156 TiMEHRI. 



showed that the Society from the very commencement 

 was fully alive to the value of such shows. In 1846 an 

 anniversary dinner was held, at which the list of 

 toasts extended to fourteen. In the following year 

 the Society was instrumental in getting the appoint- 

 ment of Dr. John Shier as Agricultural Chemist. 

 The work done by that gentleman in experiment- 

 ing and reporting upon agriculture, drainage, soils, 

 manures, methods of manufacture, &c., was of im- 

 irense benefit to the sugar industry, and his reports 

 were replete with information as valuable to-day as it 

 was then. It was difficult to judge the hfty years' work 

 of the Society — the colony in general and the sugar 

 industry in particular were deeply indebted to its in- 

 vestigations and discussions. 



He would now proceed to deal with the present 

 position of the Society in regard to Agriculture. 

 Unfortunately there was little to be said of any- 

 thing beyond the sugar industry. He said unfor- 

 tunately because, although the sugar industry had 

 been the mainstay of the colony in the past and he 

 hopned would be so also in the future, yet there was still 

 a wide field for other agricultural industries. The sugar 

 estates were managed by trained agriculturists with 

 practical experience, assisted by chemists, so that it 

 might be said the planters did not require information 

 from the Society. This however was not the view he 

 took of the matter. There was no doubt that if they 

 met together and read papers and discussed questions of 

 importance they would derive great benefit from the 

 interchange of ideas. Unfortunately they were not easily 

 brought together, each appearing to preler working in 



