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SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XVII. No. 423 



SCIENCE; 



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SCIENCE IN NEW ZEALAND.^ 



When I rashly replied in the affirmative to the cablegram which 

 I received from our secretary in Melbourne, asking me to under- 

 take the honorable and responsible duties which I have to com- 

 mence this evening, I fear I did not fully realize the difficulties of 

 the position ; but since then the sense of my unfitness for the task 

 has become very oppressive. To address an assembly of this kind 

 on general science must involve unusual difficulties, owing to the 

 audience being largely composed of those who, only taking a 

 casual interest in scientific discussions, look chieiiy to the results; 

 while, at the same time, there are present professional specialists 

 in almost every branch of knowledge. I feel that on this occasion 

 I must be ruled by the interest of the majority, and claim the for- 

 bearance of my fellow- workers in science if I have to refer in a 

 sketchy way to subjects in which they are deeply interested, and 

 far more learned than I profess to be. 



Seeing that I am addressing a Christchurch audience, I hope I 

 may be permitted, in the first place, to say a word concerning one 

 whose scientific services should, without doubt, have obtained for 

 him the position of first president in New Zealand of the Australa- 

 sian Association. We naturally recall the name of Sir Julius von 

 Haast on this occasion, and mourn for the loss the colony has 

 sustained of one who for thirty years occupied a most prominent 

 position. His early researches in the North Island, in company 

 with Von Hochstetter, were followed by the exploration of the 

 remote districts on the west coast of Nelson, after which Canter- 

 bury secured his distinguished services, and enabled him to leave 

 that monument of his varied scientific knowledge, shrewd capacity, 

 and indefatigable industry, which is to be found in the Canterbury 

 Museum. 



There are others of our fellow-colonists whose wide range of 

 experience would have peculiarly fitted them to act as your presi- 

 dent; and I am able to say, that, had our veteran colonist and 

 explorer Sir George Grey felt more assui-ed in health and strength, 

 it would have been your pleasure this evening to listen to a flood 

 of eloquence on all scientific topics that relate to the future de- 

 velopment of Australasia. There is another name I feel must be 

 mentioned as one who should have been in this position had his 

 health permitted. I refer to the Rev. William Colenso, who is 

 not only the greatest authority on the folk-lore of the Maoris, on 

 whom he was among the first to confer a printed literature in 

 their own language, but whose long-continued work as a field 

 naturalist, and especially as a botanist, is exceedingly interesting, 



1 Address of the president of the Australasian Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science, Christchurch, Jan. 16, 1891. 



seeing that it forms a connecting link that has continued the early 

 spirit of natural-history research in New Zealand, that commenced 

 with Banks and Solander, and was continued by Menzies, Lesson., 

 the two Cunninghams, and Sir Joseph Hooker, prior to the arrival! 

 of colonists. Thus we still have in my esteemed friend, Mr. 

 Colenso, an active veteran naturalist of what we may call the old 

 school of explorers. 



It is wonderful to reflect that little moie than fifty years ago 

 this European colony was represented by a few fishing hamlets oil 

 the seaboard of a country occupied by a considerable native popu- 

 lation. To the early explorers, and even down to a much later 

 date, the obstacles that beset their path were very difl'erent from 

 those of the present time, — often obstructive natives, no roads, no- 

 steamers, no railways. Had an association then existed, and de- 

 sired to promote science by giving our visitors an opportunity of 

 visiting the remote parts of the islands, the same excursions which 

 have on this occasion been planned to occupy a few days, would 

 have occupied as many months, and then be accomplished only 

 with great hardship and difficulty. I must ask the young and 

 rising generation of colonial naturalists to bear this in mind when 

 they have to criticise and add to the work of their predecessors. 

 Such names of early colonists as Bidwill, Sinclair, Monro, Man- 

 tell, Travers, and may others, should ever be held in esteem as 

 those who, amidst all the arduous trials of early colonization,, 

 never lost sight of their duty towards the advancement of science 

 in New Zealand. I will not attempt to particularize other names 

 from among our existing, and, though small in number, very 

 active, corps of scientific workers. They are here, or should be, 

 to speak for themselves in the sectional work ; and I have no doubt 

 some of those who did me the great honor of placing me in my 

 present position are secretly congratulating themselves that they 

 have secured for themselves the position of free lances on this 

 occasion. 



This is now the third annual gathering of this association, and 

 New Zealand should feel honored that it has at so early a date in 

 the association's history been selected to the turn in rotation as 

 the place of meeting among so many divisions of the great colony 

 of Australasia. The two volumes of the "Transactions" of the 

 association, already in the hands of members, are quite sufficient 

 to prove that the hopes of its founders — or, rather, I may almost 

 say, the founder, Professor Liversidge of Sydney — have been 

 amply fulfilled. 



The papers read before the different sections, and the addresses 

 delivered, have, in my opinion, to a most remarkable extent em- 

 bodied information and discussions which were not likely to have 

 been produced as tbe result of any of our local scientific organiza- 

 tions. The authors seemed to have felt it incumbent on them ta 

 place their subjects in the environment of Australasia, and not in 

 relation to the colony they happened to represent. This, I take 

 it, is the first truly effective step towards federation which has 

 yet been achieved, and I trust that all our members will continue 

 to be imbued with this spirit. Politicians should take this welt 

 to heart. Let them continue to aid ail efforts that will tend to 

 bring scientific accumulations in these colonies into a common 

 store ; so that each may discover for what purpose it has been 

 best adapted by nature, and, by paying proper political respect in 

 fiscal policy to one another, each may prosper to the full extent 

 of its natural advantages. But it is not alone in the value of the 

 papers communicated the association contributes to advance true 

 civilization in the colonies. Tlie face-to-face conference, the per- 

 sonal contact of the active workers in different lines of scientific 

 work, must greatly facilitate the more thorough understanding 

 of the work which has been done, and which is stUl undone. A 

 vague idea, simmering in the brain of one scientist, who thinks 

 light of it because it has no special application in his particular 

 environment, may, by personal converse, flash into important re- 

 sults in the mind of another who has had the difficulties facing 

 him, but without the happy thought occurring. It would be 

 rather interesting for some one with leisure to endeavor to recount 

 how many great discoveries have eventuated in this manner. 



In casting my thoughts for a particular subject on which to ad- 

 dress the association, I felt perplexed. Presidents of similar associa- 

 tions in the Old World, who are in constant contact with the actual 



