G.—No. 38

FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE NEW ZEALAND INSTITUTE.

Meetings of the Board of Governors were held during the past year on the 24th August, 12th September, Ist November, 1871; and 28th February, and 11th April, 1872. The following gentlemen were re-nominated to be Governors: —W. T. L. Travers, P.L.S., and Charles Knight, P.R.C.S. ; and a vacancy occasioned by the retirement of J. E. FitzGerald, C.M.G., has not yet been filled up. The Governors elected by the affiliated Societies for the present year are —His Honor William Rolleston, the Hon. W. B. D. Mantell, His Honor Mr. Justice Chapman. On the 11th April, 1872, Alfred Ludlam, Esq., resigned the honorary Trcasurership, and the Hon. W. B. Mantell, M.L.C., accepted the office. In accordance with the provisions of Statute IV., three foreign members were elected, namely, J. E. Gray, Ph. D., F.R.S., Charles Darwin, M.A.,P.R.5., William Lauder Lindsay, M.D., F.R.S.E. The. Institute now includes five affiliated Societies; the total number of members being 577, showing an increase of 24 on last year. Members. Wellington Philosophical Society ... ... ... ... ... 132 Auckland Institute ... ... ... ... ... ... 157 Philosophical Institute of Canterbury ... ... ... ... 81 Otago Institute ... ... ... ... ... ... ••• 136 Nelson Association ... ... ... ... ... ... 71 The appended statement of accounts shows the manner in which the endowment of the Institute has been applied. The fourth volume of the Transactions and Proceedings was issued in May last. It consists of 472 pages, and contains sixty-four original communications by forty-five authors, illustrated by nineteen lithograph plates. Of these papers, nineteen are on zoology, twelve on botany, nine on chemistry, three on geology, and nineteen on miscellaneous subjects. The' Board of Governors having decided that, in publication, preference is to be given to those papers which add to the knowledge of observed facts relative to New Zealand, several papers of a general character have been held back, or only published in an abridged form. The supply of volumes now in store is as follows : —Of Volume 1., none ; Volume 11., 58 ; Volume lIP, 53 ; Volume IV., 74 copies. The report of the Manager on the condition of the Museum and other establishments placed under his direction, is appended. It shows that valuable additions have been made to the collections in the Museum during the past year, but that the want of sufficient exhibiting space has rendered it necessary to remove a large portion of those additions from exhibition to the public. On this point the Governors feel it to be their duty to point out that the collections in the Museum cannot be properly exhibited, so that the public may derive full advantage from them, without the completion of the building as originally designed. The Governors also call attention to the expediency of increasing the staff of the Colonial Museum, especially as regards the preparation of articles of natural history, so that collections of such objects may bo distributed to the various Educational Institutions of the Colony in a form calculated to aid in the work of instruction in Natural History. G. F. Bowen, President. Wellington, September 19, 1872.

ACCOUNTS OF NEW ZEALAND INSTITUTE for 1871-72, from 11th August, 1871, to August, 1872.

17th September, 1872. Walter Mantell, Honorary Treasurer. Museum. The collections in the Museum have been increased, during the past year, by the addition of 2,169 specimens, as detailed in the attached Schedule*, but owing to the crowded state of the building it has been found necesary to remove a large part of the collections from public exhibition. This has been * Printed with Colonial Museum and Laboratory Reports, 1872.

Receipts. Expenditure. balance in hand, 11th August, 1871 ... rote for 1871-72 Contribution from Wellington Philosophical Society lale of Volumes of Transactions £ s. d. 94 17 5 500 0 0 12 18 6 8 2 0 Expenses of Volume IV. Miscellaneous —Translating, Binding, &c. ... Balance in hands of Treasurer £ a. d. 391 15 0 28 9 6 195 13 5 £615 17 11 £615 17 11