OF THE SOCIETY 165 



1913. 



it was not fully decided. There were eighteen persons 

 present, besides His Excellency, who was at first anxious 

 that the "council of twelve' should have been at once nom- 

 inated from them ; but the election was at length deferred 

 to the next meeting, fixed by His Excellency for to-day. 

 Capt. Swanston was appointed Treasurer, and Mr. Champ 

 requested to officiate as Provisional Secretary until the 

 next meeting, with instructions to get the rules printed 

 and circulated in the interval. 



It is impossible to deny the utmost credit and praise to 

 the Lieutenant-G-overnor for his energy and disinterested- 

 ness in thus accomplishing a beneficial public object, as 

 well as for his obvious desire to unite all parties and sec- 

 tions on the neutral and common ground of science. The 

 only shadow of an imputation that can possibly attach to 

 His Excellency in the jorosecution of the present design 

 is the appearance of undue hastiness, approaching to pre- 

 cipitancy, in having, as President of the Tasmanian So- 

 ciety, called that body together, and before they were 

 individually even made acquainted with what was contem- 

 plated, and had had the opportunity of calmly discussing 

 and recording their opinion on the measure, admitting 

 strangers outnumbering them to share in the discussion — 

 a wise man said "that he took time to make haste" : in 

 this case it does seem that the most eligible and regular 

 course would have been for the President first to have com- 

 municated with the existing Society separately, when a 

 unanimous and cheerful acquiescence would doubtless have 

 been immediately yielded. 



On one point alone could the Tasmanian Soeiety have 

 been justified in being tenacious, and that was its name: 

 an object most effectively secured by His Excellency. The 

 liability to payment for entrance could certainly have been 

 easily arranged — even better than in the way proposed by 

 Mr. Bedford--of calling it a "donation" instead of "en- 

 " trance"— a distinction almost without a difference, as was 

 made manifest by Sir Eardley Wilmot. The Society could 

 have shown a "set off"' and"" pleaded "valuable considerar 

 "tion" as well in its property of £75 a year, as in its 

 organisation and copyright. By organisation— a work of 

 time— is meant its correspondence, with eminent men in 

 various parts of the globe, as, for instance, Sir John Hers- 

 chell. Dr. Buckland, Professor Murchison, Dr. Richardson, 

 etc.; and by copyright is meant its name and its journal, 

 which have already acquired for this Colonv some little 

 celebrity and distinction in Europe. 



