600 Proceedings. 



be placed before us here. Other people can with facility inspect the struc- 

 tures, the manufacturing processes, the mining implements, and the agri- 

 cultural improvements of their neighbours; and yet, as I have said, they 

 have, almost without exception, found it necessary to establish technical 

 colleges and museums within sight of their homes ; we, who must journey 

 9.000 miles to the Eastern States of America and 13,000 miles to Europe, 

 find that we have no need of institutions such as these. 



Yet it is in technical knowledge that the future of this country 

 lies. It must surely be apparent to every one that we cannot com- 

 pete successfully on the same platform with the millions of India, 

 or even with the dense and ill - paid populations of Europe. It can 

 only be by the application of all our intelligence that we can hope to 

 render the productions of Europe unnecessary to ourselves or place our 

 own on the markets of the world with a fair prospect of remuneration. 

 People talk of small agricultural holdings, of thrifty peasants and happy 

 homesteads, thereby implying that the same grinding toil which was 

 required to make a livelihood in Europe should be repeated here ; but the 

 colonist who is willing to do anything at all has outrun such drudgery as 

 this. Give him knowledge, let him understand that ingenuity and inven- 

 tion, education and intelligence, are as compatible with, and as useful in 

 agriculture as in any other occupation whatsoever, and he will cease to 

 avoid the occupation of the land, and to stand listless at the corner of a 

 street. Our aim here should be to make one man do the work of a score, 

 and earn thereby a substantial remuneration ; not to bring out here a score 

 of ijoor creatures to do the work of one trained man, and thereby to cause a 

 repetition of the social difficulties of the old world. Technical education 

 will alone do this, and technical education we do not possess. 



I do not, however, regard it as our duty to establish a technological 

 museum. It would, in all probability, be better in the hands of those who, 

 more than ourselves, are continually brought into contact with manufac- 

 turers, engineers, miners, and farmers. The wants of the people would be 

 better gauged by our City Councillors than by ourselves, and I would suggest 

 that they could make no better use of their new Art Gallery than to devote 

 it to such a purpose. 



It may not be our business to establish such a department, but I hold 

 that our duty does not end with our Museum and Library ; that, on the 

 other hand, the maintenance of these is only a fraction of that duty. We 

 have bound ourselves together to encourage literature, science, and the study 

 of the Maori race. We are then, as far as regards these matters, to utilise 

 the strength that lies in union in order to push forward projects which we 

 regard as useful to the community ; we are to initiate ideas, to collect evi- 

 dence, and to do all those other things which must suggest themselves to a 

 wealthy and important society bent on doing good to their fellow-men. If, 

 then, we do not ourselves propose to have a technical museum, we can and 

 ought to do our best to impress upon others its necessity. It we have not 

 ourselves the means of maintaining an experimental farm and botanic 

 garden, we should nevertheless strive to bring about the foundation by 

 others of such an institution. 



But let us return to the discussion of our future action with regard to 

 those duties wliich we have already undertaken. Our Library should be our 

 special care. We should decide, and that before we make any further 

 purchases of books, upon adopting some definite plan, some leading idea, 

 which should be our guide in the formation of the collection. There are 

 many kinds of libraries, but they may, I think, all be classified under three 

 heads — 



(1.) Reference libraries. 

 (2.) Students' libraries. 

 (3.) Libraries for the general reader. 



One library may, of course, if means permit, comprise all three depart- 

 ments. The reference library is intended for the use of persojis who possess 



