121 he ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS. 
Mr. Tebbutt, and Mr. Gardiner, each four ; six members read 
three each ; seven members two each ; and nineteen members one 
each. 
Besides the reading of papers, other means were tried to keep 
up the interest of the members. A Microscopical Committee was 
formed, and held several meetings, some at Government House, 
with fair attendance, but it soon collapsed. Conversaziones were 
frequently held, at first on a modest scale, in the Australian Library, 
but soon expanding so as to require the Chamber of Commerce, 
which ultimately became overcrowded with the numerous objects 
of interest and with visitors. The Royal Society has carried on 
these gatherings with great success. This branch of our operations 
has indeed always been very popular. It furnishes the only 
opportunity we have as a Society of enjoying the presence of 
ladies, but at the same time it is increasingly troublesome and 
expensive. We were driven from the Chamber of Commerce to 
the Masonic Hall, and from that to the great Hall of the Univer- 
sity, and even there we were seriously cramped for room, the 
striking display of scientific and artistic objects requiring a great 
deal of space, and the visitors numbering over 800. Last year- 
the Council did not see their way to attempt a conversazione on 
an extended scale, but they invited the members to a similar 
gathering, although without ladies, in the Society’s rooms, and 
they have reason to believe that a pleasant evening was spent. It 
is hoped that during the present year, probably in September, we 
may have the pleasure of again meeting the members with the 
— of their families, at a conversazione of the former character, 
in some capacious and central building. | 
But to return for a little to the old Philosophical Society. In 
1865, when the income had dropped to £58, which was £30 less 
than the expenditure, the necessity for some change of organiza 
tion became apparent, if the Society was to be saved from total 
extinction. The Council, after discussing the matter, appointed @ 
sub-committee, consisting of Mr. Smalley and Mr. Bedford, to 
draw up a report for submission to the general body of members. 
