OF THE SOCIETY. 161 



1913. 



It only remains to add that at the end of 1885 the 

 Society gave back to the Crown the Botanical Gardens and 

 the Museum, which, with the collections of the Museum, 

 were vested in a body of trustees, of whom six are chosen 

 from the Society; and that, in consideration of the ser- 

 vices rendered by the Society in the promotion of science, 

 and in the formation and management of the Museum and 

 Gardens, the right w^as reserved to the Society to have 

 exclusive possession of sufficient and convenient rooms in 

 the Museum, for the safe custody of its Library, and for 

 its meetings, and for all other purposes connected with it. 

 (77) 



Tasmania is now a more highly organised community 

 than sixty or seventy years ago. Not only are the Museum 

 and Gardens vested in a public trust, and supported en- 

 tirely from public funds, but Departments of the Govern- 

 ment — the Department of Agriculture, the Geological 

 Survey, the Weather Bureau, the Fisheries Board — are 

 now charged with various duties formerly performed by 

 the Society. The Society is now able to give all its activi- 

 ties to the work usually attempted by kindred societies — 

 the reading and publication of papers, and the acquisition 

 and maintenance of a library. Our annual volume of 

 Papers and Proceedings places on record ]>apers on the 

 history, the resources, and the natural phenomena of Tas- 

 mania. It is sent to the principal libraries of the world, to 

 the Governments and learned societies of the Empire and 

 of foreign countries. In friendly correspondence with 

 societies and institutions throughout the world, the So- 

 ciety takes its part in adding to the common fund of know- 

 ledge ; and in return we receive from them the records of 

 their work. The Library, though not always cared for, 

 has grown steadily, and not the least valuable of its con- 

 tents are those which our predecessors of fifty years ago 

 obtained for us. It is for the members of the present day 

 to see that our contributions to knowledge are maintained, 

 and that we in turn pass on to our successors a library 

 which they will value, as we value that which we have 

 received. Maintaining the traditions of our founders, we 

 may look forward to future anniversaries at which the 

 continued interest of the Society to its members and its 

 usefulness to Tasmania may be commemorated. 



(77) Act 49 Vic., No. 34 (1885). 



