AUCKLAND INSTITUTE.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXV, Issue 3820, 16 November 1869, Page 4

AUCKLAND INSTITUTE.

The last jaeeting of the present session of the Auckland ln-titute was held last evening at tbe Museum, Princes-street, in the absence of the presnieut, Mr. T. 8. Gillies, and upon the motion of Mr, VV. T Buckiand, seconded by Mr. BAfoer, the Rev. David Bruoe occupied the chair. New Members, — The Secretary iuformed the C)uncil that since the lait mettiuj; Me-<ara. H. E, Lunk and Onadwick had bueu elected in mbers of the lustitute. i'O.VATIONS.— The Pecreb.iry, Mr. Khk, read the following liat of donatiDua which hud been preseuted to the Inst'tute tince the last meeting: — Liz*^, Naultinus elegaos, from Muster J. H. Keesiue: 1 frauo, Colonel Ba'nofivis ; sundry shells (rnaitue), N"&w Zealand, Arish<lt),»oon~Williann ; five --tone adzes, — Muriiiy, Biyof Inland*, per J Gillies ; sundry New Zeulagd sl>i}i* flovi»til^ O AJ. JVlifctoid j Jdanh-iu ir/t; "formerly belougiug to the cluef Mtttun, a i:ule*>n\tfcd liauhau prophe*, vrho wag kills 1 at; tli storming of t ie Hererna ps, Urewera dmti ie% wheu the flag vvaa captured Uy the Arawas umUr the ehi> t Fox and .'..loute iaut Gilbeit Matr.'fiora H. T.C'farke ; piece of furniture wovil ii'om the hteainer 'Taraiaki,' perforated by teredo's, news- ap^r and oig'ua recove ed from, sime yes ci, P. Ji Lewiason ; cu'ton from Qn en lind, J. H, Greene; hogfromPmin, Tlnmes, A. Aitkin, formerly second offic-r in tue Bu>kt> and Wills Kehef Expedition. In rtfeie eetaLhe last mention e i donation, the fcsee»t,tary s.vid i that the i-re eat hid bien accouipmitd by a I Jet fer from Mr. Aitkin, descr.bi.ig ihe p au« ' «nd the meaner in which the frog wai found. The writfr stated that when in Auatra'ia, in tbe very b/>ltesft aeason of the y«.a , and far aw<»y iv the interior, some of the memoirs of the expedition Lud disoovere I fioga concealer! in hollow btlls > f baked clay, which generally contaiued ab ut half a pint of C)ol fresh water. In some <lrie'l-up waierholet these balN with their living tenant* were often found in considerable numbers, on which oooa^ions the baked shelU were broken, the water drank, and th« frogs devoured by tho party. Some discussion arose among the members of the Institute last evening on the subject, nud a vote of thanks waa awarded to (Wr. Aitkm for the very interesting p iper whioh he had sent with the frog. Drainage — A. paper was read by Mr, Biber on the drainage of & Bwarap near Rerauera, which had been reclaimed to the exteat of about twenty aorta. In the courae of the dioouaxion which ensued, Dr. Purch»s stated that, had the soheme of bringing the wfcter from thtj Onehunga spiiugs be j n carried out, and the water brought into Auckland, it would have paid the expense iaourred long ago, aud would have probably been tho cause of saving many thoaB.uid pounds' worth of property iv tins city which b»d been destroyed by fire, as well ay of doing rauob towards ihe thorough o'ea >ainv of the town. The doctor went on to explain how the system of water uuderg round communication in the neighboiuho. d of Oiibhuuga w&9 brought about, — In the course of a few renurks from Mr. Buckiand, that gentleman stated thnt there was a lar^e shaft or pit iv the eooria adj )ining the Mldrslie slaughierhfluie down whioh the offal was throwu. Tit. Purchas thought the stit-uneot of Mr. BuokUnd explained most clearly a tact which bud been a matter of much speculation with him for some little time pa-it. lhe w atr r at Qufhunga waß, as a iul<', teoiackably p«ro, bub for the last few week* ih. re was a perceptible taint iv it, whiob hud proved a source of wuoa uut-asine.-s to many people, and he himself had puzzled his brauin in vain to sotsouut for th«ohftDge. But, fiom what had I fallen ffom Mr. Bncklan I, it wag perfectly ol«-ar that tbe taiut m the water at Ouehunga Wfta accounted for by the'ofiU bein>? tlirowu down the well near ihe slaughter house, for the system of underg ound watar communioc>tlon was so complete all around that locality that the offal would taint the water for miles. B« was gkd the aUtement ha 1 Leen made, ftnd he aertainly t-usted that the praefcioe of di3po^iag of the offil a? mentioned by Mr. Buckland wouli •poodily be put a atop to. For his OW ii p»rt he was surprised that ib wai not turned into one of tbe best of manures, which could easily be done by mixing dry earth with it fo» t few weeks, and without the slightebt smell >eiog perceptible. — Aiter a few more remarkn tbe tubjeot dropped. Watuealwed Plants in 1 New Zealand.— Ifir. Xii k re*d a tevy interesting paper on the kbove subjeot, in which it was stated that kbout 80 per cent, of the plants at preient jrbwing in Auckland w^re naturalised. Gold-saving. —Oaptaia Healestuted thaF t having been generally supposed that he IMrould xe»d a paper on the subject, be had tto that afternoon coram,t:,ed n few of his bought* to p»per, which ha would read to ihe members. The paper in question was »u« of a most interesting chavivcter, in which h* writer desonb -..t the Y«iou§ methods in ogue of swing gold by it, extrAotiou from iutrtz, »ad st»t94 that he was of

opinion that tha machinery *t present jn vise was remarkably efficient unde* the circumsfcaocefr, but he believed that the time would come before very long wheu a very much luiger proportion of the precious metal would be saved. We regret that pressure on our space precludes our giving even an oufcliue of the paper, which was listened to most attentively throughout. A discussion took [.hoe on the/subject treated of by the pap r, Mr, Buckland mving it as his opinion that, however well the plan suggested miyhb answer on a small scale* tb was vu-y qutsti^nabl". whether it would answer on a h»rge seal . After some diaousBH»n, Capraiu Heale was thanked for his confcribuiioi), and the proc^ediDrsi^j-minafced, The Louncil will ait again ozi the first Monday in l<Vbru<uy next.