574 Proceedings. 
unreasonable for us not to have in this our community an institution, a parallel to which 
may be seen to exist, in far less promising fields, in the provincial towns and cities of 
England. Should it be said, also, that there can be but one or two experts in so small a 
population; yet the encouragement which association will give to such persons will 
perhaps induce others to become specialists, and many facts will be saved from oblivion 
which would otherwise perish. 
« A further reason let me add of increasing cogency: Nelson is likely to become a ren- 
dezvous for men of leisure and people of some substance, and the days and hours of a life 
of retirement, especially after active business habits, are likely to become tedious and full 
of ennui—it is something to occupy their minds. Labour, too, must not be allowed in 
this our new country to exercise the tyranny it is doing in the old, consuming all the 
hours of the day. Knowledge is also a kind of possession : a man who knows of what the 
landscape consists, what goes to make up its varied tints, and what are the wonders of its 
woods and the treasures of its rocks, though he may not possess any OF many acres of land 
itself, gets more from the world as he looks on it, and enjoys it perhaps more than those 
who only look at it as a means of livelihood. 
«“ We associate together to communicate and to receive; to look at phenomena from 
the point of view of others; to learn from others in a few words what many hours of 
study and time-consuming research and inquiry would perhaps scarce have told us. 
“ Above all, our position, with its many advantages, bids us exist ; and our existence 
is its own best reason. No premium, political or social, invites us to unite, but only the 
legitimate attraction of combined operation and the well-known, though not easily 
accounted for, pleasure derived from the study of nature, the pursuit of knowledge, 
and the cultivation of art—a pleasure so great and so unique as to be one of the most 
distinguishing features of man above all other beings.” ; 
He then proceeded to explain more closely and specifically the objects the Society 
should have in view. 
. Speaking of the importance of studying the changes effected by the introduction of 
exotic animals and plants, the President said: “Is it altogether a vain idea that this 
Society might purchase a few rough tracts or gullies here and there, in distinctive situa- 
tions, to be exempted from the fowler's snare and the sportsman's gun, where no cattle 
shall tear away the protective undergrowth, no lambent fire lick up the grassy carpet of 
herbage, nor scorching flame make the landscape sorrowful with mournful edges of 
blackened trunks, but where nature shall have her own sweet will? Are there no Govern- 
ment lands which could be leased by, say 1,000 acres, to this Society, for, say 100 years 
(not. sold, of course, for that would be out of keeping with the spirit of the age), which 
might be our Yellowstene dominion? Must we have nature’s vagaries and eccentricities 
to justify such a locality? I, myself, have secured on a lease, as much for the enjoyment 
' of others as my own, the beautiful promontory near Cable Bay, in order to prevent its 
destruction by fires and cattle, and an association like this might easily kindle sufficient 
enthusiasm in the conservation of similar localities. 
“The plot of ground which would suit us as an Herbarium or Aviarium would pro- 
bably be of little use to the sheepfarmer or agriculturist, and the rising generation might 
learn that there was pleasure in seeing as well as in receiving, and it might become a 
recognized wrong to hurt or spoil in such a true sanctuary of nature. 
« Would that I could say that these were the only animals and forces that we have to 
dread, lest they should extinguish some herb or flower. I am informed that within the 
very area of which I have spoken, @ person discovered recently a fern, or peculiar species 
