Otago Institute. 568 
discovery at once brings the theoretical searcher into communication with the whole world 
of science, but the practical worker may spend a lifetime in developing the resources of 
the country and promoting the interests of his fellow-colonists, without being known or 
recognized outside the narrow sphere of his labo 
Instead of occupying his time in the study of abstruse theories which may well be 
left to the master minds of the old world, I think the labours of our scientific men of all 
kinds should be confined to the recording of observed facts in pure science, and the fuller 
investigation of such subjects as have a direct bearing on the practical work of coloniza- 
tion. Instead of speculating on the causes of earthquakes, the oscillations of land and 
sea, and the age of the moa, geologists, if they do not actually search for our minerals 
themselves, should at least define the age, extent and direction of the various geological 
formations, so as to indicate the localities in which minerals are likely to be found. 
Instead of investigating the peculiarities of some minute lichen found only on Mount Cook 
or Mount Egmont, our botanists should first exhaust the study of the forest trees, their 
rate of growth, general habits, and facility of reproduction. 
We might in this way run round the “circle of the sciences,” giving the positive 
and negative duties in each case, but it will be better ifI simply refer to what has already 
been done in the cause of industrial science throughout the colony and what remains to 
be done within the jurisdiction of our Institute. 
The New Zealand Exhibition of 1865 was the first and only systematic attempt made 
to investigate our resources. Considering it was collated at such an early stage of our 
history, and in a comparatively short time, the information contained in the jurors’ reports 
is wonderfully complete and correct. The collection of 1865 has never undergone a 
general revision. Several of the subjects have been taken up individually by subsequent 
observers and the information amplified, but the results are diffused through so many 
varied publications, and so mixed up with extraneous matter, that they are scarcely 
available. To this day the reports, as they originally stood, form the only compendium 
we have of the resources and industries of the colony. Nearly all the important additions 
that have lately been made to our information on these subjects have been contributed by 
the Native Industry Committee of Parliament, and by Dr. Hector, Professor Hutton, Mr. 
Kirk, and the staff of the Colonial Museum; there are few amateurs in the field of practical 
Science. 
The prineipal subjects that have received special attention are :—Deposits of gold 
and coal; conservation of forests; qualities of soils; properties of native grasses ; edible 
fishes; cultivation of Phormium, together with a few others of less importance. Dr. 
Hector’s assistants—Messrs. Skey and Buchanan—haye each in his own department done 
great’ service to the cause of science, theoretically and practically. Mr. Skey’s original 
researches in the chemistry of our native products deserve more than the passing notice I 
can give, Each successive volume of the Transactions bears testimony to his untiring 
application. 
What is now wanted is that the information already obtained on each subject should 
be collected and arranged in a systematic form, so as to be readily ayailable to all. 
Blanks should be filled up where possible, and when this cannot be done, their existence 
should be pointed out, so that future observers may explore new groun nd. 
In Geology much yet remains to be done ; the Government geologists fip the 
colony have accomplished as much as could reasonably be expected of the ti 
and with the means at their disposal. But it amounts to little more cue a general 
indication of the locale of ihe different formations; the details of strike, inclination, 
