xiv President's Address 



annual gathering, at which papers and communications of 

 great interest and scientific value have been contributed ; 

 but as the Council have been able to print and distribute 

 these amongst the members immediately after the meetings 

 at which they were presented, it will be unnecessary for me 

 to refer to them in detail here. It cannot but be remarked, 

 however, that while these contributions have been more than 

 sufficient to occupy our ordinary meetings, the names of the 

 contributors are limited, and^ as is too often the case in 

 scientific societies^ most of the work is done by a few. We 

 have on our roll now many young members whose recrea- 

 tions, if not their general occupations, are such as should 

 enable them to become active and useful in the Society, 

 and it is greatly to be desired that they should add 

 their names to the comparatively small list of working 

 members. 



The attendance of members at our ordinary meetings has 

 been much greater than in former years, and I think we 

 may safely conclude that interest in those branches of 

 knowledge and inquiry which come within the scope of the 

 Society has considerably increased. 



In my last address I expressed a belief that the functions 

 of the Society might be beneficially extended so as to 

 embrace, besides the reception of papers and communica- 

 tions, the delivery of brief special lectures for the demon- 

 stration of new and interesting facts in physical and other 

 sciences. I regret to say that up to the present time your 

 Council has been unable to mature any scheme for accom- 

 plishing this. I hope, however, that something in this 

 direction may be done before entering on our next session. 



I have on former occasions of this kind alluded cursorily 

 to the progress made within the colony in oiir various 

 departments devoted to scientific and technological research 

 and teaching, and other cognate matters of more than 



