| tin> lil'uviiJi vrar ot • air c.\isle;;ec as a Society. line ob-

jects tor which tile Society was lonia!ed, liajuei}. 111.' preservation oi or.gi na! matter connected with the Polynesian race, na\e lieen iairly wvli carried out, and our "".loui'iiar—the medium of siicj t preservation—has appeared, so tar as the til-Si, two uaiterly numbers are concerned, with regularity. tint owing to tiie disastrous lire in \\ ellington, in which the large printing establishment of Messrs Wliitcoinlio and Tombs was completely destroyed, we lost the entire issue of the third nuinlier of the ' Mournal," just before it was sent ut to members, lhis involved the reprinting of the whole, and likewise a delay in issuing the December number. The Society lost also the whole of tiie blocks used in the illustration, even from the very first. It is hoped that "Journal" wilt in future issue with its usual k),'The original ma I ter we have on hand is now very considerable, much of which is of great value, and it should lie made available for the benefit of our members, and students of Polynesia" matters. There is a large amount ol such matter in t'iie Maori

I;ink r yet niiieb in llk- iliuieet, which has liili'ly been milled to by tin- loan of the papers left, by tlie lain He v. W. Wyatl (jill, LL.i)., the well-known author of many works on the Polynesians, which papers liavebeen sent to lIS for publication by Jiis son, Dr. J. HaeDonald liill, of SyJiiey. \\« also iuive tlie late Mr Ferguson s eolleetion of -Mauri notes, sonc us by Jlr A. C. \ ai'borQiigb, of llokianga, wiiieli require editing and arranging. Our ni st industrious member, .Mr Jiisden l!ct, has in hand a history of the Urewera tribes, their manners and customs, which, from what hi! tells us, will be of dimensions, and, moreover, there are numerous other documents that should find a place in our publications. Without reckoning new matter, which constantly accrues, the manuscripts enumerated above would take some years to work oil', unless the size of Ihe "Journal" could be increased, an 1 of this there does not appear to be much prospect. \\ itli regard to the iMaori Dictionary now being compiled by the Jiev. 11. \V. Williams, we understand that fair progress is being made, but it will yet lake some time before it appears, l'ew people who have not engaged in similar work can understand tlie labour implied in such a task. Some of the results of Mr Williams' visit to the Cape to inspect file CJrey collection there deposited have appeared in our "•lournal," but the consent of the Cape Legislature to the transference of these

valuable documents to New Zealand ! has so far not been obtained. The Lower House of the Cape Parliament passed a J til i authorising the transaction, but the Upper House did not see iu way to concur, so matters remain as they were, for the present. T:ie Xitic vocabulary is going slowlv very slowly—through the Governna iil I'riiuing OHice. During the year arrangements have lu'cn mad" Willi tin- Hoard of Kducatinn to lodge our library in tlx- new technical Nclxml, where there wid be more room. and. moreover, as it is a brick building, it wili be safer. The thanks of the Society are due !o the Borough Council for having given s'mclt.er to «mv librarv during the hist six years. ' ■ ( Death has, as usual, removed several of our members, amongst whom may be mentioned Karepa Te Whetu. a former frequent contributor to the ".lournal 1 ; Paariki, of 'Knrotonga; Hi' (J. T. Wilkinson, of Otorohanga; Sir W. (i. Biwter, l-.U.5., and Ku lloweti. of the Hay oflslands. On the Ist January, 1007, our nutu'her were a follows: Patron, J; honorary members, ti; corresponding members, 14; ordinary members, 10:}; total, lSi. Tlie above ligues show a decline of two members as compared with last year. At the 31st December our correspondence, papers, etc.. ceased to go free through the Post OHice within the British Empire. This will make a considerable difference to the Society, unless the Government, in consideration of Iho public nature of the work ; that we are doing, ean see their way

t-> make us an allowance, which haa been applied for. The Society Ims spent 11 ji to the present time over C2.">o» ill preserving to future generations the records of the iiistory, mann «r«, unci customs, etc., of the'P»lvn<»iau race, and wc think we are entitled lo consideration on that ground. H.VIjAXCE-SIIEET. The .baJant-c'slieet show Mil ifccejj.ts lor tile past year amounbd lo l.'is 8,1, of which till' principal items were CI I!) 17s lid from incinliers' subscriptions and sale Oi ''.louriials." and C 7.1 ids .1,1 era ill from Die (loverninent in aid of publication of Maori dic.ionary. 'IIn- principal expenditure was till |!is 4d fur printing tlircj volumes of the ".Journal, - ' and .C7o ,10s od expenses on account of Maori dictionary. leaving a credit of £37 lid, against which was a liability of 17s (id to Whiteonibe and Tombs

for printing the tlurd quarterly "•Journal." The capital account 'totalled CIII Is Jd bearing interest. After an interesting discussion, the report and balance-sheet were adopted on the motion of ill- Corkill, seconded by .Mr (lovett, an,l ordered to be published in the next issue of the "•Journal." KliKc-TioN of ui i k President, .Mr S. Percy Stnilh, I'Yli.fl.S., re-elected. .Members of Council—Messrs l'\ P. Corkill, (~' Parker, and M\ 11. Skinner, tlie retiring member-. r,-idected. Mr W. 11. Skim. -e:ecel'd Secretary ami J!r .'.'ebster Auditor. V rrespomling Member.--!,, 0 of the corresponding members having died during the year tlie motion of the President, .Mr 11. T. Whaiaoro was elected. -Mr 11. I). M. Ilarrod, District Survey r. ami .Mr P ||. Park, of the 11 ,- ai( 11 Deparfnienl, were elected ordinary numbers. A unanimous vote of l.lianks from tlie Society was tendered the President for his devoted work in the editing f tin; ".loiiniat."