8 HENRY DEANE. 



from the commencement with ignorance and obstruction — how he 

 successfully contended for uniformity of gauge in the colony and 

 only failed to persuade the Government to combine with Victoria 

 for one standard gauge. At a time when money was scarce he 

 still managed to get railways and not horse tramways for the 

 country extensions, and adopted a location which, although it 

 may not be in all details that which we should choose at the 

 present day, was certainly the wisest in those times, when the 

 traffic over the Blue Mountains was only an average of forty tons 

 daily as compared with the present enormous amount. Mr. 

 Whitton's steadfastness of character and fearlessness in maintain- 

 ing what he considered right, were well known. At the beginning 

 of June, 1889, he obtained leave of absence for twelve months 

 on full pay and left for England. His health not improving he 

 sought his retirement, but he some time afterwards returned to 

 Sydney and enjoyed good health till shortly before his death an 

 attack of jaundice seized him which eventually proved fatal. 



Papers read in 1897. — During the past year the Society held 

 eight meetings, at which the average attendance of members was 

 30*5, and of visitors two, the following twenty-four papers were 

 read : — 



1. President's Address, by J. H. Maiden, f.l.s. 



2. On the Crystalline Structure of Gold and Platinum Nuggets 



and Gold Ingots, by A. Liversidge, ll.d., f.r.s. 



3. A Contribution to the Study of Oxygen at Low Pressures, by 



R. Threlfall, m.a., and Florence Martin. 



4. Determinations of the Orbit Elements of Comet/ 1896 (Per- 



rine), by C. J. Merfield, f.r.a.s. 



5. Apparatus for Ascertaining the Minute Strains which occur 



in Materials when Stressed within the Elastic Limit, by 

 W. H. Warren, wh. Sc, m. Am. Soc. c.e., m. inst. c.e. 



6. The Theory of the Reflecting Extensometer of Prof. Martens, 



by G. H. Knibbs, f.r.a.s. 



7. The Burbung, or Initiation Ceremonies of the Murrumbidgee 



Tribes, by R. H. Mathews, l.s. 



