Ixxx. Timehri. 



is already evidence that this enquiry will be very greatly hampered by the 

 absence of reliable detailed maps of the parts of the country which are 

 to be examined. 



It may and probably will be objected to this address that it is too long 

 and covers, although only cursorily, an unduly wide range of subjects. It 

 is, however, impossible to glance at the agricultural and industrial changes 

 which have taken place in the colony during 21 years in a short address. 

 I have tried not to wander beyond the aims and objects of this time-hon- 

 oured Society. These objects are denned in the preamble to the Royal 

 Agricultural and Commercial Society's Ordinance No. 2 of 1866 in the 

 following words : — 



" The objects of the said Society are to promote, as far as possible, 

 " the improvement and encouragement of the agriculture of the Colony, 

 "and of every branch of industry, whereby the resources of the Colony 

 " are likely to be developed and increased, as also the collecting and 

 " disseminating of useful information on such subjects." Chapter X, 

 Clause 3 of the First Schedule of the Ordinance, mentions that among 

 the duties of the Society's Standing Committees is the " forming and 

 " maintaining a Local Museum and an Experimental Garden," and Chapter 

 XIII, Clause 2 enacts that : " In the Museum shall be kept the 

 " best specimens which can be obtained of the production of the Colony, 

 " both indigenous and introduced ; more particularly specimens of 

 " minerals, soils, vvoods, fibres, fruits, seeds, gums, resins, dyes and drugs, 

 " and of all other productions of the Colony which either have been or 

 " may hereafter be successfully cultivated or used as articles of commerce 

 " or of food ;" whilst Chapter XIV, Clause 1 lays down that : — " Premiums 

 "may be offered for improvements in the agriculture of the Colony ; for 

 " the application of manures to the cultivation of the soil ; for improved 

 " methods of clearing and draining land ; for the improvement of pasture 

 " lands ; for the improvement of implements and machinery ; for the 

 " improvement of existing, and the introduction of new and improved 

 " breeds of horses, cattle and stock of every description ;" and Clause 

 2 states that : — 



" Grants of money to aid in useful experiments of any kind, such as 

 " the testing of the utility of new inventions, the chemical analysis of 

 " soils, and other purposes, may be also given by the Society." 



These show that the objects of the Society embrace a wide 

 range of agricultural, industrial and scientific subjects and hence 

 the address of its President may perhaps be permitted to traverse, as I 

 have done, a similarly wide range. It was not the fault of the Directors 

 of this Society that when the Botanic Gardens and the present Govern- 

 ment Laboratory were inaugurated in 1878 and 1879 they were not 

 placed, as the Directors desired they should be, under the control of the 

 Society as the colony's other scientific institution — the Museum — has 

 always been. Hence the activities of the Department at present under my 



