President: Dr. W. Cottier. Hon. Sec.: Mr. R. J. Monk.

Annual Report for Year ended September 30, 1957

The Annual Meeting was held in the Nelson Institute on Monday, October 29, 1957, at 8 p.m.

The election of officers resulted in all retiring officers being re-elected for a further session.

Meetings. During the session six meetings were held, and the following addresses given: “Old and Interesting Books”, by Mr. E. S. Gourlay; “Some Aspects of Hop Research”, by Dr. H. O. Askew; “Diseases of Hops”; by Mr. T. Christie; “Education, Today and Tomorrow”, by Dr. Gallas; “Tobacco, Its History and Cultivation”, by Mr. R. Thomson; “The Historic Places Trust and the Nelson Historical Society”, by Dr. Jenkins. At the Annual Meeting two films were shown entitled, “Calder Hall” and “Atoms in the Service of Man”.

Membership. During the session, two full and two associate members resigned, and three full members were elected. The membership has therefore decreased to 39, consisting of 29 full and 10 associate members Your committee has given considerable thought to ways and means of increasing the membership. A leaflet setting out the advantages of membership has been prepared and this will be printed and sent to likely future members.

Finances. The balance sheet shows a credit balance of £44 5s 9d. This is £15 1s 6d more than was in credit the previous year. Some of this surplus will be used for the purchase of printed letter-heads and envelopes and also for the printed leaflets mentioned above.

Attendances. The attendance at the monthly meetings averaged 16.

Change of Name. During the Session the name of the Society was changed. Your Committee feels that the change has greatly clarified the relationship with the parent body, the Royal Society of New Zealand, and is confident that the Branch will benefit considerably from its closer relationship. It being necessary to alter the name of the Society in its constitution, your committee has taken the opportunity of revising the constitution, and at the proper time members will be asked to adopt or otherwise consider the constitution prepared by the Committee.