14 TRANSACTIONS OF TUE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VoL. II. 



Moved by Mr. Harvey, seconded by Mr. Hamilton — 



"That the Secretary be requested to communicate with the Honorable 

 the Provincial Secretary, asking him to inform the Government of the 

 Province, that if they desire to purchase the Archjeological and Mineral- 

 ogical Museum of the late John Nctman, Queen's Printer, now in the 

 Legislative Buildings, and which is being advertised for sale, the Canadian 

 Institute will be happy to house it and take charge of it upon the same 

 footing as the Museum of Indian Archaeology, namely, that at conveni- 

 ent hours, the public shall have free admission. Also that the Canadian 

 Institute is about to consider the propriety of enlarging its building in 

 early spring to meet the demand for enlarged space for museum pur- 

 poses, and will be happy to meet the Hon. the Commissioner of Crown 

 Lands to discuss the whole subject of a Museum of Minerals and of 

 Natural History for the Province." 



The Rev. Philip Tocque, A.M., read a paper on "Newfoundland or Terra 

 Primum Vista." He gave a detailed account of the products and re- 

 sources of Newfoundland, its timber and fisheries, and as to the minerals 

 he said that on the western part of the country, at Codroy, St. George's 

 bay, Bay of Islands, and other places there are gypsum or plaster of 

 Paris, coal, iron, copper, lead, gold, silver, nickel, petroleum, flagstones, 

 soft sandstones, limestones, marble of every quality and colour, some 

 masses of which are four and five hundred feet in height. Here are the 

 elements of future greatness — the elements to set in motion agriculture, 

 manufactures, steam engines, railroads, and architecture. Here is a coal 

 field thirty-eight miles long, ten miles broad, and three feet thick, con- 

 taining 54,720,000 chaldrons, or 1,425,000 chaldrons per mile. Mr. 

 Murray, late geological surveyor, says of three other seams having an 

 aggregate thickness of eight feet : — " A seam of coal one foot thick 

 would give per square acre 1,500 tons, per square mile 960,000 tons ; 

 multiply by eight and the result would be 7,680,000 tons." It is said 

 this estimate equals the whole annual output from all the Cape Breton 

 mines. This coal field is only eight miles from the sea, and twenty miles 

 from St. George's Harbour, supposed to be a continuation of the coal 

 mines of Cape Breton. A short time ago Tilt Cove, Bett's Cove, and 

 Little Bay, on the northern part of the island, were shrouded in prime- 

 val silence ; no sign of even a hamlet appeared in the horoscope of the 

 future ; but the elements of a mighty change were working, and now 

 these places have grown into thriving villages. All appeared poverty on 

 the surface, but glittering chambers of wealth were below. 



Governor Hill, in his annual report to the Colonial Ofiice in London, 

 ^gives an interesting account of the rapid growth of these villages and of 



