Clonal Sncittn oi Casmanhi. 



ABSTRACT OF PHOCEELINaS, APPwIL 29th, 1902. 



A meeting of the Eoyal Socie!;y of Tas- 

 mania was held on Tuesday evening, April 

 29, 1902, in the society^s new room, Argyle- 

 s'treet. The President, His Excellency 

 the GrOTernor, Sir Arthur Havelook, 

 G.C.S.I., G.'C.M.G., presided. The Go- 

 vernor was accompanied by Lady Have- 

 lock and Captain Gaskell, A.D.C. 



Welcome to the New President. 



The Hon. Nicholas J. Brown, Speaker 

 of the House of Assembly, and Vice-Presi- 

 dent of the Eoyal Society, said he was 

 charged with a duty of a y&i:y pleasant 

 character. He had, on behalf of the 

 Fellows of the Eoyal Society, to welcome 

 His Excellency on that, the first, occasion 

 of fTiS presiding at a meeting of the Eel- 

 lows. According to the charter of the 

 society, the representative of His 'Majesty 

 the King was, ex officio. President of the 

 Eoyal Society of Tasmania, a privilege 

 which, he believea, was not included in 

 the charter of any other Eoyal Society in 

 Australia. They knew, from, ample evi- 

 dence, since His Excellency's arrival m 

 Tasmania, that he took a very warm and 

 sj'mpathetic interest in the welfare of this 

 State, and the Fellows of the siociety 

 hoped that His Excellency would derive 

 pleasure from his 'association with th'at 

 society. They felt confident the society 

 vroald derive great advantage, encourage- 

 ment, and assistance from His Excel- 

 lency's ass'ociatioin with the society from 

 time to time. He desired briefly to al- 

 lude to a few instances in the past his- 

 tory of the society. In the early days of 

 its existence, considerable difficulty arose 

 regarding land for its use. One Govern- 

 ment after another promised land, but a 

 great deal 'of correspondence took pla3e, 

 and a few years ago they found that their 

 title to a portion of tihe land supposed to 

 be obtained was doubtful. Tlie recoirds 

 of the siociety were searched, and a state- 

 ment was prepared, showing beyond all 

 doubt, that while it was the general in- 

 tention to' grant the society a large block 

 of land, including Franklin-square, ultim- 

 ately the land given was confined to the 

 block between Macquarie - street and Da- 

 vey-street, now occupied by the society. 

 Their title to that larg» ajea of land -was 

 now assured, but he desired to refer par- 

 ticularly to a letter found in the corre- 

 spondence written by the early secretary, 

 in which he spoke cf the necessity for 

 ample space being reser'ped to the society. 

 He S'aid the society "must be cumulative 



and expansive beyond any limit they 

 could assign to it.'" The Fellows had 

 done very well so far. They had got 

 natural history specimens, and a fairly 

 good rep.resantation of art, and, on tlie 

 whole, he thought the institution would 

 compare favourably with any institution 

 in the other States. But they could say 

 now. as the secretary said in 18o7, that the 

 society must be cumulative and expan- 

 sive beyond any limit thsy could a».-ign 

 to it. Its first expansion now should be 

 in the direction of the securing and equip- 

 ment of a Techuological museum. I'hat 

 seemed to be necessary, in view of the an- 

 ticipations that, in the near fature, Tas- 

 mania would become an important manu- 

 facturing and distributing centre for the 

 whole of Australia. Technical instruc- 

 tion was being imparted in our schools, 

 and he hoped that technical knowledge 

 would progress. But 'a Tecl^nol^g!:'al 

 museum was a very important tuing 

 to have at our command. While 

 welcoming His Excellency to the 

 Eoyal Society, ihe ventured to express 

 a hope that, while it was certain 

 that the present moiment was not an 

 opporttine one at which to discuss heavy 

 expenditure, yet they believed the pre- 

 sent difficulties would rioU away, and that 

 His Excellency's tenure of office, as 

 Governor, and as President of the Society, 

 might be signalised by the addition of a 

 Technological m'useum to the National 

 Museum of Tasmania. He extended to 

 His Excellency a very cordial welcome on 

 belhalf of the Fellows of the Society. (Ap- 

 plause.) 



His Excelleaicy the Governor said fie 

 begged the Fellows to accept his very sin- 

 cere thanks for the extremely kind terms 

 which they had extended to him. 

 He felt proud to occupy tlie chair whidh 

 had been occupied by John Franklin, Wil- 

 liam Denison, and Eobert Hamilton. (Ap- 

 plause.) He was unprepared for the sug- 

 gestion that was thrown out by the Vice- 

 President, but (for the short time he had 

 had to reflect upon it) it seemed to be one 

 that deserved consideration. He trusted 

 that before his time wa:s over, the idea 

 might be carried into practice. He 

 tlianked them once more for their kind 

 Trel'oome, and they would now proceed to 

 the business of the evening. (Applause.) 



New Fellows. 

 Major E. C. Lewis, D.S.O., and Dr. 

 E. E. Whishaw, and Mr. Horace Watson, 

 were elected Fellows of tfie society. 



