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Thirty-second Annual Report.
Meetings of the Board were held on the 20th February and 4th September, 1900.
Messrs. W. T. L. Travers, T. Mason, and Sir James. Hector retired from the Board in compliance with the Act, and were all renominated by His Excellency the Governor. The following gentlemen were elected by the incorporated societies to represent them on the Board for the current year—viz., Messrs. S. Percy Smith, Martin Chapman, and the Hon. C. C. Bowen.
To the list of honorary members are added the names of Lord Avebury, Dr. J. G. Agardh, and Mr. George Massee, elected at the beginning of the year for distinguished service in connection with scientific work relating to New Zealand.
The members now on the roll are—Honorary members, 27; Auckland Institute, 153; Hawke's Bay Philosophical Society, 59; Wellington Philosophical Society, 144; Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 70; Otago Institute, 107; Nelson Philosophical Society, 16; Westland Institute, 60: making a total of 636.
The volumes of Transactions now on hand are—Vol. I. (second edition), 230; Vol. V., 7; Vol. VI., 12; Vol. VII., 98; Vol. IX., 95; Vol. X., 125; Vol. XI., 25; Vol. XII., 29; Vol. XIII., 29; Vol. XIV., 50; Vol. XV., 163; Vol. XVI., 162; Vol. XVII., 162; Vol. XVIII., 130; Vol. XIX., 154; Vol. XX., 154; Vol. XXI., 87; Vol. XXII., 89; Vol. XXIII., 163; Vol. XXIV., 167; Vol. XXV., 163; Vol. XXVI., 172; Vol. XXVII., 170; Vol. XXVIII., 175; Vol. XXIX., 400; Vol. XXX., 400; Vol. XXXI., 450; Vol. XXXII., not yet fully distributed.
The volume last published (XXXII.) contains fifty-three articles, and also addresses and abstracts which appear in the Proceedings. The volume consists of 494 pages and twenty-six plates. The following gives a comparison of the contents of the present volume and that for last year:—
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| 1900. | 1899. | |
| Pages. | Pages | |
| Miscellaneous | 162 | 100 |
| Zoology | 62 | 262 |
| Botany | 102 | 220 |
| Geology | 68 | 72 |
| Chemistry | 16 | 50 |
| Physics | ||
| Proceedings | 38 | 48 |
| Appendix | 46 | 50 |
| 494 | 802 |
It should be noted that Vol. XXXI. (1898), owing to an unavoidable delay in the publication of the plates, represents a period considerably exceeding the year, so that it included papers that properly belonged to Vol. XXXII.
The cost of printing Vol. XXXI. was £539 6s. 3d. for 802 pages, and that for the present volume (XXXII.) £338 11s. 6d. for 494 pages. This amount includes the preparation and printing of the plates.
The Treasurer's statement of accounts, appended, shows the amount received for the year as £1,098 7s. 3d. (including balance brought forward) and the expenditure £666 1s. 4d., leaving a balance in hand of £432 5s. 11d. This balance has already been appropriated for the completion of the great work by Mr. Hamilton, illustrating “Maori Art,” and other publications now in hand. Part IV. of “Maori Art” has been issued, and Part V., which completes the work, is now well advanced for publication. After this final part is issued to subscribers, the work can only be obtained in its complete form in one volume, handsomely bound, and binding-covers can be supplied to those who possess the work in separate parts at cost price.
A dictionary of the Mangareva language, by Mr. E. Tregear, has been published by the Institute. The following extract from Mr. Tregear's introduction will explain why the Board went to the expense of this work:—.
The Gambier or Mangareva Islands consist of a small group situated within the Paumotu Archipelago, in the Eastern Pacific. They are generally known as Mangareva, that being the native name of the principal island (Peard Island); but on their discovery by Captain Wilson, of the “Duff,” on the 25th May, 1797, he named them after Admiral Lord Gambier.
Mangareva Island is about four miles in length, and rises in two peaks in the form of wedges, the greatest height being 1,315 ft. The large village on the east side of Mangareva is in latitude 23° 7′ 34′ S., longitude 135° 0′ 20″ W. The other chief islands are Akamaru, Aukena, and Taravai. The inhabitants of the group number about a thousand. The whole of the islands are within an encircling coral reef. They form part of the French possessions in Oceania.
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The interesting matter to the linguist and anthropologist in the following dictionary is that the language is pure Polynesian. Generally the inhabitants of the Paumotu Archipelago speak a dialect containing some element foreign to the Polynesian tongue; but in Mangareva the speech is nearly identical with the Maori of New Zealand, thousands of miles distant to the westward.
I trust that many a riddle of Maori scholars may be solved by this dictionary of Mangareva.
A second edition of the catalogue of the library of the Colonial Museum has been published. This is a work of 160 pages, and the supplement, which will contain the recent additions, is well advanced for press, and also an alphabetical index of authors’ names. This library contains books belonging to the New Zealand Institute, the Geological Survey Department, the Colonial Museum (acquired either as donations or deposits), and the Wellington Philosophical Society. Books belonging to the Wellington Philosophical Society are marked with S. after date of publication. As some delay has occurred in the printing of this the second edition of the Museum catalogue, a very considerable number of additions have been made to the library since the manuscript was sent to press. These additions will be published in a supplementary catalogue as soon as possible after the rearrangement of the books has been completed. Owing to the occupation of the shelves by the large Patent Library (which has now been removed), it was impossible until the present time to arrange this very valuable scientific library in a proper manner for reference. The Manager wishes to express his cordial thanks to friends in many parts of the world who have aided in the collection, which when properly arranged should prove of immense value to the colony as a means of reference.
The library is now undergoing complete rearrangement in accordance with the new catalogue. The room, which is also the lecture-hall, has ample accommodation for readers who desire to study the works of reference.