Natural History and Antiquarian Society. 11 



there, aaid that they would hear in future years that he was still 

 taking an active interest in antiquarian and other i-esearches. He 

 had known Mr M'llwraith professionally for a number of years, 

 and he was sorry he was leaving this disti-ict, but he trusted that 

 it was for his own benefit, and that of his family. They would 

 all be glad to hear of his success. 



Mr M'llwraith begged to thank them for this expression of 

 their kind feelings. The pursuit of natural history and antiquarian 

 subjects had engaged a considerable portion of his leisure. It had 

 not been his fortune to command a great deal of time to devote to 

 those pursuits to which he felt a natural inclination, but it had 

 seemed to him that in devoting what leisure he had to the study 

 of the works of Nature and kindred subjects he was in the first 

 place cultivating his own faculties and furnishing his own tastes 

 with pleasure, and, in the next place, assisting somewhat in pro- 

 moting the welfare of our race. For if men would turn their 

 attention more to the things that lay around them, and study 

 them systematically and carefully, they would find therein a 

 source of joy — not mere pleasure, but something higher, purer, 

 holier — which those who followed lower pleasures had no concep- 

 tion of. One of the concerns he had in leaving this country was 

 that in a new land he might not be able to meet with so many 

 people of kindred tastes in these respects. It was an opinion 

 pretty prevalent here that in the Australian colonies there was a 

 pretty strong thirst for gold ; that people were entirely abandoned 

 to making money, and had little regard to the finer enjoyments 

 and amenities of life. He had, however, been somewhat disabused 

 of that idea by reading in the Qrieenslander an account of a 

 meeting of an Acclimatisation Society. The subject of discussion 

 was the introduction of a number of our home birds there, and it 

 was resolved that some efibrts should be made to introduce such 

 birds as the Goldfinch, Bullfinch, and Chaffinch, but not the 

 Sparrow. The Spari-ow was introduced at Melbourne, and his 

 presence there had not been so agi-eeable as to induce them to 

 wish for him in Queensland. In the report of the pi'oceedings 

 he found a long, intelligent, and interesting speech on the subject 

 made by a pressman ; and when he read it and the remarks of 

 the other membei-s he thought to himself — Well, this could not 

 be quite so outlandish a place as he had anticipated after all. 

 He hoped he might be the means of assisting to keep up the 



