xc 



since the history of early voyages to the colony was of great interest 

 not only to the Society but to the public generally. Mr. McClymont 

 had called attention to the dearth of books relating to the colony in our 

 public libraries, and this was a fact which certainly was not creditable 

 to Tasmania, there being very few printed records of its discovery, 

 settlement, and history to be found in the whole country. Is ot long 

 ago when the French man-of-war, the Finisterre, called at Hobart, some 

 of her officers went to the Public Library to obtain information jrespecting 

 the discoveries in Tasmania of the earlier French navigators Dentrecas- 

 teaux, Baudin, and others, but to their great astonishment the Public 

 Library had not a single one of the books for which they sought. It 

 was discreditable to Tasmania. It was a strange thing that Tasmania 

 possessed fewer books about its own history than other countries did ; 

 it was an astonishing state of affairs. In regard to the nature of the 

 paper which had just been read, he thought it would be well if the 

 members of the society would oftener take up subjects relating to the 

 geography, and early history of the colony. The Royal Society was the 

 only society which could be called a literary or learned society in the 

 colony, and although the two subjects he referred to were not particu- 

 larly provided for in the rules and constitution of the society, he did not 

 see why papers dealing with them should not be read ; or that a Geogra- 

 phical and Historical Section should not be formed, the members of 

 which might write papers embodying the results of their researches 

 which could be read at meetings of the Section and not at the monthly 

 meetings. There would be one advantage in Sections, as it would enable 

 the members belonging to it to work together systematically towards 

 preserving those materials for the future history of the colony, which 

 were fast passing away. He saggested that a committee should be 

 appointed to confer with the trustees of the Public Library and the 

 Parliamentary Library Committee, with the view of obtaining a complete 

 set of works relating to the early discovery and history of Tasmania. 



The Chairman said it might not be generally known that it 

 was the special object of Sir John Franklin, 40 years ago, to collect 

 together all the works relating to the Australasian colonies, and a 

 library was established in Lady Franklin's Museum. The ultimate 

 intention was to form a library in the then projected college, but he 

 did not know what had become of the collection now. 



Mr. Walker : There are a few such books in Christ's College 

 Library. 



The Chairman said the trustees of the College might be willing to 

 hand these books over to the society, as their library was the suitable 

 place for their reception. At all events these books were lost in a 

 measure to the public at present, and he thought they should be set 

 apart for the special object for which they were collected. 



Mr. E. D. Swax did not think the trustees would like to dispose of 

 these books. 



Mr. Walker said there were not many books of this description 

 in the college library, and that the college trustees certainly could not 

 part with any of them. 



Mr. A. Morton said the Royal Society of Sydney have geographical 

 and historical sections, and he did not think there was anything in 

 the society's rules which debarred them from forming similar separate 

 sections. 



Dr. Agnew pointed out that separate sections had been tried, 

 but they did not prove a success, probably because of the small 



