48 THE VICTORIAN NATUUALIST. [Vol. XXIV. 



The following statement of assets and liabilities was also 

 read : — 



Assets. 



Balance in Banks 



Arrears of Subscriptions (^31), say 



,, for Reprints 

 Library and Furniture (Insurance Value) 



Liabilities. 

 Subscriptions paid in advance 



The financial statement having been received, Prof. A. J. Ewart, 

 D.Sc, moved its adoption, which was seconded by Mr. A. D. 

 Hardy, F.L.S., and carried. 



president's address. 

 The president, Mr. F. G. A. Barnard, then delivered the follow- 

 ing address : — 



"The Increase of the Facilities for the Study of Natural 

 History in Australasia since 1880. 



" Ladies and Gentlemen, — On the occasion of our annual 

 meeting last year you did me the honour of listening patiently to 

 an outline of the history of our Club from its inception in 1880. 

 I had hoped that one such address from me would have been 

 sufficient, but your committee, at its meeting last week, persuaded 

 me that a president's address must be one of the items on the 

 business paper for to-night, hence my excuse for again attempting 

 a presidential address. 



" In the earlier years of the Club's history our presidents were 

 accustomed on such an occasion to give a review of the principal 

 questions of interest connected with natural history which had 

 arisen during the previous twelve months. 



" This I do not feel myself qualified to undertake, but if you 

 will bear with me for a few minutes I will try and point out in 

 how much better a position the natural history student of to-day 

 is than when this Club was founded in 1880. 



" Then, I think I am right in saying, the only organization 

 in Australia devoted solely to natural history was the Linnean 

 Society of New South Wales — a society which, owing in a great 

 measure to the munificence of its principal founder, Mr. (after- 

 wards Sir) William Macleay, can, I think, hold its own with any 

 in the world for the quality and quantity of its work. 



" The Royal Societies of New South Wales, Victoria, South 

 Australia, and Tasmania, with the New Zealand Institute, which 

 is a federation of local societies, were at that time the only other 

 means through which observers of natural history could get 

 authoritative publication for their theories and observations. 



