BY J. B. HENDERSON, F.I.C. Vll. 



Nearly everything has been done for our University 

 so far by the Government ; in the Southern States, the 

 three older Universities have had almost as much done 

 for them by private benefactors as by Government aid. 

 It is to be hoped that Queensland will not long remain 

 distinguished as purely a Government University. Already 

 a few thousands have been given, but hundreds of thousands 

 are required for endowment. It is not generally realised 

 that it takes nearly £25,000 to endow the professor's salary 

 for any one chair, apart from the cost of lectures, laboratories 

 and other incidental expenses. Sydney has private endow- 

 ments amounting to about £500,000, and we must provide 

 at least as good an education as Sydney, if our students 

 are to hold their own in after life. 



In thinking over possible subjects for my address 

 this evening, I decided to follow up one which must have 

 repeatedly thrust itself on the attention of every student 

 of science — -the national waste of material, of energy, and 

 even of life itself that is going on around us in every direction. 



It is quite true that we are a young nation, we have 

 only passed our Jubilee, and that youth is the time of waste. 

 It is only on reaching maturity that the individual appre- 

 hends the necessity of conserving energy, and nations are 

 apt to resemble the individuals of Avhich they are mostly 

 built. But, after all, a nation is guided (or should be 

 guided), by individuals of mature thought, by men who 

 have (or should have), the large outlook and who should 

 never hesitate to spend or be spent in the effort to help 

 every individual to get the best possible return for his 

 work, and to advance the nation to the highest, morally, 

 mentally and materially. 



My object to-night is to point out briefly some of the 

 directions in which we are wasting materials and energy 

 — -and energy means wealth, and in its final application, 

 life. I found when I opened up the subject that it led to 

 much labour, much searching — -that many hours spent in 

 looking for information and statistics gave little result, 

 and that the most I could hope for was to interest a few 

 who had more leisure to take up some branches of this- 

 subject and investigate them thoroughly. 



