37 



towards equatorial latitudes ; but it is not yet decided as to whether this 

 was the cause of the noticeable change in the weather lately. 



In corroboration of this, Mr. Travers said the Admiralty had pub- 

 lished for the information of mariners, an account of the extension shift 

 of ice northward. 



3. "On the probable Commercial Failure of the Suez Canal," by 

 G. R. George. ' He had received information by private letters which 

 said, that owing to the slipping of the sides of the canal, a large quantity 

 of fine sand was held in solution in the water, and engineers wei-e loud 

 in their complaints of its injurious effects on marine engines. Con- 

 siderable trouble was also caused by the spewing up of the sand in the 

 centre of the canal, which rendered necessary the constant employment 

 of powerful dredges. 



In the course of a conversation as to the practicability of clothing 

 the sides of the canal with vegetation, Mr. Kirk said he thought the 

 scheme practicable, notwithstanding the water was salt, as many plants 

 could be found that would only grow within the influence of sea spray ; 

 and he believed something of the kind was in contemplation by the 

 directors of the canal. 



Dr. Hector thought the efiect of blown sand would be to permanently 

 injure the canal, as it advanced slowly in great hummocks, presenting a 

 sloping surface on the weather side and falling ofi" more perpendicxilarly 

 on the lee side. Travellers in the East were familiar with the silicifying 

 effect of these slow moving sand hills on vegetation. 



Mr. Barron mentioned, as an instance of their extraordinary size 

 and the rapidity with which they sometimes accumulate, that he had seen 

 a hill of sand, eighty feet deep, accumulate in a single night on the rail- 

 way between Cairo and Suez, reqiiiring thousands of men to clear it away. 



4. Mr. H. Crawford read a paper " On the adaptation of Water 

 Power," suggesting the advisability of forming small reservoirs — where 

 the natural features of a locality would admit of it being done at a slight 

 expense — so as to obtain an auxiliary head of water in dry weather. By 

 this plan, and the help of a small turbine wheel, considerable labour 

 could be saved in a variety of farm work ; it might also be used in flax 

 preparing. 



5. The Rev. Mr. Andrews read a paper on an economic Sheepwash, 

 consisting of equal parts of sulphur and lime, which he had found very 

 effectual. 



Mr. Pharazyn said that the application had been tried in Hawke's 

 Bay some fifteen years ago, but was not found so successful as represented 



