4 Report S.A.A. Advancement of Science. 



To those of you who, like myself, have been sufficiently long 

 in South Africa to be classed as old Colonists, the marvellous improve- 

 ments which the application of science has made possible, not only 

 in the celerity, but also the comfort of the journey between what 

 many of us still call Home and this country, must appeal in the 

 strongest degree ; and if we look backwards and picture the hard- 

 ships with which the earliest voyagers had to contend in essaying to 

 round the " Cape of Storms," the contrast is, of course, infinitely 

 greater. Then it was a question of years, now it is one of days, or 

 at most, of weeks ; in addition to which, communication between 

 South Africa, the Homeland, and practically all other portions of 

 the Empire, is of hourly occurrence. 



Again, on settin'^ his foot on these once inhospitable shores, the 

 traveller finds that science has not been idle, but on the contrary has 

 been exerting herself to the utmost to anticipate his wants ; that at 

 various vantage points of the sea-board, the forces of Nature have 

 been harnessed and used to assist in the accomplishment of what, 

 even in the memory of some of us, were regarded as almost insur- 

 mountable engineering difficulties ; and perhaps there is no more 

 striking illustration of the statement I have just made than at the 

 Port of Durban, where, thanks in a large measure to the scientific 

 genius of one of our Sectional Presidents (Mr. Cathcart W. Methven) 

 and his persistent adherence to scientific principles as applied to 

 marine engineering, what was a comparatively short time ago a sand- 

 locked — or perhaps I should say a bar-locked — bay, has been con- 

 verted into a magnificent harbour, accessible at all times to even the 

 largest ocean leviathans. Needless to say, but for the application by 

 Mr. Methven and those associated with him of the principles I have 

 mentioned, and the carrying out under his directions of the works 

 connected therewith in the face of strong and persistent opposition, 

 this gateway to the interior would still practically have been shut 

 to us, and what is perhaps of no less moment to us locally, the present 

 condition and the future prospects of this small, but I venture to 

 think not altogether negligible portion of South Africa, would have 

 been vastly different to what they are to-day. Nor has the energy 

 displayed by the engineer been confined to the sea-board, but the 

 comforts of the traveller and the requirements of commerce have 

 been equally met, almost to the northern confines of British South 

 Africa — a condition of affairs which has been rendered possible by 

 the wise prescience and wonderful persistence of that grand 

 Imperialist and greatest of South African statesmen who sleeps his 

 last sleep in the centre of that space dedicated as sacred to those who 

 have deserved well of their country, and guarded by the giant boulders 

 of his beloved Matoppos. That the iron bands, already far on their 

 way, will vet connect Cape Town with Cairo, penetrating regions 

 known to Europeans in the not distant past only through the writings 

 of explorers such as Livingstone, Speke, Grant and Stanley ; thus 

 realising the predictions of that great dreamer, but at the same time 

 intensely practical statesman, Cecil John Rhodes, will, I think, not 

 be doubted by an v. 



