0)12 PRESIDENTS ADDRESS. 



Professor DaA^id informs me that the general character of the 

 organisms secured is distinct!}' Tasmanian. 



It is with pleasure and . satisfaction that I have to announce 

 that the Council has arranged to give our respected Secretary, 

 Mr. Fletcher, a well deserved holiday. After his record of some 

 20 years of continuous, faithful and unremitting service, without 

 anything but the briefest of holidays from to time, during which 

 long period Mr. Fletcher has been absent from only two monthly 

 meetings, and that through sickness, I feel sure that the Council's 

 action will meet with the cordial approval of the Members, and 

 in your name I desire to assure Mr. Fletcher of the high esteem 

 in which he is held by Council and Members alike. Mr. Fletcher 

 has decided to take his leave in instalments, and goes on a visit 

 to the north in a few weeks' time. During his absence it has 

 been arranged that the secretarial work will be carried on by 

 Dr. Greig-Smith. 



Dr. Greig-Smith having expressed a desire to visit Europe in 

 order to bring himself into touch with the present condition of 

 bacteriological science, the advance in which is so extremely 

 rapid, the Council has granted him the requisite leave, and he 

 intends going towards the end of the present year, and will be 

 absent for about nine months. 



Since the arrangements for the Annual Elections were made by 

 the Council, in accordance with the provisions of the Rules, and 

 too late for consideration at this Meeting, the Council received 

 Mr. Edgar R. Waite's resignation as a Member of Council, in 

 consequence of his contemplated removal to New Zealand, to take 

 up the position of Curator of the Christchurch Museum, in 

 succession to the late Captain Hutton. The extraordinary 

 vacancy so caused will be filled by the Council at an early date, 

 in accordance with the powers conferred by the Act of Incorpor- 

 ation. In the meantime the Council has placed on record an 

 expression of its regret at Mr. Waite's departure from Australia. 

 And 1 feel sure that in addition to the congratulations of the 

 Council upon his appointment, and its hearty good wishes for a 

 most prosperous career in New Zealand, I may cordially offer 

 those of the Society at large. 



