Wellington Philosophical Society. 447 



pointed out, very much resembled that of the young Murray Cod. The 

 author stated that he had found the Hapuka crowding, for the purpose of 

 spawning, where large rivers fall almost direct into deep sea water, at the 

 head of some of the West Coast Sounds. 



3. "Notice of a Giant Sun-Fish (Orthagoriscm mola), cast 

 ashore at Cape Campbell," and sent to the Museum, by Mr. A. 

 Hansen. 



Sir James Hector stated that the fish was of unusually large size (8 ft. 

 long) ; it was not rare in mid ocean, but specimens were seldom cast on 

 shore. A drawing of the fish by Mr. Hansen was exhibited, together with 

 the measurements. 



4. '• Barbados, our earliest tropical Colony," by the Hon. 



J. W. Fortescue. 



Abstkact. 



This paper began by dealing with the history of the Island, its discovery 

 by the Portuguese, who gave it its name ; the first visit of Englishmen in 

 1605 ; its first settlement twenty years later by an English merchant ; its 

 transfer to Lord Willoughby, of Parham, by the original patentee ; the pro- 

 clamation of King Charles II. by that nobleman, in 1650 ; his suppression 

 by the Parliament through Sir George Ayscue, and the re-establishment of 

 the Parliament's authority ; the utilization of the island for the Jamaica 

 expedition, in 1655 ; and de Kuyter's attempted capture thereof ten years 

 later. 



After a brief description of the climate, with its temperature varying 

 from 80° to 93 c , and a rainfall of 55 to 57 inches ; of the successive hurri- 

 canes, from 1675 to 1831 ; and of the geological formation, partly volcanic 

 and partly coralline, if the usual accounts are to be accepted, the paper 

 passed on to an account of the population. 



The inhabitants are 180,000 in number, the area of the Island being 

 166 square miles. Of these 50 per cent, are African negroes, 40£ per cent, 

 coloured, and 9£ per cent, pure whites. The negroes, albeit the merriest of 

 men, are insolent, idle, thriftless, stupid, and sensual. The coloured people 

 are unstable and divided, with the vices of both races. The whites are 

 either hopelessly degraded — the " mean whites" — or degenerate and feeble, 

 mentally and physically. 



The paper dealt next with the Constitution, framed on the English 

 model, but not responsible though representative, and the consequences 

 thereof, as shown in Barbados in 1876, and in Jamaica in 1867. The culti- 

 vation of sugar was briefly touched on, and the backwardness of Barbados 

 in regard to machinery, with its causes and consequences, shortly explained. 

 The paper closed with a glance at the future : reviewed the political in- 

 capacity of the blacks, as illustrated by Hayti ; the necessity for the main- 

 tenance of white supremacy ; and the danger of prematurely entrusting the 

 blacks with self-government, as threatened by the speeches of demagogues 

 and humanitarians, and by the prevailing commercial depression. 



Sir James Hector pointed out with reference to the sugar industry, 

 that the success of the beet and sorghum sugar grown in temperate climates, 

 though partly due to the manner in which they have been artificially fostered 

 by a protective policy, was largely owing to the immensely improved 

 mechanical and chemical appliances employed. Whenever the same 

 chemical skill and capital was brought into operation on the tropical sugar 

 production, the advantage of the natural difference in the richness of the 

 saccharine element would certaiuly re-assert itself. 



The President thanked Mr. Fortescue in the name of the Society for 

 his lucid and interesting paper. He (the President) had also had experience, 

 viz., in the Sandwich Islands, of the mistake of giving representative institu- 

 tions to the lower races, and of the even greater evil of allowing members of 



