president's addbess. 243 



I once heard an exclamation from a well-known artist, who 

 was travelling with me on the Eiver-side line. Suddenly recog- 

 nizing what I may call the new attractions of Tyneside, and 

 pointing to the varied colours of the smoke, and to the general 

 tone of the landscape, he exclaimed, "What marvellous greys 

 those are ! See how well the red of the bricks and the tiles 

 goes with them, and how cunningly it seems to be introduced ! 

 There is good work to be done here!" Another artist of my 

 acquaintance proposes to take up this work, bringing round his 

 little yacht, which has been engaged in similar service in the 

 canals of Holland, amidst their picturesque surroundings. We 

 may thus hope to see, ere long, our river and its banks, depicted 

 with artistic appreciation and power, on the walls of the Eoyal 

 Academy, before admiring London ! This is no exaggeration. 

 Look for yourselves, and see. All the elements of artistic 

 beauty are there. The smoke itself is worth our study. There 

 are white wreaths of steam, with their changing and evanescent 

 forms. There is lovely pale silvery blue, laden perhaps with 

 metallic vapour, but none the less beautiful. There is rich 

 brown, in all varieties of tone, till it reaches the dark and 

 rolling masses of deepest black. And when this mysterious 

 canopy, with strong rays of sunlight piercing through it, hangs 

 over some sparkling and sun-touched reach of the Tyne, below 

 the high banks of which, as through a vista, stretch long lines of 

 hulls and masts, -I submit that you have materials for a picture 

 more powerful and more worthy of note than can be readUy 

 found elsewhere. 



I may now be permitted to say a few words about the origin 

 of the Tyneside iN'aturalists' Field Club, for I have observed 

 that some of our younger members have rather indefinite ideas 

 regarding it. And it is fitting that I should do so on this occa- 

 sion, because since our last annual meeting there has gone from 

 amongst us our Founder and first President, Mr. Ealph Carr- 

 Ellison. You will join with me in the expression of our deep 

 regret at the loss thus sustained. It is some consolation, as far 

 as our Club is concerned, to know that he lived to take an active 



