ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS. a 
I may be excused for mentioning here a fact of much interest, 
but somewhat disconnected from the others which surround it. 
When in the Bourke district a few weeks since, I learned one fact 
which has a bearing upon the doctrine of the survival of the fittest. 
For part of 1884 and the first three weeks of 1885 the western 
districts suffered from adrought which left the plain country without 
a sign of grass—it was literally “as bare as any road.” Between the 
24th January and the end ofthe month abundant rains fell, and 
the grass grew very rapidly. I passed over some of these plains 
on the 16th March, say six weeks after the rain, and they were 
covered like wheat-tields with barley grass 18 to 24 inches high, 
and the seed had all been ripened and shed in that short time. Upon 
expressing my surprise I was told that it had been known to grow 
up and do the same in four weeks. As itis a common thing in that 
district for the rain to come in February or March, leaving only 
six or eight weeks before winter, it is obvious that the grass which 
would seed in the shortest time would be most likely to survive. 
Some few months since, it occurred to me that it would be 
desirable to put a self-recording gauge on Lake George, with a 
view of keeping a continuous record of evaporation, and other 
changes of level in it; and as soon as the instrument could be 
got ready I put it up on the west side of the lake, in front of 
Douglas House, which is about a mile from the present southern 
end. The instrument is essentially the same as the tide-gauge 
referred to in the earlier part of this paper; but it differs 
in giving 4 inches of paper to the foot of water, and only 3 
inches in the day for the time scale, instead of 24 inches as 
the tide-gauge. The float also is of glass instead of copper. To 
ensure the stability of the base of this instrument, six piles 
6 inches in diameter were driven as far as possible into the 
lake, and then cut off 3 feet above the water; the tops were 
secured together by a strong frame covered with 2-inch plank- 
ing, and then strong diagonal bracing was fixed between the 
posts, which makes them into one compact frame, quite strong 
enough to withstand any waves or wind known on the lake. 
