ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS. 
By Curistoruer Rotueston, C.M.G., President. 
[Delivered to the Royal Society of N.S.W., 2 May, 1883.] 
GENTLEMEN, 
Combining, as the anniversary meetings of the Royal 
Society are in the habit of doing, the close of the old year with 
the opening of a new one, the distinguished honor conferred upon 
me at our last anniversary as President for the year demands of 
me, before I vacate the Chair, that I should open the present 
session with the customary address. But before entering upon the 
Subject of it I desire to say how sensible I am of my short- 
comings, and of the kindly forbearance and support extended to 
me by the members who have attended our meetings. I would 
fain hope that my faults, having been rather those of omission 
than of commission, may not have resulted prejudicially either to 
the character or progress of the Society. The fact is that, in a 
young community like ours we are sadly wanting in men of 
leisure and of culture who have the time to spare and the know- 
ledge to adorn the Chair-of this Society—qualifications which were 
eminently exemplified in the person of our former Vice-pre- 
sident, the late Rev. W. B. Clarke, the memory of whose services 
in the cause of geological science in Australia, and in the interests 
of this Society in particular, will, I venture to think, outlive the 
lineaments of his person so happily portrayed on the canvas 
Which adorns our walls, 
The report of the Council, which has just been presented, gives & 
favourable account of the progress of the Society for the last 
twelve months, and it would be tedious to attempt to enlarge upon 
the topics referred to in that report. The most important of the 
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