20 THE WOMBAT. 



cordial feeling exhibited up to the present. But the possibility 

 remains. As things are at present, an unsympathetic com- 

 mittee of the college might easily alienate the good will of 

 the allied societies. To show this we need not go far. Where 

 should there be a better understanding, in the natural order 

 of things, than between the technical schools and the Educa- 

 tion Department of the colony ? But, as we all know, this 

 natural condition is, unfortunately, often conspicuous by its 

 absence. Causes, most trivial in themselves, have, in some 

 cases, produced most serious disagreements — disagreements 

 which have occasionally threatened to end in open rupture. 

 And thus it might easily be between the bodies we are speaking 

 of: absit omen. 



The Geelong Field Naturalists' Club once held a small 

 collection of specimens, but, foreseeing that an undesirable 

 rivalry might be developed with the museum, it generously 

 handed these over to the college, and thus removed the 

 possibility. Such a rivalry was actually threatened at a later 

 day between the libraries belonging to these two bodies. 

 With the affiliation such a danger could be easily 

 guarded against by an arrangement similar to that between 

 the Otago University Museum and the Otago Institute, where 

 each merely stamps its own books to prevent confusion, and 

 the two sets are kept in common, giving the great advantage 

 that any member of either body has full use of the books of 

 both. Thus both are benefited as each receives publications 

 from sources to which the other has no access. It seems to 

 me that the union of the societies with the schools themselves 

 would entirely remove the suggested possibility. Of course 

 matters might continue indefinitely as they are now without 

 anything occurring to disturb the harmonious co-operation at 

 present existing, but would it not be well to remove the very 

 chance, small though it appear at present ? 



In conclusion, I may point out that many of the advan- 

 tages that Mr. Dentry details as accruing to the clubs from 

 such an alliance would accrue to the college in equal degree. 

 For an example of the successful working of such an 

 arrangement we need only consider the Polytechnic of London, 

 where numerous affiliated societies under almost every con- 

 ceivable title spend an active existence. 



It has been pointed out to me that though a closer union 

 would be of considerable benefit to all concerned, yet care 

 would require to be taken to guard against a serious danger 

 — the danger lest the societies should be so merged in the 

 larger body as to completely lose their own identities. For, 

 in this case, there would infallibly ensue a loss of interest by 

 the individual members, which would cause great injury to 

 the clubs to which they belonged. The union should be a 

 federation and not an amalgamation. 



