“The award of a Darwin Medal to Dr. Cockayne is fitting because of the distinction of his work in fields in which Charles Darwin himself laboured. That distinction has been gained by the use of the Darwinian method: a true naturalist, Dr. Cockayne has waited patiently upon facts before drawing conclusions. For over thirty years he has made it his task to deepen and widen our knowledge of New Zealand botany in the broadest sense…. The taxonomic studies rendered necessary by his ecological results have led to those remarkable discoveries of natural hybrids in New Zealand that have won for him a worldwide reputation and have made on modern thought an impression akin to that produced by the results of Mr. Darwin's studies of plants under domestication. Dr. Cockayne's researchers have had, on sylvicultural and agricultural procedure, a practical bearing which has been appreciated by and has influenced the policy of New Zealand statesmen.”