PROCEEDINGS. 99 



32 St. George's Square, S.W., 



London, 18th April, 1883. 

 Dear Sir,— I have received the 20th Volume of the Journal of 

 the Eoyal Society, and Part ii. of Vol. xxi. These I beg to acknowledge 

 with sincere thanks. 



I note with interest the paper of Eev. G. Pratt on the " Comparison of 

 Dialects of E. & "W. Polynesia and Australia, &c." All such matter tends 

 to illustrate an obscure subject. I may, however, repeat that the 

 analogies of Australian as they belong to the general body of language, 

 so must they be more widely illustrated, as I shewed in my paper before 

 the Eoyal Society. 



As this is the year of your Jubilee, I beg to congratulate the Society, 

 and to regret I can take no active part in its celebration. 



To most the hundred years must seem a very remote epoch. To me it 

 is not, for in my early years the generation which had known Cook's 

 discoveries and taken part in the establishment of New South Wales 

 still remained. To me its traditions are fresh, and in nearly seventy 

 years I have watched with interest the later and wonderful growth of 

 your communities. 



There are some of us still alive who saw Cook's ship lying in the 

 Thames, and his men in Greenwich Hospital. It is therefore a matter to 

 me of intense gratification to see taking a great place in the regions of 

 civilization, a great Continent — which I saw figuring in the maps as Terra 

 Australis Incognita — -lost to the world for so many ages. 



Not least among marvellous events is the opening to us and to you of 

 the new route across the Pacific Ocean to Vancouver. Noolka, as it was 

 then called, was to me no unfamiliar name. Some of our Australian 

 friends have been born to the full birthright of all such glories, but to 

 myself and those who remember their dim and doubtful beginnings, and 

 the arduous labour of the pioneers by whom success has been achieved, 

 the history of Australian progress has been among the wonders of 

 our age. 



Yours faithfully, 



HYDE CLAEKE, 



Corr. Member Eoyal Society of N.S.W. 



To Prof. A. Liversidge, M.A., F.E.S., 



Hon. Secretary Eoyal Society of N.S.W. 



The following papers were read : — 



1. "Notes on some Minerals and Mineral Localities in the 

 Northern Districts of New South Wales," by Mr. D. A. Porter, 

 Tamworth. 



2. " Forest Destruction in New South Wales, and its effect on 

 the flow of water in water-courses and on the rainfall," by- 

 Mr. W. E. Abbott, Wingen. 



The discussion upon this paper was adjourned to a future 

 meeting. 



3. " On the Increasing Magnitude of Eta Argus," by Mr. H. C. 

 Russell, B.A., F.R.S. 



Questions were asked by Messrs. Trevor Jones. E. A. Baker, 

 and J. U. C. Colyer, to which Mr. Russell replied. 



