254 KEPORT — 1891. 



secured it might be persuaded to lend the requisite ships ; but, 

 under any circumstances, it should be asked to lend the services 

 of its naval officers. Possibly public subscriptions could be 

 obtained ; but, if all the colonial Governments would contribute, 

 a moderate sum only would be required from each to defray the 

 entire cost of the expedition. And when we consider the 

 splendid revenues which yearly flow into the colonial ex- 

 chequers, — the enormous sums of money which the Govern- 

 ments of these colonies have squandered at various times for 

 political purposes, — how little Australia and New Zealand have 

 hitherto contributed towards truly national as distinguished 

 from merely colonial enterprises, — how small a fraction of their 

 wealth has been expended upon the advancement of science — 

 this Association might fairly and without hesitation ask the 

 rulers of these colonies to depart for once from their routine 

 work, and engage in a patriotic enterprise worthy of the tradi- 

 tions of a maritime nation, and which would make the names 

 of Australia and New Zealand respected throughout the 

 civilised world. 



2. So7ne Account of the Earliest Explorations in New 

 Zealand, Ac. 



By Dr. T. M. Hocken. 



We may consider that the long list of brilliant voyages and 

 discoveries in the Southern Seas, begun by the renowned 

 Magellan, fitly closed with the splendid record of Captain 

 Coo1c. Of Captain Cook's great work we have not now to 

 speak, and for the purposes of this paper must be content with 

 referring to that admirable chart which for nearly three- 

 quarters of a century constituted, wdth few additions, the sole 

 guide to the mariner who sought his path along these unknown 

 coasts. For more than a century prior to Cook's discovery 

 New Zealand's existence upon a map of the Southern Hemi- 

 sphere was shadowed forth by a mere streak of irregular out- 

 line placed there by Tasman, and by him called Staten Land. 

 This streak was considered by Tasman to be a portion of the 

 " Terra Australis Incognita " or great southern continent, and 

 it extended northward along the west coast from about the 

 mouth of the Brunner Eiver to the Three Kings. Cook swept 

 this mist away, and with it the unknown continent which had 

 been so long enveloped in it, and in its place gave us his chart 

 of the Islands of New Zealand, a marvel of accuracy and 

 fidehty. Speaking of it in the last century, Crozet, the French 

 navigator, says, "I found it to possess an exactness and 



