NEW ZEALAND INSTITUTE: THIRTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT, 1900-1901.

Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1901 Session I, H-33

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1901. NEW ZEALAND.

NEW ZEALAND INSTITUTE: THIRTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT, 1900-1901.

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

Meetings of the Board were held on the 19th and 26th November, 1900, and 6th September, 1901. Messrs. Tregear, Young, and Sir J. Hector retired from the Board in compliance with the Act, and were all renominated by His Excellency the Governor. The following gentlemen were elected by the incorporated societies as Governors of the New Zealand Institute for the current year— viz., Mr. S. Percy Smith, Mr. Martin Chapman, and the Hon. C. C. Bowen. The members now on the roll are —Honorary members, 26; Auckland Institute, 156; Hawke's Bay Philosophical Society, 61; Wellington Philosophical Society, 154 ; Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 72; Otago Institute, 106; Nelson Philosophical Society, 12; Westland Institute, 51: making a total of 638. The volumes of Transactions now on hand are—"Vol. I. (second edition), 225; Vol. V. 6 - Vol. VI., 10; Vol. VII., 95; Vol. IX., 93 ; Vol. X., 123; Vol. XL, 23; Vol. XII., 25; Vol. XIII., 26- Vol. XIV., 48; Vol. XV., 160; Vol. XVI., 160; Vol. XVII., 162; Vol. XVIII., 128Vol. XIX., 153 ; Vol. XX., 154 ; Vol. XXI., 85 ; Vol. XXII., 87 ; Vol. XXIII., 163'; Vol. XXIV. 167; Vol. XXV., 162; Vol. XXVI., 172; Vol. XXVII., 168; Vol. XXVIII., 173; Vol. XXIX., 300 ; Vol. XXX,, 350; Vol. XXXI., 400 ; Vol. XXXII., not yet distributed. The volume just published (XXXIII.) contains sixty-three articles, and also addresses and abstracts which appear in the Proceedings ;it consists of 628 pages and twenty-three plates. The following is a comparison of the contents of the present volume and that for last year:— 1901. 1900. Pages. Pages. Miscellaneous... ... ... ... ... 156 162 Zoology ... ... ... ... ... 264 62 Botany ... ... ... ... ... 70 102 Geology ... ... ••• ... ... 10 68 Chemistry and Physics ... ... ... ... 38 16 Proceedings ... ... ... ... ... 44 38 Appendix ... ... ... ... ... 46 46 628 494 The cost of printing Vol. XXXII. was £338 lis. 6d. for 494 pages, and that for the present volume (XXXIII.) £384 14s. for 628 pages. This includes the preparation and printing of the plates. Prom the honorary treasurer's statement of accounts it appears that the amount received for the year was £961 lis. Bd., including the balance carried forward, and the expenditure £422 15s. 4d., leaving a balance in hand of £538 16s. 4d. Owing to the unfortunate destruction by fire of Part V. of the "Maori Art," considerable delay has been caused in issuing the complete work. The publication was again taken in hand, and Part V. will be delivered in the course of a week or so. Museum. There have been 120 entries in the books as additions to the Museum since last report, a list of which will be published in due course. The whole of the cases in the Museum have been cleaned and revarnished, and several important changes were made in the exhibits prior to the arrival of the B.oyal visitors, who inspected the collection. These changes afforded more space for the display of the specimens, and the large leading tickets were all renewed. Library. —The books in the library have been classified and arranged so that they can be referred to without difficulty with the assistance of the new catalogue published last year.

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Meteoeological. The returns of the principal stations for 1900 have been supplied as usual to the EegistrarGeneral to be included in his annual statistics, and the monthly rainfall returns from 176 stations have been regularly published in the Gazette. The monthly return for vital statistics has been supplied, and the weather exchange, by telegraph, is continued between this colony and Australia. Colonial Time-ball Obseevatoey. Mr. Thomas King, the officer in charge, reports as follows : The transit work in connection with the daily time service has proceeded as usual. Details of the observations are appended hereto, together with particulars of the rates of the standard clocks. The clocks have gone well throughout the year. The transit instrument has, of course, been frequently treated for adjustment. As in past years, hourly galvanometer signals have been sent from the Observatory to the Colonial Museum, and to the Telegraph-office, Wellington, and time has been distributed throughout the colony each morning at 9 o'clock. On chronometer-rating days, special signals have, as heretofore, been telegraphed to the chief ports of the colony for the convenience of navigators. The time-ball at Wellington has been dropped each day at noon (Sundays excepted). Approved. James Hectoe, Manager. Thomas Mason, Chairman. 6th September, 1901.

New Zealand Institute Accounts foe 1900-1901. Receipts. Expenditure. £ s. d. £ s. d. Balance .. .. .. .. 432 511 Printing Vol. XXXIII. (inoluding plates) .. 384 14 0 Vote for 1900-1901 .. .. .. 500 0 0 Expenses of library .. .. .. 20 0 0 Contribution from Wellington Philosophical Postage of volumes to foreign addresses .. 2 17 4 Society .. .. .. 11 11 0 Miscellaneous items .. .. .. 15 4 0 Saleof'Maor Art" .. .. .. 17 14 9 Balance in hand .. .. .. 538 16 4 £961 11 8 £961 11 8 Examined and found correct.—Wm. Thos. Locke Teavebs.'—sth September, 1901. Approximate Cost of Paper. —Preparation, not given; printing (1,375 copies), £1 6s. 6d.

By Authority: John Mackay, Government Printer, Wellington.—l9ol. Price 3d.]