ANNUAL ADDRESS. 
By W. H. Warren, wh.Sc., M. Inst. C.E., M. Am. Soc. C.E., 
Professor of Engineering in the University of Sydney. 
[Delivered to the Engineering Section of the Royal Society of N.S. Wales, 
June 17, 1896.] 
In the first place allow me to thank you for the honour you have 
done me in electing me as your Chairman for this year. As many 
of you know I was one of those who considered that the formation 
of an Engineering Section of the Royal Society was very desirable, 
and in 1891 the first meeting was held under the Chairmanship 
of Mr. C. W. Darley. Since the formation of this Section I have 
always taken a great interest in everything which concerned its 
welfare, as I believe that meeting together as we do to night, in 
order to discuss matters of professional interest, not only advances 
the interest of the profession to which we belong by increasing 
the aggregate amount of useful knowledge, but by establishing 
Personal relationships between its members, renders it a much 
more easy and pleasant task to deal with the many practical 
problems which present themselves in the every day work of the 
engineer, besides stimulating us in attempting the more difficult 
problems which await solution in the future. 
One of the considerations which led to the formation of the 
Engineering Section of the Royal Society was the fact that so 
many of its members were also members of the Institution of 
Civil Engineers, London. The four gentlemen whom I have the 
honour to succeed to-night as Chairman, the members of the 
Committee, and nearly all the ordinary members of the Section, 
are engineers engaged in the practice of their profession. The 
Success of a society such as this, depends mainly upon the individual 
efforts of its members, in bringing under its notice the results of 
their experience, in the form of papers for consideration and 
discussion. I am most anxious to maintain, and as far as possible 
1—June 17, 1896. 
