564 Proceedings. 
faults, mineral veins, and the hundred other particulars that constitute a complete survey 
are still wanting. It will be many years before the State can supply them. Why should 
the work not be done, to a great extent, by amateurs, for its own sake? It seems to me 
as interesting as fern-hunting, or the other botanical pursuits that are so popular. There 
are few districts in New Zealand that present greater inducements to geological research 
than the one immediately surrounding Dunedin. Every square mile speaks a volume, 
still there is not one page written. It is difficult to enumerate specifically the subjects in 
economic geology, about which information is most wanted, as there are so few about 
which our knowledge is in any way complete. Professors Hutton and Ulrich have given a 
concise summary of the present information in the ** Geology of Otago,” but it is mainly 
useful in showing that the field is practically unexplored. 
The labours of Dr. Hector, Mr. Kirk, Capt. Campbell Walker and Mr. Buchanan, 
have thrown great light on economie botany so far as Phormium, timber-trees, and grasses 
are concerned, but the subject is by no means exhausted. We are still in the dark as to 
the habits, age, growth, habitat in relation to soil, elevation and climate, reproduction and 
eultivation, and numerous other partieulars regarding the useful plants of the colony. 
e chemistry of our native produets is perhaps less known than any other of their 
attributes, As already stated, Mr. Skey's incessant labours have determined the consti- 
tuents and properties of many of them, and Professor Black has also done good service in 
the same direction. But the field is so extensive, and the labourers are so few, that we 
ean only consider the study as begun. The work already done bears about the same 
proportion to what is required as the meridian lines do to the other markings on a 
map. We want to ascertain the constituents of almost every product of the three natural 
kingdoms before they are utilized. It is chemists that tell us if our ores are payable; if 
our soils are productive; if our building stones are durable ; if our mortars are tenacious ; 
and if our food is wholesome. Without the information they can furnish, our material 
progress would be slow indeed, a mere groping in the dark. 
In addition to the service he can render in analysing raw materials, the chemist in a 
new country has a wider field for original research than his compeer at home. He has 
before him every day substances to which chemical tests have never been applied, conse- 
quently his chances of being a discoverer are greatly increased. This alone should be an 
incentive to perseverance in every student of chemistry. 
ublication in a systematic form of the analyses of native products, made at the 
various kisii throughout the ecg would be a great boon to all who are interested 
in the promotion of applied scien 
Turning now from natural science to the sciences that affect our interests as com- 
munities, we have numerous subjects worthy of a place in our deliberations. For instance, 
the sanitary condition of our towns; water supply; drainage and cleanliness in general. 
Intereommunication—postal, telegraph—and by means of roads, railways and steamers ; 
the construction of harbours, and devastation by flood. All of these subjects are of vital 
importance to the community, and their consideration comes fairly within the functions 
of the Institute, still they are seldom discussed. 
The development of manufactures is one of the most important, intricate and uncer- 
tain of the many subjects with which a new country has to deal; so much is it dependent 
on Free Trade and the other considerations of political economy. The all-important 
question ‘ will it pay” comes in at every step, and each case is influenced by surrounding 
circumstance, consequently it must be settled on its merits. No general rule can be laid 
down on the subject. For these reasons the question of establishing manufactures is 
