248 

 Appendix. 



A FAREWELL ADDRESS TO THE FIELD NATU- 

 RALISTS' SECTION OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY 

 BY THE CHAIRMAN OF THE NATIVE FAUNA 

 AND FLORA PROTECTION COMMITTEE, S. 



DIXON. 



[Read September 19, 1911.] 



After occupying the chair for twenty -three consecutive years 

 it is time to make way for a younger man, and I propose to 

 place before you an outline of what has been accomplished, and 

 what remains to be done to fully accomplish the objects aimed 

 at when the original Committee was formed. After reading a 

 paper on August 21, 1888, advocating the better protection of 

 our native fauna and flora the late Mr. A. F. Robin moved the 

 appointment of the Committee which was, I believe, the first 

 with these objects in Australia. The late Professor R. Tate and 

 Messrs. A. Zietz, S. Dixon, J. G. O. Tepper, and A. F. Robin 

 (Secretary) were appointed ; at the first meeting three or four 

 days after I had the honour to be appointed Chairman, and after 

 Mr. Robin had explained his views I suggested they could be 

 effectively carried out only in a special area, and finally my re- 

 solution was carried to be placed before you— "That in further- 

 ance of the proposed objects this Section desires to recommend 

 that Government Farm be declared a Public Park and handed 

 over to trustees to manage." I propose to summarize our fur- 

 ther policy and deal with the Park question later. Our next 

 step was to get an amended Game Bill providing for the partial 

 protection of kangaroos and opossums, but it was rejected in the 

 second reading without a division by the Legislative Council. 

 The Commissioner of Crown Lands, however, agreed to circulate 

 placards containing the chief provisions of the Game Act, and 

 the police were instructed to secure their observance. Since then 

 the Committee has year after year to acknowledge the sympathe- 

 tic assistance rendered to our objective by the Under-Secretary 

 for Lands (Mr. Thos. Duffield), and his cordial help we gratefully 

 acknowledge. The same year we waited upon the Minister of 

 Education requesting more direct instruction in schools in natural 

 science, particularly as to insectivorous birds, and this was the 

 beginning of the movement afterwards carried out in Victoria 

 and at last carried out here under the able supervision of Mr. 

 A. G. Edquist, B.Sc; the future welfare of this State is largely 

 bound up with habits of accurate observation and deduction in- 

 culcated thereby. 



Forestry. 



On various occasions by deputations and otherwise we have 

 successfully protested against and prevented the alienation of our 

 extremely small forest reserves by perpetual leases, which were 

 too often granted, and we tried to secure for a natural redgum 

 forest 11,000 acres at Mount Crawford^ but they were unwisely 

 let on miscellaneous leases. These are now nearly expired, and 

 we confidently expect the realization of this scheme under the 

 present Commissioner of Crown Lands, whose enlightened policy 

 in this respect is a welcome contrast to that of some of his pre- 

 decessors. 



