June 9, 185G.] STOKES. 83 



Oswell, Esq., Lord Overstone, Earl Somers, Lord Stanley, and Sir 

 Gardner "Wilkinson.* 



The Thanks of the Meeting having been voted to the President, 

 Vice-Presidents, Members of the Council, Auditors, and Scrutineers, 

 the President finally directed the attention of the Meeting to the 

 usual Anniversary Dinner, and the Meeting adjourned at 4 p.m. 



Thirteenth Meeting, June 9, 1856. 



Sir RODERICK I. MURCHISON, Vice-President, in the Chair. 



Hon. Thomas Powys; Captain Frank Vardon; Blackett Botcherby^ 

 M.A. ; Thomas Browning ; John Torrance ; and Robert White, Esqrs, 

 were elected Fellows. 



Attention was called to the arrival of Captain Byron Drury, r.n., 

 F.R.G.S., of H.M.S. ' Pandora,' from the Australian station, with surveys; 

 and to a letter which had been received from Dr. Sutherland, announcing 

 that he had just returned from an exploratory tour in the Quathlamba 

 range of mountains in Natal, and hoped soon to send the results of his 

 observations. 



The discussion on Capt. Stokes' Paper on Steam Communication 

 between England, Australia, and the Cape of Good Hope, which had 

 been adjourned at the Meeting of the 12th of May, was continued. 



The Chairman, in inviting discussion upon the paper, said, that at the 

 previous ordinary Meeting (May 12th) certain objections had been raised in 

 reference to the establishment of a penal colony in the Gulf of Carpentaria, it 

 being apprehended that the climate was too hot for the abode of Englishmen. 

 Captain Stokes had however stated, not only on his own observations but 

 also on those of Flinders and Leichhardt, that the temperature was not too high, 

 and that the country was healthy and fertile. Supposing this view to be cor- 

 rect, there could be no reason why a penal establishment should not be made 

 there, the more so when it was recollected that the head of the Gulf of Car- 

 pentaria was more than 400 miles farther from the Equator than Port 

 I^ssington, where a British station was maintained for many years. A port 

 being formed by convict labour at the head of the Gulf of Carpentaria Avould, 

 in a very few years, prove to be of incalculable advantage to the northernmost 

 settlements of New South Wales, and our East India and Chinese dependen- 

 cies, as the risks of Torres Strait would be obviated, and a clear and safe 

 line of navigation would be opened out. 



The Secretary then read a letter from Capt. Stokes in answer to questions 

 that had been raised by the Bishop of Oxford and others at the previous Meeting, 

 lie stated that the evidence on the subject of climate was remarkably 

 complete, considering the hitherto unoccupied state of the country. Captain 

 Flinders explored the gulf during the summer months, from November to 

 March, and he observed the temperature to vary at that season, when the 

 heat is greatest, from 81° to 90° : " the weather," he states, *' was conse- 

 quently warm, but being alleviated by almost constant breezes, either from 



* The President's Address in full, will be issued as * Proceedings,' No. V* — Ed. 



