Dear Members,
The Meteorological Society has recently applied to be a charitable entity. This will save the society and its members considerable money in taxes. In order to accept our application the charities commission requires a change to be made to section 18 of the constitution, which considers the disposition of property. At its last meeting the committee approved the calling of a Special General Meeting for Wednesday the 18th of March at 2pm. The meeting will be held in Wellington at NIWA, Greta Point, in the board room.
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Section 18 of the constitution currently states:

In the event of dissolution of the Society the disposition of any assets shall be decided at the last General Meeting provided that any property whatsoever shall not be paid to or distributed among the members of the Society.

It is proposed that these words be replaced by:

If any property remains after winding up or dissolution of the Society and the settlement of all the Societies debts and liabilities, that property must be given or transferred to another organisation that is charitable under New Zealand law or for some other charitable purpose recognised under New Zealand law. The recipient organisation should be decided at the last General Meeting.
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There will also be two 15 minute seminars at the meeting. Mike Revell is confirmed to give one of these seminars on "The Meteorology of the recent Australian bushfires" . Mike was in Melbourne on what is now known as "Black Saturday" and will describe what it feels like to be in 46.8 degrees with 100 km an hour winds. I will confirm the second talk soon. There is plenty of free parking around the Greta Point campus. Please sign in at reception who will direct any visitors to the main conference room.
Best wishes to you all,
Sam Dean
Secretary of the Meteorological Society of New Zealand