Wellington Philosophical Society. 1909. First Meeting : 5th May, 1909. Mr. A. Hamilton, President, in the chair. New Members.—Mr. James B. Gatenby, Mr. H. S. Hart, Mr. E. P. Turner, Mr. Leslie Adkin, and Miss Phœbe Myers, B.A. Honorary Member of New Zealand Institute.—The Chairman announced that, on the nomination of the Society, Sir George Howard Darwin, F.R.S., had been elected by the Board of Governors of the New Zealand Institute an honorary member of the Institute. On the motion of Mr. C. E. Adams, a vote of thanks was passed to the Surveyor-General for his action in setting up permanent bench-marks at those places in New Zealand at which tide-gauges were in use. It was resolved that a copy of the resolution should be forwarded to the Surveyor-General. Address.—The President delivered the following address, entitled “Some Suggestions concerning Scientific Research in New Zealand.” After thanking you for the honour of election as your President for the coming session, I propose to say a few words on certain aspects of scientific work in this country that may suggest to some of you fresh lines of action, and perhaps encourage those who have already commenced. It must be admitted at once that, although our opportunities in this wonderful country in the southern seas are many, and suitable subjects for investigation are with us on every side, there is one serious deficiency which is soon felt when any systematic work in natural science is attempted: this is the difficulty of access to the sea of literature which is ever increasing and swelling to such vast proportions. Systematic work demands a full acquaintance with the literature of the subject, and that is a knowledge of a special kind. Fortunately, recent years have seen the issue of several valuable publications devoted to the full bibliographical analysis of the scientific work put forward year by year, and a student is therefore now able, if properly informed, to find out without much labour what has been written on the subject on which he is working, by consulting these records. In countries, dominions, and colonies separated by great distances from the great libraries of Europe and America the absence of works of reference in all branches of science is one of the disadvantages which workers have to overcome as best they may. In this Dominion the governing bodies of the local Institutes affiliated to the New Zealand Institute have spent time and money in gathering together the foundations of a library. The New Zealand Institute itself has been fortunate enough, under the guiding hand of the late Sir James Hector, to obtain a very large number of valuable publications in all branches of science, mainly by arranging for an exchange of publications with other institutes for those issued by the New Zealand Institute, and the publications of the Geological Survey and Museum. The Institute at present exchanges with 178 other publishing societies and institutions; the Museum exchanges with eighty-nine; and the newly reconstituted Geological Survey has also a long list of exchanges arranged for, which, however, are not now placed in the Institute library. The four larger incorporated* By “The New Zealand Institute Act, 1903,” the local societies are “incorporated,” not “affiliated” as previously. societies—at Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin—have libraries of their own, the books in which have been either purchased or presented by various donors. Hawke's Bay has also a nucleus of a scientific library. At the last meeting of the New Zealand Institute, held in January last, I brought forward a proposition that an effort should be made to make these various libraries available to any scientific student in New Zealand, and I have since submitted to the societies the following circular, covered by a letter to the President of each society requesting a statement of their views on the suggestions and a reply to the questions:—