Otago Institute. 563 



discovery at once brings tlie theoretical searcher into communication with the whole world 

 of science, but the practical worker may si^end a lifetime in developing the resources of 

 the country and promoting the interests of his fellow-colonists, without being known or 

 recognized outside the narrow sphere of his labom-s. 



Instead of occupying his time in the study of abstruse theories which may well be 

 left to the master minds of the old world, I think the labours of our scientific men of all 

 kinds should be confined to the recording of observed facts in pure science, and the fuller 

 investigation of such subjects as have a direct bearing on the practical work of coloniza- 

 tion. Instead of speculating on the causes of earthquakes, the oscillations of land and 

 sea, and the age of the moa, geologists, if they do not actually search for our minerals 

 themselves, should at least define the age, extent and dkection of the various geological 

 formations, so as to indicate the localities in which minerals are likely to be found. 

 Instead of investigating the peculiarities of some minute lichen found only on Mount Cook 

 or Mount Egmont, om' botanists should first exhaust the study of the forest trees, their 

 rate of growth, general habits, and facility of reproduction. 



We might in this way run round the " circle of the sciences," giving the positive 

 and negative duties in each case, but it will be better if I simply refer to what has already 

 been done in the cause of industrial science throughout the colony and what remains to 

 be done within the jurisdiction of our Institute. 



The New Zealand Exhibition of 1865 was the first and only systematic attempt made 

 to investigate our resources. Considering it was collated at such an early stage of our 

 history, and in a comparatively short time, the information contained in the jurors' reports 

 is wonderfully complete and correct. The collection of 1865 has never undergone a 

 general revision. Several of the subjects have been taken up individually by subsequent 

 observers and the information amplified, but the results are diffused through so many 

 varied pu.blications, and so mixed up with extraneous matter, that they are scarcely 

 available. To tliis day the reports, as they originally stood, form the only compendium 

 we have of the resources and industries of the colony. Nearly all the important additions 

 that have lately been made to our information on these subjects have been Contributed by 

 the Native Industry Committee of Parliament, and by Dr. Hector, Professor Hutton, Mr. 

 Kirk, and the staff of the Colonial Museum ; there are few amatem's in the field of practical 

 science. 



The principal subjects that have received special attention are : — Deposits of gold 

 and coal ; conservation of forests ; qualities of soils ; properties of native grasses ; edible 

 fishes ; cultivation of Phormium, together with a few others of less importance. Dr, 

 Hector's assistants — Messrs. Skey and Buchanan — have each in his own department done 

 great service to the cause of science, theoretically and iDractically. Mr. Skey's original 

 researches in the chemistry of our native products deserve more than the passing notice I 

 can give. Each successive volume of the Transactions bears testimony to his untiring 

 application. 



What is now wanted is that the information already obtained on each subject should 

 be collected and arranged in a systematic form, so as to be readily available to all. 

 Blanks should be filled up where possible, and when this cannot be done, their existence 

 should be pointed out, so that future observers may explore new ground. 



In Geology much yet remains to be done ; the Government geologists throughout the 

 colony have accomplished as much as could reasonably be expected of them in the time, 

 and with the means at their disiDOsal. But it amounts to Uttle more than a general 

 indication of the locale of the different formations ; the details of strike, inclination, 



