plainly lliat there was need for some re- 

 form of existing institutioniS. A contest 

 was approaching between socialism on the 

 one hand and individ>n,ali(sm on the other. 

 and he thought that the rejiult would be a 

 <iompromise, preserving the. m'oderate 

 forms of both. In his opinion, there wa..^ 

 no probability that individual pro-ductioci, 

 private ownership of l?nd, would ever be 

 abolished. The present system liad its un- 

 doubted merits, one of the greatest bein;,' 

 the incentive which it gave to in^dividusl 

 effort. If that inc-entive were lost, civili- 

 sation would be endangered. 



Mr. E. M. Johnston endorsed Mr. Dcb- 

 biie's remarks. There were two extreme-s 

 — unrestrained individualism on the one 

 iside, auicl_ camplete socialistic rule on the 

 other. l-Ie beJieved, with iMr. Dobbie. 

 that society would take the middle 

 conrs.e. 



Pireiserving Timber. 



Mr. E. M. Johnston called attention of 

 members of the societv to the process p.a- 

 tented l>y Captain E. T. McFie for pre- 

 sigrying timber, and f^uggested that a 

 series of tests should be made in order 

 to ascertain its merits. 



Mr. iK. C. Eicbardfion .said that the ten- 

 dency of T'dismanian timbers to split w.as a 

 bar to their introduction into foreign 

 markets. If any jnetb.iod could be discover- 

 ed of preventing wind shakes, a gi-eat 

 expansion cf the timber industry could 

 be looked for. The euf-alyptus was, in a 

 sense, an evergreen; the sv^-p was always 

 in the stem. Consequently when the tree 

 was cut down and sawn into billets, 

 rapid shrinkage took place, and as the 

 process was more rapid at the ends of 

 the logs, splitting was almost inevitable. 

 What they wanted Avas a paint which 

 should prevent this, and cause the pro- 



cess of seasoning to proceed uniformly 

 through the piece of timber. He had 

 used several paints for that purpose, 

 but none, so far as he could judge, were 

 eciual to Captain McFie's. H© wonld 

 make some tests shortly, when he 

 shipped a small consignment of timber 

 to England, and in due course would 

 communicate the results to the society. 



In mioving a vote of thanks to the 

 gentlemen who had read papers. His 

 Excellency made some- reference to 

 socialism. Something of the character 

 of a. socialistic state existed in the re- 

 ligious orders and the guilds of the 

 Middle Ages. In the religious orders 

 property was held in common, and tasks 

 were assigned to the membei's suited to 

 their several capacities. When their 



religious enthusiasm effervesced, how- 

 ever, they grew lazy, and for the M'ant 

 of some authority to enforce discipline 

 and compel the members to work, the 

 organisation collapsed. That suggested 

 a difficulty which was the crux of the 

 whole question: How were they to ensure 

 industrious application to work in the 

 socialistic state, and how were they to 

 assign proper tasks to proper persons? 

 Ami, again, -.vho was to see that those 

 duties were properly performed? So 

 far the 'State had merely touched the 

 fringe of production. Agriculture, the 

 most important industrv, was wholly in 

 the hands of private individuals. He 

 did not know v.hether in the socialistic 

 State inspectors would be appointed to 

 see that the farmer put the right cow 

 in the right paddock; but supervision 

 and discipline of some sort would be 

 essential. 



The vote of thanks was carried by ae- 

 clamaticn, and the meeting terminated. 



