Preface.

Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Volume 3, 1870, Unnumbered Page

Preface. The arrangement of the third volume of the Transactions has been altered from that adopted in either of the preceding volumes, in order to meet a generally expressed wish that the Proceedings should be issued in anticipation of the main body of the work, the publication of which is necessarily delayed on account of the illustrations. The Proceedings of the Societies were therefore printed in a separate form, and published in July and January last. The quantity of matter contributed for publication being greatly in excess of that in any former year, the Governors have been reluctantly compelled to order the abridgment, in some cases, of papers of interest, and to postpone the publication of the following :—“On the Mechanics and Mechanical Economy of Railways,” by G. M. Barr; “On Economical Railways and Rolling Stock,” and “On the Power required for Working Flax Machines,” by James Stewart, C.E.; “On Co-operation, as regards the Union of Capital and Labour,” by Stuart Hawthorne; “Notes on Mr. Hawthorne's Paper on Co-operation,” by Robert Stout; “On the Sailing Flight of the Albatros; a Reply to J. S. Webb,” by Capt. Hutton, F.G.S.; “On the Adaptation of India-rubber Tires to Wooden Tramways,” by J. C. Crawford, F.G.S.; “On the Analysis of the Registry of Mortality in the Christchurch District the last ten years,” by Ll. Powell, M.R.C.S.St.A.; “On the Best Means of Diffusing and Promoting Higher Education in this Colony,” by Frank C. Simmons, M.A., Head Master of Nelson College; “On the Botany of Tahiti;” “Ethnographical Considerations on the Whence of the Maori,” by J. T. Thomson, F.R.G.S. The three Papers first mentioned, being of a practical and technical character, will probably be published with other Official Reports on the same subjects, while the others, with one exception, were selected for postponement on account of their being either of a controversial character, or because they have been already published at length in public prints. With regard, however, to Mr. Thomson's elaborate Ethnographical Paper on the “Origin of the Maori Race,” it is necessary to state that the manuscript copy was not received until April, when the volume was almost ready for publication, and as this Essay requires many illustrations it could not be inserted without delaying the issue of the volume beyond the period at which Members expect its distribution.

It will be observed that the greatly increased space occupied by original articles, viz, 351 pages as against 248 pages in Vol. II., has also excluded from publication Lectures and Addresses of a general character, such as were inserted in a separate section of the preceding volume. The Appendix contains the usual Summary of the Meteorological Returns for the year, for assistance in the compilation of which the Editor is indebted to Mr. R. B. Gore. The List of Members of the Institute shows that in addition to the nine Honorary Members, the Affiliated Societies have now 544 Ordinary Members; the number on last year's roll being 342. This increase is due in part to the affiliation during the past year of the Nelson Association, and also to the large accession of new Members, especially in the Societies established in Auckland and Dunedin. Notwithstanding that in several cases illustrations sent with papers have been omitted when not absolutely necessary to explain the text, the number of Plates has increased in this volume to 3+; there being in last year's volume only 23. The Governors have again to tender their thanks to Mr. J. Buchanan for the great zeal with which he has devoted himself to the preparation of these illustrations, and to the Hon. the Colonial Secretary for placing at their disposal the superior skill and appliances of the Government Lithographic Printing Department. For assistance in revising a portion of the work for the press during his temporary absence, the Editor has to thank the Hon. W. B. D. Mantell. Wellington, 20th April, 1871.