INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 6 



years ago this European colony \\'as represented by a few 

 fishing hamlets on the seaboard of a country occupied by a 

 considerable Native population. To the early explorers, 

 and even down to a much later date, the obstacles that 

 beset their paths were very different from those of the 

 present time — often obstructive Natives, no roads, no 

 steamers, no railways. Had an association then existed 

 and desired to promote science by giving our visitors 

 an opportunity of visiting the remote parts of the Islands, 

 the same excursions Avhich have been on this occasion 

 planned to occupy a few days would have occupied as 

 many months, and would even then have been ac- 

 complished only with great hardship and difficulty. I 

 must ask the young and rising generation of colonial 

 naturalists to bear this in mind when tliey have to criticize 

 and add to the work of their precedessors. Such names of 

 early colonists as Bidwill, Sinclair, Monro, Mantell, Travers, 

 and many others should ever be held in esteem as those who, 

 amidst all the arduous trials of early colonisation, never 

 lost sight of their duty towards the advancement of science 

 in New Zealand. I will not attempt to particularise other 

 names from amongst our existing and, though small in 

 number, very active corps of scientific workers. They are 

 here, or should be, to speak for themselves in the sectional 

 work ; and I have no doubt some of those who did me the 

 great honour of placing ine in my present position are 

 secretly congratulating themselves that they have secured 

 for themselves the position of free-lances on this occasion. 



This is now the third annual gathering of this Associa- 

 tion ; and New Zealand should feel honoured that it has, 

 at so early a date in the Association's history, been selected 

 as the place of meeting from among so many divisions 

 of the great Colony of Australasia. The two volumes 

 of the Transactions of the Association already in the 

 hands of members are quite sufficient to prove that the 

 hopes of its founders — or, rather, I may almost say, 

 the founder, Professor Liversidge, of Sydney — have been 

 amply fulfilled. The papers read before the different sec- 

 tions, and the addresses delivered, have, in my opinion, to 



