ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS. 13 
these matters before you; but I cannot help noticing 
the munificent gift of Mr. Thomas Walker towards the 
Building Fund of our contemplated new Home. This instance of 
liberality on the part of a gentleman not bound to us by member- 
ship ought to animate us with greater zeal in the cause we have 
in hand, and instigate us to greater efforts to secure for the 
Society a permanent habitation. 
In his last address the Rev. W. B. Clarke laid great stress 
upon the obtaining of a Charter for the Society, and I may 
venture to say that the announcement that has been made 
to-night will afford to him in his sick room the pleasing prospect 
of a speedy accomplishment of his aspirations in that behalf. 
Whether the Home should precede the Charter or the Charter 
should precede the Home has been a moot point amongst us. 
We now see an early prospect of obtaining the one, and can have 
no difficulty, I apprehend, whenever we see fit to apply for it, in 
obtaining the other. But whilst the one and the other will give 
stability to the Society, we must never forget that, upon the 
individual efforts of its members to collect facts and to supply 
information in a manner to attract attention and to stimulate 
thought and discussion, rest the popularity, the usefulness, and 
the success of the Institution. 
And now gentlemen, before closing this address, I will ask you 
to favour me with your further attention for a few minutes, 
whilst I submit to your notice a very remarkable and interesting 
piece of information contributed by Mr. Henry Bessemer to the 
Times newspaper, in the month of January last. It is headed 
‘A Billion dissected.” Few, if any of us, are I dare say aware 
of the vastness of the quantity expressed in that little word, and, 
as I have not seen the information reproduced in this Colony, I 
make no apology for appending it to my address, being assured 
that you will not grudge the time occupied in listening to its 
very remarkable revelations. 
~ He says: “It would be curious to know how many of your 
readers have brought fully home to their inner consciousness the 
D 
