PHILOSOPHICAL INSTITUTE.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17939, 6 December 1923, Page 9

PHILOSOPHICAL INSTITUTE.

ANNUAL MEETING.

The annual meeting of the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury was held last night, Dr. F. W. Hilgendorf presiding over a large attendance. The annual report and balance-sheet (a summary of which has already appeared jr. "The Press") was adopted. The following officers were elected ; President, Mr M. H. Godfrey; vicepresidents, Dr. F. W. Hilgendorf and Mr G. K Archey; honorary secretary, Mr C. E. FoweraKer; honorary treasurer, Dr. G. Chilton; honorary librarian, Miss Jbi. M. Herriott; couacil, Drs. D. B Macieod, H. G. Denham and O. U. Farr, Professor R. Speight, Mr L. P. Symes and Mx A. M. vvright; representatives on Board of Governors ol tiio New Zealand Institute, Dr. C. .0. Farr and Mr A. M. Wright; honorary auditor, Mr J. 0. Jameson. Mr E. H. Hogg moved: "That the Institute desires to enter a strong protest against the great delay whicn nas occurred in' the publication of the Transactions of the N.Z. Institute aa detrimental to the interests of scientific workers in the Dominion, and calculated to discourage research. The Institute is of the opinion that the whole question of publication should be caretully corsidered by the Board of Governors of the N.Z. Institute." Mr Hogg stated that the 1921 Transactions had not been published, and it would probably be 1924 before members saw them. Hie value of the reports was very seriously diminished by the delay. Dr. C. Chilton seconded the motion, saying that the younger members of the Institute had been greatly discouraged by the delay, and that some had been hindered from writing at all. 'Hw Council had done what it could. The speaker had received a letter from Mr Wright, who 6tated that he had seen an luibdhnd copy of the 1921 Transactions on Monday. It would be issued, nominally, in December, but members would not get copies until 1924. The motion was carried unanimously. Papers on "The Genus Cryptops in New Zealand," by Mr G. E. Archey; "The Chemistry of Flesh Floods," by Mr A. M. "Wright; "Some New Zealand Amphipoda," and "The Occurrence in South America, of the Isopod Higia Novae Zelandiae" (wood-louse), both by Dr. C. Chilton, and "Studies on the Crane-Flies of New Zealand, I't. 1," by Dr. 0. P. Alexander, Amherst, Mass., UiJ.A., were received. Mr Edgar F. Stead described his paper on "The Frilled Shag in New Zealand." He stated that there were three varieties of shags in this country, "the little black," the "white throated," and the "frilled." The first began life black, and remained black, the second began black and ended up in manv cases black and white, and the third began pied and remained pied. lie stated that there had been a most extraordinary mix-up regarding the shags, and modern writers had stated that the frilled variety did not exist in New Zealand. The white-throated shag was wholly resident in New Zealand, but the frilled also occurred here. Mr Stead exhibited a collection of 6kins, which he said showed that there was a big probability of inter-breeding between members of the frilled and whitethroated varieties.