1903-1904.] 203 



branches nov/ only being reached by the thinking public. 

 One cannot help admiring the man who sees how things 

 should be and is not afraid to proclaim them. He said : — " In 

 addition to all the wants I have already detailed, our crown- 

 ing deficiency is the want of a Town Library, in fact a Free 

 Public Library. In these days of primary, intermediate, and 

 higher education it should be wholly unnecessary to advocate 

 the necessity of libraries. We denounce all systems of cram- 

 ming, and insist that the education of the school-room should 

 be but the foundation on which, or the scaffolding by which 

 the intellectual superstructure shall be subsequently erected, 

 through a proper use of observation and books, but unless the 

 student has a ready access to books his education is a sham." 

 I venture to say that he still holds these views, which are 

 now taking root, and the education question is becoming the 

 most important one of the times. 



I find that in October, 1882, the Club protested against 

 the mutilation of the Giant's Causeway, and called the atten- 

 tion of the owner. Lord Antrim, to it, and this watchfulness 

 over natural and historical monuments has ever been one of 

 the potent works of the Club. 



The 23rd April, 1883, tne twentieth anniversary of the 

 foundation of the Club, saw the following well-known names 

 as office-bearers of the Club, and I mention them as they 

 appear midway in its life, and all have done yeoman service 

 as builders of the Club: — W. H. Patterson, President; Canon 

 Grainger, Vice-President; Joseph Wright, Treasurer; Wm. 

 Swanston and F. W. Lockwood, Secretaries. Committee — 

 W. A. Firth, Wm. Gray, Rev. H. W. Lett, James Moore, 

 M.D., Daniel M'Kee, George O'Brien, J. J. Phillips, Hugh 

 Robinson, S. A. Stewart, S. M. Malcolmson, M.D. 



During this decade I find the following names amongst 

 the lecturers: — Joseph Wright, W. F. Wakeman, Dr. T. H. 

 Keown, Canon Macllwaine, W. J. Knowles, Mann Harbinson, 

 S. A. Stewart, W. Swanston, J. J. Phillips, J. Browne, W. Gray, 

 J. R. Robinson, Robert Day, F. W. Lockwood, Canon 

 Grainger, Rev. H. W. Lett, Rev. J. Andrew, Thos. H. Corry, 

 and Charles Elcock. 



