Presidential Address. 5 



The scientist has also brought his technical knowledge to bear 

 in many other directions. It is inconceivable but for him that the 

 Witwatersrand district, practically uninhabited a few years ago, 

 could have become the centre of South African commercial and 

 industrial activity it is to-day, and the same applies to most of the 

 larger South African industries ; and we have, further, every reason 

 to believe that future developments will make still greater demands 

 on the resources of science. 



But while it may serve the passing hour to win from the earth 

 its treasures of precious stones, gold, and the various minerals, still, 

 that in itself can after all lead only to temporary prosperity. It is 

 consequently gratifying to find that those placed in authority, and 

 thus responsible in a large measure for the direction of affairs, have, 

 more particularly of late, been urging on us the desirability, if not 

 the absolute necessity, of more attention being given in the future 

 to the cultivation of the soil. I think I am right in saying that the 

 High Commissioner, Lord Selborne, rarely misses an opportunity of 

 emphasising the importance of the matter, and that he is supported 

 in his views by all the South African Governors, and by not a few 

 of their Ministers, among whom certainly not the least enthusiastic 

 is the present Prime Minister of Natal, the Right Hon. Frederick 

 Moor, who returned only the other day, fresh from the Conference 

 of Colonial Premiers, preaching in season and out of season the 

 gospel of production as the most potent panacea for the commercial 

 depression at present overshadowing the whole of South Africa. 



Our late Governor also. Sir Henry McCallum, in distributing 

 the prizes at the Maritzburg College some months ago, very strongly 

 advocated more attention being directed to agricultural pursuits, and 

 the placing of the most talented boys of the family on the land, and 

 directed attention to the fact that in the past the land had been 

 neglected at the expense of the professions, under the most erroneous 

 idea that anyone, be he ever so dull, was good enough for a farmer. 

 Sir Henry very properlv pointed out the fallacy of such an assump- 

 tion, and the inevitable result which such a procedure was bound to 

 lead to. Let us hope that this, not the least of his many wise and 

 thoughtful utterances, will not be allowed to pass unheeded. 



It has been stated that he who makes two blades of grass grow 

 where one grew previously is a benefactor to humanity, and I believe 

 I have seen the opinion expressed that the soil of South Africa con- 

 tains more wealth within six inches of its surface than all the gold 

 already won, or ever likely to be recovered from the Johannesburg 

 mines. However this may be, I think we may fairly assume that 

 the South African Governments are fully alive to the potentialities 

 of the soil, and that this is evidenced by the provision made bv its 

 Agricultural Departments, and the means furnished through these 

 Departments for instructing the farmer in scientific methods, by 

 which means alone the best results will be obtained. 



I noticed only the other day that a vacation course of lectures 

 had been arranged for farmers and those interested in such pursuits, 



