Dec. 1, 1900.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
397 
had made for promoting the scientihc 
side of agriculture and providing a seientihc stati 
for placing upoa the most sound basis the great 
industries and productions of the Ishuid, that he 
recognised what a Society like that tried to teach, 
what they were trying that evening and on all 
similar occasions to teach to the people of Ceylon, 
i.e., that only upon a thorough seientihc study ot 
the facts and 'the natural laws that commerce and 
production and works of usefulness can be well 
conducted. (Applause.) They were very glad that) 
H.E. should be amongst, them on such an oc- 
casion and that they should have such support. 
There were many times when their papers dealt 
witii matters, the utilitarian tendency of which 
could not easily be discovered. (Laughter.) Ine 
Society existed in a great measure in order to 
keep before the minds of men that knowledge 
was valuable for its own sake. There were also 
times when the bearing of knowledge, scientific 
knowledge in particular, upon the practical needs 
of lien and Governments came within their pur- 
view and on such occasions they were extremely 
thankful to have the presence of their Governor. 
(Applause). 
Mr. S M Burrows said that, while he felt 
a strong sense of his unworthiness for the task, 
he congratulated himself on the honour done to 
him that night in his being asked to second the 
vote of thanks to H.E. the Governor for being pre- 
sent that evening. He said that His Lordship 
and he had often met on various boards that 
arranged no doubt adequately for the instruction 
of others. It was strange that they should 
thus meet on an occasion when arrangements 
had been made no doubt equally adequately 
for the instruction of themselves. (Laughter.) 
He came to the meeting that evening 
knowing about as much of the paarl 
oyster as he did of Chinese, and he went 
away feeling he could pass a very fair exami- 
nation on the many seientihc aspects of its study — 
frou) the highly technical terms so glibly mentioned 
by Mr. Collett to the case of the " oyster erobsed 
in love" so unexpectedly brought in by a later 
speaker, Mr. John Ferguson. He begged to 
second a very hearty vote of thanks to His Ex- 
cellency for presiding, a distinction Vi'hich had 
heightened the interest of the gathering that 
night. 
HE. THE GOVERNOK. 
His Exc'lLLENCY, in returning thanks, said: I 
am extremely obliged to you — to you, my Lord, 
for the giacious terms in which you have proposed ; 
to you Mr, Burrows for the kindly terms in which 
you have seconded ; and to yon, ladies and gentlenien, 
for the cordial manner in which you have passed 
this vote of thanks which is in no way uiLriU.i' '■<}' 
ine. It is a great pleasure to imb to be present at 
the meetings of this branch of the Roypl A sif>tic 
Society, and I only wish my duties would permit 
me to attend more frequently. Perhaps on occa- 
sions when you are having a learned and 
scientific discus.sions I might feel like a fish out 
of water or to use a more appropriate simile, an 
oyster off i^s bed, (Laughter). But when this 
Society is assembled to discuss an unusually 
utilitarian question, how to conserve, how to pro- 
tect and how to advance one of our great industr ies 
I feel move at home. Nevertheless I must confess 
that it was with conflicting emotions that I 
learnt that the paper today was regarding Oysters 
ixnd how to conserve them. (Laughter). A poet 
of old,— Virgil, I believe— Mr. Burrows will 
correct me if I am wrong— said there is no one 
more bitter than a beautiful woman whose 
charms have been spurned, (Laughter). There is 
here no lady v/ho has been in that unpleasant 
position ; but my charms have been consistsntly 
spurned by the Oyster since I assumed the ad- 
ministration of this Colony. (Laughter). And 
yet no man was more kindly disposed to the. 
Oyster than I was when I landed here. (Renewed 
laughter). I looked forward keenly to making 
his acquaintance and anticipated the great 
advantage that would follow upon such intimacy, 
(Laughter.) Indeed I may say that 1 built castles 
in the air, at any rate on his shells I built many 
a railway and hiany an irrigation scheme* 
(Laughter). Unfortunately I have Ijeen persistently 
boycotted by the C'yster. (Renewed laughter). 
And now my feelings towards the Oyster have 
greatly changed and I begin to remember that 
he has always been hostile to me personally — 
that I have never taken an Oyster that 
has not disagreed with me. (Loud laughter). 
Altogether I begin to look upon the 
Oyster as a capricious, deceitful fish or 
mollusc or, as Mr. Haly expresses it, an 
invertebrate creature. (Laughter). These being 
the leelings I entertain towards the Oyster when 
I was called upon to consider measures not for its 
destruc.ion, but for its conservancy, 1 was greatly 
perplexed. (Laughter). It is difficult for a just 
man to satisfy his own private vindictive feelings 
and do his duty as Governor of the Colony, but 
happily the difficulty no longer exists. Thanks 
to Mr. Collett these conllicting feelings have been 
reconciled because he tells us that the pearl is a 
pathological product ; that is to say, only disease 
in the dying oyster can produce the pearl and 
therefore what we call the Conservancy of the 
oyster is only to produce those unhealthy conditions 
of life which will make it diseased or dying 
(Laughter), iJnder those circr astances I am 
one with you all in your desire to conserve 
the Oyster. (Laughter and applause). Joking apart, 
I think tliis talk on our fisheries will not be 
without its advantages if it has induced us to 
consider and leflect whether more scientific 
treatment, more scientific procedure could not be 
adopted than that of two or three thousand years 
ago. Dr. Haly is not, but no doubt ought to be 
a member of the Legislative Council : — if 
he had been he would have known that that wise 
and sagacious and far-sighted entity — the Hon. 
Treasurer, who is present will bear nie out 
in describing it as such, — the Government 
of Ceylon (laughter) has already taken up the 
matter and has approached the Secretary of 
State, and through the Secretary of State the 
learned Societies and the leailied Professors of 
these Societies, on this subject and that from two 
learned Professors— Professor Ray Rankester and 
Professor Herdman — we have had two very vain- 
able reports. Professor Ray Lankester, as is 
the way with some scientific men, has, to use a 
vulgar term, opened his mouth too wide. (Laugh- 
ter). He has seen the opportunity of enriching 
the scientific world at the cost of Ceylon 
and he has proposed a costly mission which 
will no doubt collect much vp.luable infor- 
mation which wou'd not only be to our ad- 
vantage, but to the advantage of all Oyster- 
bearing countries. Therefoie I think Mr. 
Ferguson's suggestion is a good one that the 
cost of such a mission might be divided 
