Report of the Forty-Fourth Annual General Meeting. 207 



which I am President, that they cannot carry the men ; but that if we could get our 

 donor to postpone the date to the 31st August they might be able to manage it. He 

 has consented to postpone it to the 31st July, but I hope we shall be able to get him 

 to agree to the 31st August. The Committee of the Institute might help us very 

 much by predisposing the shipping people to co-operate in the matter. I will read 

 just one extract from a leader in the Sydney Morning Herald respecting this ofier : 



It reveals very clearly, for one thing, that the frequent statement as to the need 

 of men for the work to be done in all directions here, is no empty assertion. If 

 private enterprise is so anxious for 1,000 men as to be prepared to assist their passages 

 to Sydney, private enterprise wants them pretty badly. ... As to the need of the 

 men here, it goes without saying. The proposal itself is eloquent in that regard. 

 The demand for labour is an insistent and an increasing cry. The available shipping 

 accommodation is already crowded by British immigrants to Australia, and thousands 

 who are clamouring for a home in this country cannot be shipped. 



You may say, why introduce this matter so markedly ? For this reason : unless 

 AustraUa be made strong, AustraUa is a weakness to the Empire, for the Empire 

 stands pledged to protect AustraUa. We have now universal service there. I beg 

 leave to say I hope we will have it here very soon. It is, I think, a credit to the 

 Party now in power that the present Federal Government has been most assiduous, 

 Minister after Minister, in bringing universal military service into being. I have seen 

 it in operation. My own sons are carrying their muskets to-day, and being trained to 

 arms. It is only when Australia, with its comparatively small number of people, 

 has its manhood so trained that you can feel at all safe. I beg to second the motion 

 for the adoption of the Report and Statement of Accounts. 



Sir Frederick Young, K.C.M.G. : I desire to make one or two observations on 

 the admirable address which the Chairman has just dehvered. There is one point to 

 which I would specially draw attention, and which I hope will be carried out thoroughly 

 in the way he suggests : it is with regard to the future policy of the Institute — 

 poUcy in many respects, no doubt, entailing more effort and expense, but which is 

 absolutely necessary, in my opinion, in order to give full efficiency to the great 

 work in which we are engaged. This is the conclusion of the forty-third year of the 

 Institute's existence, and I am, as you know, one of the original members ; and I may 

 be allowed to say that the inspiration which, from the first, I felt with regard to the 

 Institute was that we should pursue the poHcy which year by year, and bit by bit 

 we have been able to carry out with such efficiency and success. I was Honorary 

 Secretary for twelve years, during which time I was a great deal younger than I am 

 now, and full of enthusiasm for the cause ; and I was able to persuade my colleagues 

 to go on in that direction, with the result we now see. I therefore wish to emphasise 

 what the Chairman has said : namely, that you must undertake (what we always 

 intended to undertake) the great things that are before us. 



Mr. F. B. Vrooman, B.Sc. (Oxon.), Ph.D. (British Columbia) : I am a rather new- 

 comer not only in the Institute, but in the Empire ; and if I say a serious word to you, 

 and seem somewhat officious, I hope you will remember that I have got to make up 

 for some lost time. There are some advantages and some disadvantages in a distant 

 view. Over yonder, on the Pacific Coast, we cannot see the details of the situation 

 as plainly as you can ; but, on the other hand, there may be some compensation in 

 the matter of perspective, and I think I am able to see some things pretty clearly with 

 regard to your situation here. I have no hesitation in saying, here and now, that, 

 looked at from that point of view, there is no movement in the British Empire to-day 



