N.Z. INSTITUTE

Southland Times, Issue 20396, 27 January 1928, Page 8

N.Z. INSTITUTE

ANNUAL MEETING LARGE GATHERING OF SCIENTISTS YEAR’S WORK REVIEWED (Per United Press Association.) Wellington. January 26. Scientists from all parts of the Dominion gathered at Victoria University College today when the Board of Governors of the New Zealand Institute held its annual ingThere were present, Mr B. C. Aston (president), Dr. P. Marshall (honorary secretary), Mr M. A. Elliott (honorary treasurer), Professors F. P. Worley and H. W. Segar (Auckland), Mr H. Hill (Hawkes Bay), Dr. L. Cockayne, Mr G. V. Hudson and Dr. J. Allan Thomson (Wellington), Professor T. H. Easterfield (Nelson), Professor C. Coleridge Farr, Mr A. M. Wright and Dr. C. Chilton (Christchurch), the Hon. G. M. Thomson and Professor J. Park (Otago), Mr Johannes Anderson (honorary editor), The event of the year, said the president in his address, had been the issue of the transactions as a quarterly journal. The New Zealand Institute Act could be amended in several directions with great advantage to the working of the Institute. At present they were compelled to hold their annual meeting in January, which often entailed inconvenience to members and to the staff and meant that the financial reports of Auckland, the chief incorporated society, were nearly a year old when they were received. By arranging for the financial year to terminate on March 31 and holding the annual meeting in the university mid-winter vacation, the position would be improved. Provision for the appointment of a vice-president, who should be eligible for re-appointment year by year, and who should be resident in Wellington also was necessary. This would enable the office of president to be distributed without regard to his place of residence for the vice-president could act for him in Wellington. The section incorporating various societies required re-drafting, eliminating such bodies as were defunct and when opportunity offered, Sir Frank Heath’s objection that medical and engineering societies were not adequately represented on the board should be met. The balance-sheet for the year ending December 31, 1927, showed a debit balance of £6OB 0/7, as compared with a debit balance of £163 19/- for the same period in 1926. The cost of volume 57 was considerably greater than anticipated owing to its size (1220 pages), and to the very large number of corrections in the authors’ proofs, extra for special setting, process and line blocks etc. The contract price was £lOl6 13/4, but these extras brought the total cost up to £1,365 11/-. The trust accounts continued to show a satisfactory condition, the Carter Bequest capital having increased by £4OO during the year. Professor J. A. Bartrum, of Auckland University College, and Dr. H. H. Allan, of Feilding Agricultural High School, were elected Fellows of the Institute. The following honorary members were elected: Dr. J. S. Haldane, Dr. A. W’. Hill, .Sir David Orme Masson, Sir John Russell, Professor A. C. Seward, Professor John Arthur Thomson. The Hector award for 1928 was left to the standing committee. It was decided that the next annual meeting should be held at Auckland, and that a preliminary meeting should be held at Wellington. It was decided to ask the Government promptly to place the approved applications for research grants before the Minister concerned to avoid unnecessary delays. At present the applications go before the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. The Institute passed resolutions expressing its regret that the Government had opened up a public road through the Waipoua forest when one which is considered would have served the needs of the district and of the settlers of the neighbourhood could have been constructed round the forest area at the same or only slightly increased cost, and that as the forest contained the only large tract of kauri forest left in New Zealand, it was desirable that it should be preserved intact, no trees being removed save by the officers of the Forestry Department, when it was considered that this removal was essential for the regeneration of the forest. The following officers were elected: President, Dr. J. Allan Thomson; honorary secretary, Mr B. C. Aston; honorary treasurer, Mr M. A. Elliott; honorary auditor, Mr Johannes C. Anderson; honorary returning officer, Professor H. W. Segar; honorary librarian, Professor D. M. Y. Somerville; trustees, Messrs B. C. Aston and Mr A. Elliott.