PRESIDENTS ADDRESS. 41 
Tt would be beneficial if botanists were to prepare and revise 
the census of plants for each Colony, especially to show their dis- 
tribution ; and similar questions could be discussed by the zoolo- 
gists for land and marine organisms. 
If the proposed Australian Association for the Advancement of 
Science should =. sealants an a fact, as I hope it 
will—for y nnot well re expected, and cer- 
tainly will = be made unless a li t be first 
made in science—we should not ieccanicttly be compelled to hold 
yearly meetings at first. The head-quarters, however, of the 
Association could not conveniently be shifted every year; but, 
so that each Colony should have an equal share in its affairs, the 
offices might be moved at stated intervals from capital to capital. 
I must crave your indulgence for the length of my remarks, 
The matter has grown under my hands, and I find myself, unfortu- 
nately, without the time to give it that somewhat ruthless pruning 
which I feel it needs. 
With this my duties as President cease; and it now only remains 
for me to express the pleasure [ have had in endeavouring to fill 
the office to the best of my ability, and to hope that the Society 
may have a long and flourishing career. It has, I think, safely 
got over most of the troubles incidental to such Societies in new 
countries. We now have a large roll of members, the largest of 
any single Society in any of the Colonies ; we have the nucleus of 
a good special library, and a fairly comfortable and commodious 
house and hall for our meetings ; whereas a few years back the 
whole of our chattels and effects were carried backwards and for-_ 
wards by the Assistant Secretary in a carpet-bag ; so that it now 
only remains for us to make a reputation for the Society by the 
character and amount of the work which is done under its auspices. 
