^°'-fq^7"'"l ^'^^'^ Nahtralisfs' Club—Proceedings. 45 



the ensuing year, we appreciate the good work already done by 

 the Fisheries and Game branch of the Department of Agri- 

 culture under Major Semmens, the Chief Inspector, and the 

 thanks of the Club might well be recorded for the sympathetic 

 attitude of the Minister, Mr. Geo. Graham. The following 

 additional State sanctuaries have been proclaimed : — Gemmel's 

 Swamp (Mooroopna) ; Echuca North and Wharparilla ; Kow 

 Swamp and First, Second, and Third Lakes (Kerang district) ; 

 and an extension of protection over Wilson's Promontory, by 

 which the Agricultural Department reserves from sportsmen, 

 &c., all native game on portions of the Promontory omitted 

 from the National Park, some adjacent islands, and an 

 encircling strip of water, which gives security to the shore-life. 

 On a suggestion from your committee, the National Park 

 reservation has been extended northerly to cover the feeding- 

 ground of swans, pelicans, &c., in the southern part of Corner 

 Basin. In course of proclamation are two other areas — viz., 

 Lake Linlithgow, and the southern end of Dandenong State 

 Forest, of which the east branch of Monbulk Creek forms the 

 south boundary (together with the creek frontage on the south). 



" The Club's protest against the alteration of the close 

 season for quail was unsuccessful, as was a similar protest by 

 the Advisory Committee on the Game Act. 



" The Plant Records Committee has been quietly at work 

 on its difficult task, and the first instalment of the list of pro- 

 visional common names adopted for native plants is expected 

 to be published in the June number of the Journal of the 

 Depaytment of Agriculture. 



" Your committee regrets that negotiations by repre- 

 sentatives of the Royal Society of Victoria, the Historical 

 Society, the National Parks Association, and the Field 

 Naturalists' Club for the purchase of the site of the aboriginal 

 implements quarry at Mount William, near Lancefield, have so 

 far failed, as it seemed that no reasonable terms could be 

 arranged with the owner of the land as a basis for further action. 



" Some alarm was caused a few weeks ago by a press report 

 of an avowed intention on the part of the Department of Agri- 

 culture to reduce the position of Government Botanist, which 

 includes Curatorship of the National Herbarium. As the 

 action contemplated would materially affect the botanical 

 interests of this Club, no time was lost in forwarding a resolution 

 pointing out the seriousness of such a movement. 



" The committee desires to thank Messrs. Morton and Coghill 

 for office accommodation during the early part of the year, 

 since when the offices of Messrs. Coghill and Haughton, 79 

 Swanston-street, have been kindly placed at our disposal on 

 committee nights, 



