354 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION E. 



It has therefore happened that fertile tracts of country have 

 remained unknown and unutilised for years, just because a 

 government has not had sufficient knowledge and enterprise to 

 have it examined and reported upon. 



Many instances could be given of this want of enterprise, I 

 might even say neglect of duty, by the different governments of 

 Australia. Surely the first duty of a State is to find out what its 

 territory consists of, and any government which neglects this 

 duty is not worthy to be entrusted with the care of such territory. 



Even at the present time we are not doing as much as we should 

 do. How much a year does Australia expend on its scientific 

 departments ? Are we anxious to obtain the services of the best 

 scientific men, or are we not rather trying to confine the scientific 

 departments to the narrowest limits 1 How often do we hear the 

 representatives of the people insult and decry the man who has 

 made science the study of his life, entirely forgetting that the 

 scientific man alone can give us the information we require, and 

 that even the practical miner is dependent for what knowledge he 

 possesses to some smattering of the science, the students of which 

 he sometimes pretends to despise. 



When it is considered what a great advantage it would be to 

 Australia as a continent not only to have its topography accurately 

 established, but also to have its geological, botanical, and zoolo- 

 gical characteristics clearly and faithfully described, it should not 

 be difficult to convince the governments and people of the conti- 

 nent that this is a great national work, and that the sooner it is 

 completed the better it will be for the progress and prosperity of 

 us all. 



The cost will be as nothing compared to the results to be anti- 

 cipated, and I look forward, most earnestly, to the further and 

 more active prosecution of this great work, and in the prosecution 

 of such a work this Association should take an active part and 

 have great influence. 



This Association, which I confidently believe will do a great 

 work in the future, has a splendid field for its duties. A conti- 

 nent lies before it the treasures of which have yet to be dis- 

 covered, and it is quite certain that the mineral wealth of Australia 

 is known only to a very slight extent indeed. Many millions of 

 square miles have never yet been seen by the white man, and, 

 consequently, their character is almost if not entirely unknown. 



Surely, in the present state of our progress, this condition of 

 things should not be allowed to continue, and the foundation of 

 the Association will, I trust, give new life and energy to the 

 people of Australia to begin at once the great national work of 

 scientifically examining the whole of the continent. 



