353 



Membership. — -THiere has not been a great accession of new 

 members during the year, but some of those elected will pro- 

 bably prove useful acquisitions to the Section. Tlie nujiiber 

 of members on the roll is 70. 



S. Smeaton, CliaiiTQan. 

 W. H. Selway, Hon. Sec. 

 Adelaide, 16th September, 1902. 



FOURTEENTH ANNUAL II:EP0RT OF THE NATIVE 

 FAUNA AND FLORA PROTECTION COMMITTEE 

 OF THE FIELD NATURALISTS' SECTION OF 

 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA 

 FOR THE YEAR ENDED SEPTEMBER 30, 1902. 



During the past year the committee has not been engaged 

 in any work of great importance. 



Thei appearance in the "S.A. Register" of! September 21, 1901, 

 of a contributed article on the National Park, under the- 

 initials "R. O. C," in which the writer, while professing to tell 

 "how the reserve was secured," completely ignored the fact 

 that this was done almost exclusively through the arduous 

 exertions of our late Secretary, Mr. A. F. Robin and other 

 members of this committee in obtaining the Act vesting this 

 block of about 1,800 acres in trustees, called for the publication 

 of a t^iie history of the matter. The Secretary, therefore, 

 compiled from various records a short statement of facts, show- 

 ing that to our late Secretary was due most of the credit which 

 had been lavished by "R. 0. C." on another gentleman. This 

 w^as published in "The Register" of October 7, 1901, a number 

 of copies were struck off for distribution among those specially 

 interested in the subject, and one was sent to each Com- 

 missioner of the National Park. 



Before leaving this subject the committee place on record 

 their regret that their originail scheme with respect to the 

 various bodies represented on the board was departed from. 

 The intention was' that each body should nominate a represen- 

 tative to be appointed by the Government, but when the 

 Act passed, it provided for the heads of certain bodies to 

 become ex-officio Commissioners, and the result cannot be re^ 

 garded as satisfactory. 



It is a matter for congratulation that the movement begun 

 here for the preservation of the native fauna and flora haa 

 induced the taking of steps in this direction by each State of 

 the Commonwealth, and that in at least two of them further 



