Presidential Address Dr. H. H. Allan. Since the previous annual meeting we have lost two distinguished honorary members. Frederick Chapman was elected in 1932. Born in London in 1864, he served in the geological department of the Royal College of Mines from 1881 till 1902, when he went to Melbourne as palaeontologist to the National Museum, a position he held till 1927. He then became Commonwealth palaeontologist, retiring in 1936. His death on December 19, 1943, ended a long and fruitful career. While becoming a leader and a recognised authority in his profession he was interested and versed in nearly all aspects of natural history. His name will ever endure as one who inspired and encouraged others to take up the studies he so loved himself. To him we owe several valuable palaeontological papers in our Transactions. Sir Edwin Butler, F.R.S., was elected in 1939. Born in 1874, he devoted his life to advancing the study of economic mycology in the Empire. As Imperial Mycologist to the Agricultural Research Institute at Pusa, India, he rendered great service, and no more fitting person could have been chosen to be the first Director of the Imperial Mycological Institute at Kew. The great developments within the Empire of work on and institutions for the furthering of economic mycology are very largely due to his energy and guidance. Very helpful in this regard was his visit to New Zealand in 1923. His was an outstanding and arresting personality, whether he were at the lecture table or directing the affairs of his Institute. His death in April last removed an Empire leader in science. I wish also to pay tribute to the late Sir Albert Seward, F.R.S., who was elected in 1928. Born in 1863, he early on devoted himself to the study of fossil plants and their significance in evolution. His masterly work on the mesozoic floras of the world gained him widespread renown, and he became a commanding figure in the scientific life of Great Britain. Gifted as he was with a beautiful voice, skilled as he became in clear and vivid expression, his influence spread far beyond the confines of academic and scientific circles. For many years head of the Botany School at Cambridge, and Master of Downing College, he became Vice-Chancellor of his University, and proved that a great scientist may be also a great administrator. His death in 1941 came at the plenitude of his powers. Seventy-five Years of “The Transactions.” On October 10, 1769, scientific work in New Zealand began when Solander and Banks strolled along the Waikanae River at Poverty Bay. At Wellington, one hundred years later, on May 5, 1869, James Hector signed the preface to the first volume of our Transactions and regular publication of the results of study ensued. After