alighting make them as 3'et unsuitable for purposes of explora- 

 tion. They are also unable to carry any considerable weight. 

 On the other hand, the dirigible* balloon has been brought to 

 such a degree of perfection that the carrying of a dozen men 

 and several tons of stores is merely a question of money. 



When it is remembered that the unexplored portion of 

 Tasmania is ver}^ large, that the mineral belt which probably 

 contains many a mine of the value of Lyell or Bischoff is most 

 ■difficult of access by land, I feel the time is approaching when 

 an enterprising Government may seriously consider the hiring 

 of a dirigible balloon to carry out preliminary aerial surveys, 

 and facilitate and encourage the subsequent work of prospectors 

 following the ordinary methods. 



At the time of my last address to this Society, scientific men 

 were justified in laughing at wireless telephony as the objective 

 of visionaries; but the rapid achievements in practice of wire- 

 less telephony are already astounding. The human voice has 

 ■been audibly transmitted without wires a distance of 260 miles. 

 With regard to wireless telegraphy, there have been great im- 

 provements, of which the most remarkable is the development 

 of automatic transmission up to the speed of 120 words a minute. 

 With regard to land telegraphs, the operation of a line without 

 repetition has been extended over 7,000 miles. Less than a year 

 ago serious people were laughing at Mr. Heniiiker Heaton's 

 advocacy of telegrams at a penny a word, but now, by direct 

 overland transmission to Southern Asia, and by wireless trans- 

 mission thence to the shores of Australia, the possibility of 

 penny-a-word telegrams, or, at least, of telegrams at greatly 

 reduced rates, has been brought within the range of practical 

 politics. 



With regard to shipping, when I last addressed you the 

 Mauretania and the Lusitania. which have fulfilled all expecta- 

 tions, were considered' marvellous for their size, as Avell as for 

 their speed, but already ships of nearly twice their size are being 

 built. These larger ships do not aim at a speed much above 20 

 knots, but it is probable that their size will ofifer immunity from 

 sea sickness and a great reduction in the cost of luxurious 

 trans-Atlantic travelling. They; are being built with English 

 capital, and will probably be propelled by an economical com- 

 bination of high-pressure reciprocating engines and low-pres- 

 sure turbines. 



This line of development is important to Tasmania. The 

 most enterprising shipowners have already given a warning to 

 Melbourne and Sydney that much work will have to be done to 

 their water-ways before really large vessels can be built for the 

 Australian trade. 



Long before any other Australian port is fit to receive 

 them, 40,000-ton vessels may be built, able to come to Australia 

 at 20 knots by the Cape, and if the passenger traftic should 

 warrant the experiment, Hobart may expect to enjoy its natural 

 claims to be the port of transhipment and coaling for the Com- 

 monwealth terminus. 



The providing of mechanical aids for the rapid coaling of 

 vessels has received successful attention at Fremantle, Western 



