1308 president's address. 



Chinese Station the remark was made that Mr. Woods' discoveries 

 as to the coal resources of the East had increased the strength of 

 the British Navy in that part of the world by a force better than 

 half-a-dozen good-sized frigates. After a lengthened cruise Mr. 

 Woods arrived at Hong Kong, where he was most cordially wel- 

 comed and entertained by Sir G. Bowen and the Admiral of the 

 station. Then he went to ascend the Hoang Ho, but was com- 

 pelled by the state of his health to return. He came back to 

 Australia in " H.M.S. Flying Fish," which landed him at Port 

 Darwin. Here Mr. J. L. Parsons, the Government Resident on 

 the Northern Territory, engaged his services to visit and report 

 upon the mineral districts of that portion of the country. After 

 a short \dsit to Queensland he returned to Sydney after an absence 

 of about four years. 



Now, however, the continued hardships which he had undergone 

 began to tell upon him, and his health slowly but surely gave way. 

 " For nearly two years he was confined to his house, and latterly he 

 was so debilitated that he was unable to see any but his imme- 

 diate attendants. He suffered greatly, but he bore his afflictions 

 with remarkable fortitude, and he accepted his fate with resigna- 

 tion. His departure from life was soothed by all the ministra- 

 tions of that religion to which he had devoted his life, and he 

 left the world in which his career had not been barren of results 

 with no regrets such as might disturb a mind less evenly balanced 

 and of religious convictions less assured than his own." 



He had here many kind and considerate friends (among wdiom 

 you will readily understand that Sir William Macleay lield a 

 prominent place), but he had been exposed to troubles of which 

 he made no complaint, but which seemed to have made a lasting- 

 impression on his naturally sanguine and happy temperament. 

 On this head I quote a few sentences selected from a brief but 

 affectionate memoir of the departed, which appeared in the Cen- 

 teniiial Magazine, Sydney, January 1, and was written by his 

 friend and our fellow member, the Rev. J. Milne Curran, now 

 of Bathui'st : — " Of his personal character the public knew little. 



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