New Zealand Institute.

Anniversary Address, of The President, his Excellency sir George F. Bowen, G.C.M.G. Delivered to the Members of the New Zealand Institute, at the Anniversary Meeting, held on the 23rd July, 1870. Gentlemen,— In opening the proceedings of the New Zealand Institute for the session of 1870, it is very gratifying that I am again, as in my anniversary address of last year, enabled to congratulate the members and the community at large on the increasing success and popularity of this association. During the recess, the Otago Institute has been affiliated; and it is understood that in Nelson also, a society has been organized which will soon seek incorporation with us, and so complete the union of all the principal provinces and cities of the colony with this central body. The volume of our Transactions and Proceedings, in 1869, has been already long enough in the hands of the members of the Institute and of the general public, to warrant my belief that they will be prepared to follow me in a rapid glance at its contents. A brief annual review of this kind is the customary, and, on this occasion, the agreeable duty of the office which I have the honour to hold as your President. When we consider the great variety of subjects discussed in the pages of our Transactions, and the number of persons who appear there as contributors and lecturers, it will, I think, be generally agreed that a large amount of intellectual activity and of practical zeal exists among our associates, although we are debarred by the geographical circumstances of the colony from achieving frequent meetings. One of the first and most interesting papers to which those who have