XXVI PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 



ence, that future is a bright one, close at hand ; but if with 

 Tennyson we cry : 



" Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers " 



the day which promises so fair a waking will close once more in 

 sadness and hope deferred again make the heart sick. Nature 

 has prepared the way — valuable minerals are there in plenty — • 

 around Atherton is an unparalleled supply of timber, and a rich 

 food-producing area. Indeed everything lies at hand, but with- 

 out co-operation and the application of the highest of modern skill 

 and knowledge, the story of the past will be repeated, and dis- 

 appointment again sadden the land. The first thing to remember 

 is that the day of poor men's mines is over ; the windlas-and- 

 bucket miner with his cinque-cento adages about not seeing 

 further than the point of the pick will soon be as extinct as the 

 Diprotodon. He has had his chance, and done useful work, but 

 he must give way now to him who with money and knowledge at 

 his back, can attack problems far beyond his predecessor's ken, and 

 who needs not unthriftily to wring out of the unwilling earth 

 daily ore for daily bread. Mine-owners must have sufficient 

 capital to enable them to carry on exploiting and development 

 work at the same time as ore-raising, and the tenure of the ground 

 must be made safe enough to justify capitalists in locking up 

 their money for years. A mine ought to be as permanent a pro- 

 perty as a iarm, and it is useless to expect people to go to great 

 expense in plant, unless security is given that the property may 

 not be jumped owing to unforseen accidents. Security of tenure 

 should be a right, and not a privilege. Happily legislation is 

 tending this way. It is also pleasant to notice that legislators 

 are beginning to realise that tin, copper, and silver mines, whose 

 produce is more variable in value than wool, are not to be dealt 

 with as if they were gold-mines, whose material is the standard 

 in which the other mine products is purchased. Gold is not 

 wealth, it is simply the means of purchasing it. Tin, copper, 

 lead, silver, ^^c, are wealth, and are necessaries of life. 



Another crying want is improved communication. For 

 years the local tradesmen, miners, agriculturalists, timber- 

 merchants, etc., have been petitioning for the extension of the 

 railway at least as far as Atherton. There is no difficulty what= 



