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little of physical science, and this may be an additional reason why they resist its intro- 

 duction into the curriculum, since they are not able to understand its value ; while it 

 must also be allowed that they have just cause to look with pride upon many distinguished 

 men who, educated at their schools, have without such knowledge, brought great credit 

 to those institutions. Here human nature simply comes into play. 



On the Continent of Europe and the United States, this defect has already been 

 partially remedied, and in Great Britain powerful advocates, even from the ranks of the 

 most eminent classical scholars, have come forth to break their lances for the introduc- 

 tion of such studies into all schools. In your mother country they are mostly men who 

 have travelled, who have seen the advantages conferred by such studies upon a whole 

 generation in other countries. They have witnessed the delight of the pupils when, after 

 the study of languages and mathematics, natural history, geology, mineralogy, and 

 chemistry, had their turn, and refreshed the scholars for the drier work. They have seen 

 what a treasure the pupils carry with them when they leave school by possessing some 

 knowledge of the laws by which the Universe, from our central sun down to the smallest 

 atom upon earth, is governed, and experiencing that delight which a contemplation of 

 Nature affords — how it ennobles their daily occupation, fills their leisure hours, and 

 teaches them to observe and think. But what intellectual resources of this kind has a 

 young man who leaves a school conducted on our present system ? Is he not nearly as 

 much a stranger on this beautiful earth as when he first came upon it, and where will he 

 find time, amid the tiirmod of life, to gain that knowledge so necessary to him now-a-days, 

 but which, during the many years of his school-life, was withheld ? 



I trust you will not think I am overstepping my privileges in thus openly expressing 

 my opinion about the present mode of teaching the rising generation, but I should neither 

 be doing my duty, nor deserve the honourable position in which you have placed me, did 

 I not state fearlessly, and without restraint, my convictions on the subject. But, I 

 repeat, that should not some attention be soon paid in our schools to the study of physical 

 science, the time is not distant when in the race of life and in competition with, young 

 men from other countries, our colonial youth will be left far behind. However, I have 

 no doubt that many years will not elapse before the people of Great Britain which, of all 

 nations, has the most practical national sense, will thoroughly remedy the evil, and that 

 there will be no country on the face of the earth where the study of physical science is 

 more fostered, so as to preserve to that empire its pre-eminence in the great race of 

 nations, in which, after all, the arts of peace, civilization, and industry will give the 

 nltimate decision. I have detained you too long upon a subject, which, during the last 

 few years, has been treated by such able and distinguished men, that perhaps I could 

 have left it in their hands had I not thought it my duty to allude to it. 



In order to honour more fully the memory of that illustrious navigator who was the 

 real discoverer of New Zealand, we have fixed the day of our anniversary dinner upon 

 the day when, one hundred years ago, Captain Cook landed officially in New Zealand, 

 and it is from that day that the blessings of civilization have been bestowed upon these 

 beautiful islands. Captain Cook was forty-one years old when he reached our coasts, he 

 being born on the 27th August, 1728. He was in every respect a son of the people, 

 having raised himself from the ranks by his knowledge, honesty of purpose, and courage 

 —one of the most remarkable men which the eighteenth century produced. He not only 

 advanced far into the Arctic, but also explored three times the Antarctic zone, which had 

 never been visited before. It is from him that we not only obtain the earliest reliable 

 accounts of most of the islands of the Pacific Ocean, of the north-west coast of America, 

 of Behring's Straits, and of the Antarctic regions ; but he also fixed astronomically, 

 innumerable points on the coasts visited by him, generally with such admirable accuracy, 

 that we still look upon them as reliable authorities. His accounts of the geographical 

 features of the countries visited by him, and of the manners and customs of their inhabi- 

 tants are also among the most reliable and valuable we possess. He died in the cause of 

 science — an irreparable loss not only to his country, but to the world at large. Truly he 

 may claim to be called the Columbus of the Pacific Ocean, and the inhabitants of the 

 Australian Colonies and New Zealand owe him a great debt of gratitude, because it was 

 his foresight, and his excellent judgment of the natural capabilities of the countries 

 visited, which principally directed the attention of the statesmen of the mother country 

 to these distant lands, where now a branch of the Anglo-Saxon race is occupied in laying 

 the foundations of an empire which, in centuries not far distant from our own, will be 

 ranked amongst the first of the earth. 



Although every intelligent inhabitant of this country honours the name of Captain 

 Cook, would it not be possible to show this by another mark of our respect ? and I there- 

 fore do not hesitate to offer a suggestion which I hope will be taken up and acted upon 

 by our legislators. Hitherto great confusion has prevailed relative to the name of this 

 island, which is called both the Middle and South Island. The appellation Middle 

 Island is a mistake, as the size of Stewart's Island precludes it from being ranked with 

 the two others. The most eminent geographers of Great Britain and ofthe Continent of 



