iv. PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 
A vote of sympathy in the death of the Right Hon. Sir 
Hugh M. Nelson, K.C.M.G., was passed to Lady Nelson and 
family. 
Dr. John Thomson was elected a Trustee in the place of 
the late Hon. Sir A. C. Gregory, K.C.M.G. | 
The retiring President (J. Brownlie tienderson, F\I.C., 
F.C.5.) then read the following address :— 
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,— 
Before going on with the principal subject of my address 
this evening, I would like to make a few remarks on the work 
of our Society during the past year. 
On looking over the list of papers and lectures the first 
thing to strike one is the very small amount of original work 
that has been put on record. 
It is extremely remarkable that in this new country 
with a field for research which is the envy of all European 
scientists, we ourselves do so very little original work and 
allow these outside scientists to step in and do most of the 
important researches. One of the causes is undoubtedly 
lack of education—our young people are blind to much of 
the world that lies around them and practically no attempt 
is made to give them sight. This phase I intend to deal 
with more fully later on. Still, in Queensland we have a 
number of scientific workers scattered up and down through 
the land—enthusiastic botanists, geologists, mineralogists, 
entomologists, etc., but who do not contribute anything 
to the Society’s Proceedings, i.e., to the world’s knowledge, 
as our Proceedings are exchanged with those of nearly 200 
similar Societies all over the world. Is it entirely the fault 
of these workers that they are not connected with us ? 
Would it not be worth our while to see if we are not partly 
or wholly to blame ? 
[ think we would get a good response if we sent out 
notices to these workers, inviting them to help the Society 
in its efforts to add to mankind’s knowledge of nature, and 
offering the Society’s help to them by referring questions 
or specimens to standing sub-committees in the various 
sciences, and by publishing the results of their work. If 
Queenslanders only knew of the enormous fields for research 
