42 HENRY DEANE. 



settle people on the islands, and run an inter-island and a direct 

 steamer to Australia. The Australian Company so far, has carried 

 on nearly all the trade, but has to battle against many disabilities." 

 The disabilities referred to are the fighting against the handicapping 

 caused by the French subsidy, the restrictions against sale of fire- 

 arms, as to the treatment of the natives and as to the acquisition 

 of land, which seem to be very proper in themselves, but which 

 British subjects alone appear to be liable to. 



In the above account I have been obliged through lack of time 

 to confine myself almost exclusively to the work of Government 

 Departments, paying special attention to subjects of engineering, 

 mining, and agricultural interest. It will be seen that I have 

 not described the work done by other Societies, as their proceed- 

 ings can be consulted. With regard to the Australasian Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of Science, it is probable that their 

 proceedings will shortly be published, so that the necessity for 

 my going into details is thus also obviated. 



Part III. — The Australasian Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science held its seventh meeting in Sydney in January. 

 Although the attendance was not so numerous as might have been 

 hoped, the gathering was a distinct success. A large number of 

 papers were presented and read ; some were of the greatest impor- 

 tance, while their character generally showed a great improvement 

 over those of earlier meetings. One feature of this meeting was 

 certainly the Presidential Addresses to the Sections, some of these 

 being of special value, another was the evening lectures, one of 

 which delivered free to working men was an innovation, and 

 having proved a success is an example worthy of being followed 

 in the future. Some of the papers read in the sections, such as 

 Professor David's description of the Funafuti work and Mr. 

 Pittman's account of his observations in Western Australia being 

 of a highly popular character were largely attended. 



Although some excursions were successfully carried out, it must 

 be acknowledged that on the whole the excursion programme was 



