292 ABSTRACT OF PROCEEDINGS. 



R.S. TAS. 



Later editions do not discriminate between the work of 

 the various explorers. 



2. A photograph of "A Chart of Basses Strait between 

 ''New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land surveyed by 

 "Lieut. Flinders of His Majesty's Ship Reliance by order 

 'NDf His Excellency Governor Hunter, 1798-9," published 

 by A. Arrowsmith of London, 16th June, 1801 ; from the 

 copy in the Petherick collection in the Commonwealth 

 Library. This chart, Mr. Fowler remarked, "clearly shows 

 ''that the Hunter Islands were laid down by Flinders with 

 '"considerable accuracy long before the Baudin expedition 

 ''left France, and hence that an attempt made to alter 

 "Flinders' names is unwarranted." 



3. A photograph of a later copy of the same in the 

 Public Library of New South Wales. 



4. A photograph of four charts on one sheet, published 

 by Arrowsmith ; from a copy in the Public Library of New 

 South Wales. These include plans of Twofold Bay, West- 

 ern Port (from Bass' e3''e-sketch, of w^hich, according to 

 Bladen, no copy was known to exist), and Port Dalrymple 

 (River Tamar) — the latter being of interest as showing 

 Flinders' survey of that river. 



Seventieth Anniversary of the Society. 



In commemoration of the foundation of the Society on 

 14th October, 1843, the Honorary Acting Secretary (Mr. 

 E. L. Piesse) read a paper on the "Foundation and Early 

 Work of the Society." 



His Excellency said they must all be extremely grateful 

 to their secretary for his paper. They had now attained 

 a very respectable age, and since they had made so few 

 mistakes in the past they could look forward to the future 

 with confidence. Though they were only 70 years old as 

 the Royal Society of Tasmania, he could not dissociate the 

 Society from the earlier Van Diemen's Land Scientific 

 Society of 1829, which was founded in the good old British 

 way, with a very solid dinner and a very long toast list. 

 A thing worth noting was the alacrity with which the early 

 settlers supported a society which could not advance their 

 purely material interests. It show^ed thev had a very 

 considerable conception of the future of the island, and 

 a desire to widen the bounds of knowledge. The Society 

 had certainly done much for Tasmania. In proof of that 

 they had only to point to the Botanical Gardens. What 

 would have been the fate of the Gardens if the Society 

 had not taken up the responsibility of them in Sir Eardley 

 Wilmots days? The origin of the Society was a curious 



