TO THE COUNCIL OF THE EOYAL SOCIETY OF 

 VICTORIA. 



Melbourne, 9th April, 1860. 



The Committee appointed by the Royal Society has now the honor 

 to present the Report which it was instructed to prepare upon " The 

 Resources of the Colony of Victoria," and regrets the delay which has 

 taken place in the preparation of this document. 



Originally appointed in September last, before the end of that month 

 the Committee met, and having carefully considered the task entrusted 

 to it, determined on subdividing the whole subject, and appointed sub- 

 committees of its members to prepare reports on each of these sub- 

 divisions as follows : — 



I. — Climate, Extent, and general Capabilities of the Soil 

 of the Colony. Professor Neumayer, Messrs. Hodgkinson, 

 Skilling, Ellery, and Dr. Macadam, M.L.A. 



II. — Mineral Resottkces. Professor McCoy, Messrs. Selwyn, 

 Bland, and Dr. Macadam, M.L.A. 



III. — Building Materials. Messrs. J. G. Knight, Holmes, A. K. 

 Smith, and the Hon. Captain Pasley. 



IV. — Indigenous Vegetable Resources. Dr. Mueller, Dr. 

 Macadam, M.L.A., and L. Becker, Esq. 



V. — Agriculture and Horticulture. Dr. Mueller, Messrs. 

 Skilling, Bryson, Jones, and Corbett. 



VI. — Animal Products. The Rev. J. J. Bleasdale, Messrs. Bryson, 

 ' Becker, and Professor McCoy. 



VII. — Harbors, Rivers, and Internal Communication. H. 

 Amsinck, Esq., R.JN"., Messrs. Bell, Bryson, Hodgkinson, Knight, 

 Ligar, Captain Ross, R.JST., and Professor Irving. 



The gentleman whose name appears first in each list undertook the 

 duties of chairman of that sub-committee. 



It was originally hoped that the Report might have been thus pre- 

 pared by the end of January ; but this was found impossible. Delay 

 was caused by the necessity of collecting information on several branches 

 of the enquiry throvighout the colony ; and in addition to this, as almost 

 every member of the Committee has his time fully occupied with duties, 

 public or private, great difficulty was experienced in bringing together 

 the sub-committees ; and from the delay of the partial reports, the 

 publication of the whole has been untd now impossible. 



No attempt has been made to fuse together the several partial reports 

 into one connected whole ; they have merely been arranged in the order 

 that seemed most suitable. 



