OF THE SOCIETY. 123 



1913. 



Tobin was succeeded by Mr. Herbertson. (12a) The ex- 

 penditure on the Gardens, which was about £300 a year 

 in Governor Arthur's time, was much increased during 

 Sir John Franklins administration, and in 1842 was over 

 £800. (13) 



The Mcchaniis Institution of Hobart (1826). 

 A Mechanics' Institution was founded at Hobart in 

 1826, vnder the pationage of Governor Arthur, and flour- 

 ished for many yeajs. In 1827 we read of lectures on 

 astronomy, steam engines, and chemistry. In 1829 a 

 library and apparatus were obtained- '*Tn 1830 two hun- 

 "dred members were enrolled, and the institution was pro- 

 •'moted by all classes of society." (14) In 1838 Sir John 

 Franklin obtained a grant of £100 a year from public 

 funds. In reply to a deputation from the institution, he 

 sai<i that 'in the new Custom-house now in progress, 

 "there was a room constructing which was intended for a 

 ''museum, and that he should be most happy to appro- 

 '■priate that to the use of the Institution as a lecture-room, 

 ^'together with an ante-room for their books, models, and 

 ''other property."' (15) The Institution seems to have 

 been- very active in the forties, and one of the newspapers 

 remarks that its proceedings were far above the heads of 

 those for whom it was intended. An account of the In- 

 stitution in 1-53 is jjiven by Captain H. Butler Stoiiey in 

 A Year in Tasina?im (Hobnrt, 1854), pp. 169-173. 



The Hobart Tonn Horticultural Society (1839). 

 The Courier of 8th November, 183'.', reuorts the forma- 

 tion of a Horticultural Society. Captain Swanston was 

 its President; R. C. Gunn flB) one of its Secretaries. 



(12a) C.S.O. 6958, 12il (Franklin). 



(13) Sir John Franklin revived the proposal for the new Govern- 

 ment House. In the years 1841-3 a sum of £10.000 was appropriated for 

 its construction but no great progress was made, and Sir E. Eardley- 

 Wilmot, Sir John Franklin's successor, stopped the building. It was 

 resumed under Sir William Denisx^n and was completed in 1857, at 

 a cost, it is said, of £120.000 — Fenton, History of Tasmania (Hobart, 

 1884), p. 511. 



(14) West, History of Tasmania (Launceston, 1852). i., 125. 



(1.5) Hohart To^n Courier, 6th April, 1838. The Courier, in a review 

 of Gould's Birds of Australia, published on T2th October, 1838, refers 

 to a museum in Hobart; t'.jis museum may have been that of the 

 Mechanics' Institution, or, possibly, the museum founded by the Society 

 of 1829. 



(16) R. C. Gunn, F.R.S. (180S-1881). "the most eminent botanist of 

 "Tasmania " is mentioned several times in this narrative. He was 

 elected to 'the Society in 1848, and contributed several articles to the 

 Papers and Proceedings. He gave his herbarium to tlae Society in 1877, 

 A large number of his papers are in the Mitchell Library, in Sydney. 

 For an account of his life and ix)tanical work see J. H, Maiden, 

 Records of Tasmanian Botanists, these P. and P., 1909. pp. 15-13, the 

 references there cited, and the Lavnceston PZxaminer of 24th March, 

 1881. 



