SCIENTIFIC WORLD

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 194, 15 May 1934, Page 11

SCIENTIFIC WORLD

Inauguration Recalled of N.Z. Institute THE GOVERNOR’S ADDRESS Interest in scientific matters generally has been quickened by the announcement of the inaugural meeting of the newly-constituted Royal Society of New Zealand, which will take place to-morrow morning at Victoria University College. The new body was originally established as the New Zealand Institute in 1807, which after 05 years of notable service to the contribution of knowledge on subjects relating particularly to New Zealand, was reconstituted last year as the Royal Society of New Zealand. The New Zealand Institute was established under an Act of the General Assembly of New Zealand in 1867, its first board of governors being the Governor, the Colonial Secretary, and the Superintendent of Wellington (all three ex-officio), and the Hon. Colonel T. M. Haultain, the Hon. Sir David Munro, Mr. James Edward Fitzgerald, Mr. W. L. T. Travers, F.L.S., Dr. James Hector, and Mr. Alfred Ludlam. The manager was Dr. James Hector, and the honorary secretary and treasurer the Hon. Colonel Haultain. The rules of the institute provided for the incorporation with it of certain learned societies, it being stipulated that each society should consist of not less than 25 members, for the promotion of art, science, or such other branch of knowledge for which it was associated. The original societies incorporated were the Wellington Philosophical Society, the Auckland Institute, the Philosophical Society of Canterbury, and the Westland Naturalists’ and Acclimatisation Society. The of-fice-bearers of the Wellington Philosophical Society were: President. Sir George Grey: vice-presidents, Rt. Rev. C. J. Abraham (Bishop of Wellington). Dr. I. E. Featherston (Superintendent 1 of Wellington) ; council, Dr. J. Hector, Messrs. W. L. T. Travers, R. Hart, R Pharazyn, and J. C. Crawford. Sir George Bowen’s Address. The inaugural address to the New Zealand Institute was delivered by the Governor, Sir George Ferguson Bowen, G.C.M.G., on August 4, 1868. His Excellency said the field of science might be compared to a clearing in one of New Zealand’s primeval forests, where the more trees a settler felled, the greater appeared the expanse of wood around him. And ft might almost be said that every colonist in a new and unexplored country was, unconsciously, more or less of a scientific observer. “For example,” his Excellency said, “the first discovery of the mineral treasures which are now fast yielding up their riches to us—of our coal, our gold, our copper, and our iron—is due not so much to scientific research as to ehance, if that term can be properly applied to any of the great dispensations of Providence. . . Our extensive coalfields are storehouses of wealth, which even now contribute in no slight degree toward our material welfare and our expanding commerce. What the future may bring forth it is not for man to foretell with confidence; but certainly coal has been the instrument by which the steam-engine, and others of the most wonderful inventions of modern times, have been enabled to triumph over time and space. Influence of Gold Discovery. “Again I trust that industry, guided by science, will develop still further our goldfields. It should never be forgotten that while the gold discoveries have accelerated by at least a hundred years what without them would, have been the comparatively gradual progress of the Australasian group of colonies, they have also powerfully facilitated the removal of commercial restrictions, and the advancement of social improvement in the parent State, adding immensely at the same time to the general trade and wealth of the British Empire, and of the entire civilised world.” Stressing the importance of technical and scientific education in a day when such was looked upon in a very different light to what it is now, his Excellency concluded by saying: “It would, indeed, ill become me, as a grateful son of the University of Oxford, to utter a single word of disparagement of the study of ethics, mathematics, history, and classical literature; or of the intellectual vigour and grace derived from the contemplation of the pure models of antiquity. Still, in common with the foremost philosophers, scholars, and statesmen of the present day, I am convinced that it is no longer wise, or even politically and socially safe, to cultivate exclusively those branches of learning. The intellect of the existing generation appears to be most progressive in the physical and natural sciences; and the treasures won from them seem the richest heirlooms which we can bequeath to our posterity.” In view of the importance of the inauguration of the newly-constituted body, the Wellington Philosophical Society has arranged a reception to members of the Royal Society, and has drawn up a programme to last over two days.