PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. — SECTION D. 59 



character, like personal character, frequently has its own weak- 

 nesses, idiosyncrasies and defects — a particular class of the 

 community lags behind the corresponding' class in other lands. 

 There is usually a cause which can not only be discovered if 

 the resources requisite are made available, but being discovered 

 may be removed. And these are only illustrations of the 

 reasons for that tendency to self-examination which we have 

 seen to be a characteristic of new nationhood. 



Now, much of the material for the prosecution of the study of 

 these and other aspects of national character can only be readily 

 found if well-organised archives are instituted. And that study 

 may be accounted a national duty. George Meredith has well 

 said, " I think that a right use of life and the true secret of life 

 is to pave the way for the firmer footing of those who succeed 

 us." 



This brings us to the question of what may be regarded as 

 the essential characteristics of well-ordered national archives. 

 If archives are to fulfil such purposes as those which have been 

 briefly hinted at they must be made the storehouse of the 

 materials which constitute the history of the community in its 

 political, ecclesiastical, commercial, industrial, scientific, educa- 

 tional and social relationships. 



The time was when the history of a nation was supposed to 

 consist almost, if not altogether, in its monarchial and diplo- 

 matic, military and naval records, but it is obvious that in 

 recent years there has been a gradual swing over of interest 

 from such aspects of national life as are connected chiefly with 

 international and governmental relationships to the sociological 

 phases of national life. 



The supreme questions are coming to be those which relate 

 to the condition of the people, and to-day's records of these 

 aspects of national life will be of great value in the future. 

 True national archives must then be made comprehensive, and 

 there is no reason why they should be limited to the records 

 of selected phases of national activity. It may not be neces- 

 sary even to define the boundaries "between which the work 

 of the archives should be carried on, for principles are a far 

 safer guide than rules for working purposes. 



It often happens indeed that such classes of information as 

 some of these to which reference has been made are found most 

 valuable to those who are engaged upon research in South 

 Africa. Xot merely have the official records of outstanding' 

 events afforded help, l)ut in the study of the past of this country 

 such despised literature, if literature it may be called, as 

 almanacs and directories, pamphlets and local publications, be- 

 come of the greatest value. The last becomes first in import- 

 ance, the ephemeral becomes the permanent. 



In attaining its nationhood, South Africa has not to start 

 its archive work at the beginning. 



The archives of Cape Colony have already a history, and 

 fortunately the work attempted has never been conceived in a 

 narrow spirit. It is South Africa as a whole which has always 

 "been in the minds of those who have laid the foundations of 

 this important enterprise, and South Africa in its widest sense, 



