XCII PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 



for this our climate, which on the whole is one of the best for the 

 white races. Neither can we reasonably urge lack of the stimulus 

 which comes from competition, for if we had the least faith in 

 the reality of our duty to work each day with our might, we 

 should neither slacken nor procrastinate, nor leave ourselves 

 leisure at times for unnecessary, if not ungenerous, criticisms of 

 the work of our fellow craftsmen. But to err is human; and there 

 can be no doubt that partly through want of competition, partly 

 through want of rubbing shoulders with our fellow workers in the 

 Old World, partly through yielding, like the lotus-eaters, to that 

 primitive dolce far niente instinct, we do err and fall far short of 

 our duty. This is another instance why we so particularly look 

 forward to the coming of our colleagues of the British Association 

 and their distinguished visitors from other countries, viz., that we 

 may be strengthened and confirmed in our work by means of that 

 inspiration which comes alone from personal contact with master 

 minds. 



In the meantime, while as yet our country is untouched by 

 war, war which we hope may never come, though come it surely 

 will, unless we watch continually as a strong man armed, let 

 us work together body and soul to make her as glorious in the 

 arts of peace as she is dear to our hearts, just because it is our 

 bounden duty so to do, and to the end that we may, under 

 Providence, hand down to our children this noble heritage of 

 Australasia as strong and free and full of honour as it was when 

 we received it from our stalwart fathers. 



