788 president's address. 



German botanists do all the work and permit the world to assume 

 that Australia is unwilling or incompetent to help to reap the 

 harvest? Cannot the Federal Government, or individual State 

 Governments, or our Universities, despatch young University 

 graduates with missions to these islands, or even pay the expenses 

 •of trained collectors to systematically acquire material for the 

 botanical establishments of the mainland *? I am not susaestino: 

 any impossible idea, nothing costly or beyond our resources in 

 any way. Australia is waking up to her responsibilities and 

 -destiny in various waj^s. Her States ha\e federated. Her 

 troops have fought shoulder to shoulder with those of other parts 

 of the Empire. She has sent forth commercial ambassadors to 

 London, to South Africa, and to the East to make her name and 

 her products better known. The carrying out of my suggestion 

 to maintain, say, two young botanists and one collector in the 

 Islands, would involve an aggregate cost scarcely greater than 

 .£1000 per annum for salaries, travelling and incidental expenses. 

 I would give a young botanist a commission for say two years, 

 and if he were doing good work and desired a further term, an 

 extension could be arranged. It will be seen that I have allowed 

 for small salaries; nevertheless I believe that suitable volunteers, 

 anxious to win their scientific spurs, would always be forthcoming. 

 But let us come a little nearer home. When I was in Berlin 

 in 1900, I was informed that the Royal Botanical Garden there 

 Avas on the point of despatching two young botanists to investi- 

 gate the flora of Western Australia. They have remained in 

 that State fourteen months, and, I believe, have done magnificent 

 work. They are now engaged in visiting all the other States, 

 and I do not doubt that an account of their researches will prove 

 ver}' valuable to us. But might not Australian botanists be excused 

 if they were to be a little envious of the great good fortune of 

 their German brethren'? Mam^ of our botanists would dance 

 with joy if they could be detached for botanical investigation for 

 ■fourteen months, or even for half that period, in many localities 

 that would be promptly indicated. Our own Government, which 

 maintains two botanical collectors (attached to different institu- 



