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president’s ADDRESS — SECTION" E. 
the Panama line, so undauntedly commenced, is more generally known. 
To estimate these gigantic efforts of engineering skill for peaceful 
conquest in our own age, as the gift to nations and as historic 
triumphs, we might compare the construction of the stupendous 
Manchester Canal, of thirty -five miles length, at a cost of £15,000,000 
sterling ; the canal also for large ships connecting through Holstein 
the Baltic with the North Sea. of fifty-six miles length. The Suez 
Canal in its length of seventy miles had to overcome but slight 
elevations. The substantial gain from these colossal undertakings 
can approximately he estimated; the indirect advantages will ever he 
incalculable. 
It is within remembrance of many still living that millions of 
their contemporaries never saw an ocean ; and lived, as far as means 
for igniting was concerned, in the flint age. 
Telephonic conversation, uninterruptedly and instantaneously, with 
clearness, is possible already at distances as far as Berlin from Vienna. 
In a still more powerful manner the ever-increasing extent of rapid 
locomotion is exercising its influence on commerce and industries, and 
renders new regions amenable to productiveness, formerly shut to 
exertions of civilised man. It is a transit period to some extent 
through which we live at present, and the means for industrial 
developments become so expanding, and the influence of the sciences 
and arts so powerful every vvlier^, that soon the torch of enlightenment 
will be carried into the all -remaining dark recesses of the world. The 
cessation of intertribal warfares in countries still of savagedom will 
set a vast amount of valiant labour free, formerly largely spent in 
futile, aimless, or even destructive combat. 
Now, finally, a w r ord to our young compatriots. The rising 
generation of Australian natives of European descent challenges in 
display of valour the entire world. The young Australians, as a 
whole, rival in loyalty the best of their British countrymen at home 
and abroad. Socialism, and the still greater horrors of modern times, 
as the outcome of misguided leaders of perverted mind, have not taken 
root on Australian soil. The good sense of our communities is sure 
to keep us free also from such evils in future. Young Australia bids 
fair to hold its own in all that is bright, whether in sciences or arts. 
It is endowed with talents second to that of no other country, and 
through prosperity here these natural gifts are in proportion to popu- 
lation more extensively developed than is possible in many other 
regions. Under our serene sky physical beauty becomes extensively 
created so as to contest anywhere for the palm. A sense of the 
{esthetic pervades the young population. A spirit of enterprise is 
generated and fostered by the ampleness of territory and openness of 
scope. Recognition of Australian destinies within legitimate bounds 
is evident. The youth of these colonies, following iu the pious walk 
of most of their ancestors, is as extensively religious as even the rising 
generation in those parts of the globe where the most genuine Christian 
devotion prevails. Churches and charitable institutions in all directions 
bear witness to this. Our gracious Sovereign watches solicitously 
over the Australian dominion, and the strong arm of the great British 
nation guards us. Under such bestowals, Australia should advance to 
he one of the grandest and happiest among the great countries under 
the sway of the British throne ! 
