PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 



By T. H. Houghton, m. inst. c.e. 



[Delivered to the Royal Society of N.S. Wales, May 2, 1917.] 



The great war, which the Empire and our Allies are fight- 

 ing for the freedom of the world, has been raging for nearly 

 three years, and is now being conducted more fiercely than 

 ever, is uppermost in the thoughts of us all, and has been 

 brought very near to us by the losses of brave sons or 

 relatives which so many have suffered. Our sincerest 

 sympathy is with them, and we look forward to a long 

 period of peace and freedom when science will be devoted, 

 not to devising the best means of destroying mankind, but 

 to the development of our natural resources and all that is 

 best in humanity. The cabled report of Mr. Bonar Law's 

 speech in the House of Commons recently, in which he said 

 that "he believed the long night of sorrow and anguish 

 which had desolated the world was drawing to a close," 

 has a special significance, and is, we trust, a forerunner of 

 the joyful announcement that a termination of fighting 

 is about to be reached. 



Since the battle of the Falkland Islands and the destruc- 

 tion of the "Emden," Australia has not been in immediate 

 danger of attack, and the horrors of war have not been 

 brought home to us as vividly as to those nearer the scene 

 of battle, but now that our brave lads are returning broken 

 down in health and maimed, we begin to realise more 

 fully the sacrifice that so many have made at the call of 

 duty, and I am sure that it is not only the wish but the 

 determination of every Briton, whether in the Mother 

 Land or the Dominions beyond the Seas, that those who 

 have fought so bravely and so well, and have come back 



A— May 2, 1917. 



