IX 



The Council, as stated in their ' Minutes' of October 17, had already received from 

 the Admiralty a conditional promise of assistance from H.M.S. " Penguin," in conveying 

 the party and machinery for the research, and at their Meeting of November 7, 

 added the President and Officers to the Coral Reef Committee. At subsequent dates, 

 in compliance with recommendations from that Committee, Captain A. M. Field ot 

 H.M.S. "Penguin," and Professors Edgeworth David and Anderson Stuart were 

 appointed as members. 



By the end of the year, the outlines of an Expedition to Funafuti, an island 

 in the Ellice Group on lat. 8° 30' 45" S., long. 179° 13' 30" E. were determined, and 

 Professor Sollas was requested at a Meeting held on December 17, to take charge of 

 the Expedition as Naturalist ; at another Meeting (January 27, 1896), the Committee 

 accepted the offer of Mr. Stanley Gardiner to accompany it at his own expense as 

 second Naturalist, provided he were at liberty to select his own subjects for investigation. 



Passing over the correspondence and arrangements in regard to machinery and 

 other matters between the Committee in London and Professors Anderson Stuart 

 and Edgeworth David, their representatives in Australia, as not belonging to the 

 scientific work of the Expedition, we come to the instructions drawn up by the 

 Committee for the guidance of Professor Sollas, as leader of the Expedition, and 

 sanctioned at a meeting held March 4, 1896. They run as follows : — - 



The Committee wish it to be understood that the primary object of the Expedition is to investigate, by 

 means of a boring, the depth and structure of a coral reef, and that all other work undertaken in 

 furtherance of natural knowledge must be considered as secondary to this object. Professor Sollas, 

 however, should endeavour to arrange with Mr. Gardiner, and any other volunteer who may accompany 

 the expedition for such systematic observations as may be possible on the natural history of Funafuti, 

 the neighbouring sea, or the part of the ocean traversed during the voyage. Magnetic observations on the 

 island, it is understood, will be undertaken by the officers of the " Penguin," and Captain Field has 

 also been directed to note the currents and temperature in the lagoon and to secure samples of water 

 from it at different depths and from the sea outside. Inland and shore collecting should be undertaken 

 so far as due attention to the main object of the Expedition permits, and dredgings should be made in the 

 lagoon if possible. 



Mr. S. Gardiner will accompany the Expedition as a volunteer with the sanction of the Committee 

 paying his own expenses and selecting his own subjects for study, with the general understanding that he 

 will lend such aid as may be in his power to Professor Sollas in effecting the main object of the 

 Expedition, and will co-operate with him in making the study of the reef, its fauna, flora, and vicinity in 

 general, as complete as possible. Professor T. Edgeworth David or some other scientific man from 

 Sydney, may also join the Expedition on like terms, provided room can be found for him by 

 Captain FiELD on board. 



The Committee considers Professor Sollas to be in charge of the undertaking and empowers him to 

 decide in all cases of primary importance. He is also empowered, in the event of Funafuti speedily 

 pro^^ng to be an unsuitable place for the boring, to transfer the operation (subject to the consent of 

 Captain Field) to some other convenient locality. If in the course of the boring, a rock other than coral 

 limestone be struck, Professor Sollas is empowered to use his discretion and to continue the boring if 

 he thinks it desirable. 



He is also empowered, if rapid progress be made, to carry the boring to a depth of 1,000 feet, but he 

 must bear in mind that the sum placed at the disposal of the Committee is £800, and that the total and 



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