has been called for March, and it is to be hoped that the policy of this New Zealand Institute, with regard to the preservation of the Tongariro National Park (see Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. 58, page 5, 1927), will be vigorously upheld by the delegates representing the Institute, and extended to other national reserves. The Sidey Medal:— Just in the closing hours of the Congress following on the last Annual Meeting, a telegram was received from Mr. T. K. Sidey suggesting that the Institute should become the custodian of the funds raised by shilling subscriptions as an appreciation of his efforts in favour of putting the clocks forward so as to bring the centre of the working day more nearly to noon, rather than as heretofore with three hours before and five hours after noon. The sum raised amounts to approximately five hundred pounds, and Mr. Sidey's suggestion was that a medal should be struck and awarded with a money prize for work showing the influence of light, visible and invisible, upon human welfare, health and happiness. A very hurried meeting was summoned of those members of the Board of Governors who were still in Auckland, and it was unanimously felt that the Institute should accept such a trust. During the year the capital sum has been handed over to the Institute, and Mr. Sidey's wishes in the matter have been further ascertained at a meeting of a committee set up for the purpose with him. These views and wishes have been embodied in a draft deed of trust and in regulations drawn up as a result of the conference, and will be submitted for your consideration to-day. I would only like to add that Mr. Sidey repeatedly emphasises the fact that he desired that the Institute should have large discretionary powers. Mr. Sidey's wishes were, very shortly stated, that the medal should only be awarded at intervals but that provision should be made for the continual increase of the capital sum. In the course of years, therefore, the money value of the accompanying prize will become greater and greater. The Institute thus has within its power of award three notable medals for the encouragement of Scientific Research, viz., the Hector, the Hutton and the Sidey medals, and this battery of honourable recognitions is probably enough for our present need, and if it is desired to perpetuate the names of others it is a matter for consideration whether some other memorial than the establishment of a medal should not now be found. The value of a medal is not its intrinsic worth but it lies in the fact that it is only given for meritorious work, and it is therefore a recognition that he to whom it is awarded has striven and accomplished. We are most grateful for bequests, and our aims and objects should appeal to those who desire to leave legacies for the benefit of the welfare of mankind and the advancement of learning. Amongst our most prominent legacies is the Carter bequest, a fund which we jealously guard and which in due course—many of us realise that it will hardly be in our own period of activity—will confer great benefit upon those who follow us. The New Zealand Institute is an organisation whose life is not limited by the ordinary span of human existence but it is one called into being for the express purpose of the advancement of learning. Such moneys as are placed in our administration are assured of being legally and conscientiously