ANNUAL MEETING. 49 
Sir H. Barkty, G.C.M.G., K.C.B., F.R.S.—I have been requested to 
move “That our best thanks be presented to Professor Dabney for the 
Annual Address now delivered, and to those who have read papers during 
the session.” So far as it has been my privilege to listen to the papers read 
at this Institute during the session, they have seemed to me to have been 
generally of a character carrying out to the fullest extent the objects of the 
Victoria Institute ; and I am sure that those who have listened to the paper 
of Professor Dabney will feel that the simple and eloquent language in 
which it is couched has gone very far, contrary perhaps to the expectation of 
most of those who sit here, to render the subject of inductive logic attractive 
to a general audience. (Applause.) 
Rev. T. Fuavetz, K.C.L.—I will not detain the meeting many minutes 
whilst I respond to the request that I should second this resolution. 
Sir J. H. Lefroy in moving the first resolution stated that he had not 
observed much unbelief during his residence in the Colonies. I do not 
know how long he lived there, nor in which of the Colonies he resided ; but 
I come from New Zealand, and there are two towns in that colony— 
Dunedin and Christchurch—in each of which there is a free-thinking 
association. The men who belong to these associations are, I regret to 
say, very determined, not only in holding their peculiar views, but in 
endeavouring, by every means in their power, to spread them through 
the length and breadth of the land. Their way of beginning is to start with 
the clergy; I hope I am not making a wrong induction; but twelve 
numbers in succession of a paper in favour of unbelief were sent to me, 
I suppose for the purpose of converting me to the views it expressed. 
Another way of obtaining converts is to get young children into their 
Lyceum, and when I left Christchurch the Lyceum there had some 
seventy children being taught under the supervision of these people. In 
Dunedin, also, there is an infant class in which the teachers endeavour to 
inculcate these fearful doctrines into the minds of the very young. The 
question is, How are we to meet this tide of unbelief? There are three 
courses open to us. One is to let the tide alone ; another is to attack these 
people in strong and harsh language; and the third, and I think the 
superior method, is to approach our antagonists in a spirit of kindness and 
sympathy. Two of the Christchurch clergy adopted the latter course. They 
issued a syllabus of lectures, in which they proposed to state their views, 
and invited the freethinkers to come to the church, so that they might hear 
their opponents freely, fully, and courteously expound their views. During 
six Sunday nights it was my privilege to stand in the pulpit and address 
large congregations, many of them being men who were members of the 
various freethinkers’ asscciations. By means of the press, also, I have been 
able to get careful reviews and extracts from some of the very valuable 
papers published by this Institute put into circulation throughout the 
Colony of New Zealand. (Applause.) I am glad now to have the opportunity 
of expressing my own great indebtedness to this Institute. We in 
VOL. XIX. E 
