132 Tranaactions. — Miscellaneous. 



■with nature and natural science in all its varied forms, so as 

 to continue and carry on those studies begun at school ? Our 

 youth are the hope — the strong hope, the backbone — of this 

 young and rising colony, destined in due time, under God's 

 blessing, to become a great and mighty nation, or a fair and 

 flourishing portion of a still mightier empire, and therefore 

 they should be seeking to grow, to improve, in knowledge and 

 wisdom. Nothing is more sure than this: that school know- 

 ledge and attainments allowed insensibly to wither and rust 

 soon become forgotten; and, once forgotten, are seldom, if 

 ever, found again. There is a law in nature according to 

 which success is proportioned to the labour spent upon it, 

 both in kind and in degree. Success is attained in kind, for 

 what a man soweth that shall he also reap ; success is also 

 proportioned to labour in degree, for he who studies much 

 will have more than he who studies little. In almost all 

 departments it is the diligent hand which maketh rich. And 

 here let me, not only as your elected President ijvo tern., but 

 as a very old man of some understanding in these matters, 

 and therefore speaking from experience — let me proffer a little 

 sound advice. 



The powerful and active enemies of science and of general 

 learning (especially here in the colony) are too great love of 

 holidays and of idleness, of frivolity and of fleeting pleasures, 

 which yield no enduring satisfaction ; which generally, if not 

 invariably, look for more, never being satisfied, and mostly 

 leaving "an aching void." And should there be, before the 

 final close, a few hours or days free from pain and extreme 

 weakness for reflection, then the sad heart-rending vista pre- 

 sents itself of time lost, of noble, almost god-like faculties 

 abused, of a wasted life ! Our classical British poet, Thomson, 

 might well exclaim, while meditating on such scenes : — 



Where now, ye lying vanities of life ! 



Ye ever-tempting, ever-cheating train ! 



Where are you now? and what is your amount? 



Vexation, disappointment, and remorse. 



Sad, sickening thought ! and yet deluded Man, 



A scene of crude disjointed visions past 



And broken slumbers, rises still resolv'd, 



With new-flush'd hopes, to run the giddv round. 



(" Winter.") 



And heartily wishing well to the scholars and youth and 

 young men and women of Hawke's Bay, I would yet add a 

 few more words by way of further illustration, and with the 

 hope of raising thought. 



In student-life there are those who seek knowledge for its 

 own sake, and there are those who seek it for the sake of the 

 prize, and the honour, and the subsequent success in life that 

 knowledge brings. To those who seek knowledge for its own 



