282 ABSTRACT OF PROCEEDINGS. 



R.S. TAS. 



at 8 p.m., Dr. A. H. Clarke (Acting Chairman of the 

 Council) in the chair. 



Officers. 

 The Chairman announced that the Council at its last 

 meeting had elected Dr. G. H. Butler to be Chairman 

 during the current year, and had appointed himself to be 

 Acting Chairman during the absence of Dr. Butler in 

 Europe ; and had appointed the following officers for the 

 current year: — Mr. E. L. Piesse to be Honorary Acting 

 Secretary, Mr. L. Rod way to be Honorary Treasurer, and 

 Mr. J. Moore Robinson to be Honorary Librarian. 



The Aiistralnsian Antar'ctic Expedition. 



The Chairman announced that Captain J. K. Davis and 

 Dr. Whetter, of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 

 and Mr. Van der Graclit, w^ho went to the Antarctic in 

 the Aurora, had been invited to be present that evening, 

 but they had been unable to remain in Hobart. Mr. C. 

 T. Harrisson, the Tasmanian representative in the expe- 

 dition, was present, however. They had heard a good 

 deal of the risks and dangers which were incurred in the 

 various sledging and other expeditions, and the continual 

 risks and hardships undergone by those who were taking 

 scientific observations. They were glad that Mr. Har- 

 risson had returned safely, and on behalf of the Society he 

 tendered Mr. Harrisson a hearty welcome. 



Colonel Legge, as a member for Tasmania of the organis- 

 ing committee of the Expedition, welcomed Mr. Harrisson, 

 and spoke of the hardihood and pluck of those who com- 

 posed the Australian Expedition, and the good work they 

 had done. Some w^ere doubtful at the start whether 

 Australian-born men, not accustomed to extreme cold, 

 could stand the Antarctic climate, but they had proved 

 that they could do so. They must give the members the 

 highest credit for the good work they had done, but at 

 the same time they must remember the sad deaths of 

 those who had lost their lives in the pursuit of science. 

 "When they came to think of a young nation like Australia 

 planning and sending out such an expedition, that alone 

 was a wonderful thing, and a thing which had never been 

 done before by any nation of the same age. Australia 

 ought to be proud of what had been done. If nothing 

 had been done but establishing a wireless station in the 

 Antarctic, it would have gone a long way towards making 

 the expedition a success. When the expedition was in 

 its initial stages it was hard to get up any interest in it 



