the printer in obtaining the necessary number of hands to insure its completion at an earlier date. Its greatly increased bulk was also a cause of its not being produced sooner.

The volume contains 638 pages and 30 plates. Ninety papers are printed either in the Transactions or Proceedings, which are by 46 different authors. The space taken by each section of the volume is as follows:—

A paper by the Rev. Mr. Stack, received too late for publication in its proper place in the volume, will be found in the Appendix among other papers. The papers by Mr. W. T. L. Travers, and Dr. Knight, had the advantage of being corrected for the press by the authors.

It has been found necessary to increase the edition from 850 to 1,000 copies. It will be at once apparent that the large increase in the number of members made this necessary. It is possible that the accession to the Institute of the two new Societies of Westland and Hawke Bay may necessitate a still further increase in the next volume.

During the Parliamentary recess a second edition of Vol. I. was printed at the Government Printing Office, with the consent of the Government. The expense of printing this edition is to be defrayed out of the sale of the volumes. The arrangement of the second edition, Vol. I., has been slightly altered from that of the first, and errors have been corrected. No material alteration has, however, taken place in the papers.

It is advisable again to call the attention of Secretaries of incorporated Societies and of authors to the necessity of sending manuscript in an easily readable form. The observance of this rule is of advantage both to the editor and authors, as the former is saved much unnecessary trouble, and the latter insure their remarks being correctly printed. It should be remembered that a volume written in 50 or 60 different hands, and in most cases not revised in print by the authors, is more liable to error than a work by one person, who is presumably able to decipher his own writing and set the printers right. Bad writing is also a source of expense, as papers, if at all illegible, have to be copied, and again they are liable to further error in being so copied.