PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 



New Zealand the Society lost a, large parcel of Proceedings sent as 

 to Societies and Institutions in the United States of America. The parcels 

 were insured by the Public Library of N.S.W., through which they are trans- 

 mitted to the Smithsonian Institution for distribution in America. The insurance, 

 however, did ,not cover the actual value of the publications and the loss falls 

 most seriously on the Society's stock of Proceedings for 1920, part 4, of which 

 over 30 copies were lost. This is only the second occasion on which large parcels 

 of the Society's publications have been lost in this way (the previous one was 

 by the wreck of the S.S. China in 1898) and we may, thea-efore, perhaps con- 

 sider ourselves as not unfortunate in this respect. 



I would ask members to keep in mind the resulting deficiency in the Society's 

 stock of Proceeding's for 1897, part 3 and 1920, part 4, should they ever have an 

 opportunity of aiding in making it good. 



For some years the Commonwealth Institute of Science and Industry has 

 had in preparation a catalogue of the scientific and technical periodicals in the 

 chief libraries of the Commonwealth. This catalogue, which should be of con- 

 siderable value to everyone interested iu scientific research, is now complete in 

 the form of a card catalogue, and steps are being taken to endeavour to publish 

 it so that it will be most readily available to reseai-ch workers. Pending publica- 

 tion the Institute has expressed its willingness to furnish any information con- 

 tained in the Catalogue, and this will no doubt prove a boon to many research 

 workers. 



During the year the names of ten Ordinary Members were added to the 

 roll and four members resigned. In addition, four names have been removed 

 from the list, making tlie number of Ordinary Members now on the roll 161. 

 We are fortunate in being able to record the fact that during the past year our 

 list of membei-s has not been reduced by death. 



Ordinarily, in a scientific Society the small membership should occasion grave 

 concern, but with us, owing to the benefactions of Sir William Maeleay, a large 

 income from members' subscriptions is not a necessity. Still I am of opinion 

 that our membership is not nearly as large as it should be, and that the number 

 of persons in New South Wales interested in Natural History is at least 250 

 and I would urge our members to try to increase our membership at least to 

 that number. If you will glance at the accounts to be presented by the Honorary 

 Treasurer to-night you will see that the amount paid iu subscriptions for the 

 year- 1921 amounts to only £141/15/-, whilst the income from investments amounts 

 to £1,248/19/5. I have often wondered how many of our members examine the 

 Balance Sheets and Statements of Income presented annually by the Honorary 

 Treasurer. A brief examination of these wiU show the strong position to which 

 the Society has grown during the past few years and indicate the amount of 

 work that must be performed by our Honorary Treasurer, Mr. J. H. Campbell. 

 The outstanding feature of these accounts is that we owe our strong position to 

 the late Sir WiUiam Maeleay for amounts given during his life and bequeathed 

 by his will. 



By the death of Dr. Robert Logan Jack in November last, at the age of 76, 

 another of the pioneers of Australian Geology has passed away. Born in Scot- 

 land in 1845, Dr. Ja,ck was appointed Government Geologist for Northern 

 Queensland in 1877, after having served 10 years on the Scottish Geological Sur- 

 vey. He was soon appointed Government Geologist for the whole State, a posi- 

 tion which he filled till 1899, when he resigned. It is for the geological work 

 done during this period that Dr. .Jack's name will live in the records of Australian 



