194 fEESIDENl's ADDEESS. 



We shall come to the mountains again when the voice 

 Of the cuckoo is heard, bidding all things rejoice, 

 When the earth dons her fairest and freshest array. 

 And the streamlets are flowing in beautiful May. 



Ye pastures and meadows, 



Farewell then once more ! 

 The herdsman must go, 



For the summer is o'er. 



The October Meeting, as usual the last of the series, was held 

 near home. The members met at E'orth Shields, and under the 

 kind and able guidance of J. T. Spence, Esq., proceeded to visit 

 the Fish Quay, and to inspect the very important works which 

 the Corporation of Tynemouth have carried out of late years. 

 To any one interested in the fauna, aye and even in the flora of 

 the sea, our visit to the Fish Quay was a source of great gratifi- 

 cation. Most willingly were the spoils of the trawler's net and 

 the captures of the fisherman's hook submitted for our inspection, 

 and some were inclined to linger on beyond the last allotted 

 moment. A few specimens were found worthy of selection for a 

 place in the Museum of Natural History, while others were 

 taken to less ambitious collections. After leaving the Fish Quay 

 we proceeded along the river margin to the Salt Works. We 

 were most courteously and kindly shewn over them by Mr. 

 •Ogilvie, the present proprietor, who explained the whole process 

 of salt making. 



This is now the last surviving portion of what was once a 

 great industry at Shields, and the neighbouring villages of Cul- 

 lercoats and Hartley. 



I have no facts at hand to enable me to speak accurately of 

 the trade in salt from Shields, but from some memoranda I 

 possess, I find that in 1706 one Thomas Fearon, of CuUercoats, 

 leased a portion of land at CuUercoats, for the purpose of erecting 

 salt pans thereon, "together with free liberty at all times to 

 load, ship, and send away any quantity of salt which the said 

 Thomas Fearon should make in the said salt pans." That there 

 were salt works there long before the date of the above lease 



