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 or 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 Yellowstone 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, a person discovered recently a fern, or peculiar species 



