Agricultural and Commehclxl Society. 63 
The President then addressed the meeting as 
follows: — 
The Presidents Valediction. 
The President said this was the last time he would 
have the pleasure of meeting members in that capacity, 
and he would therefore like to say a few words before 
they separated. At the beginning of the year he said 
that the Society had become more and more of a 
Reading Room than an Agricultural Society, and 
expressed the hope that some members would come 
forward and give them some agricultural papers. He 
was sorry to say that no member had come forward to 
do so, but the Society, and especially the Agricultural 
Conmiittee, under the very able chairmanship of Mr. 
Scard, had gone very carefully into the matter of 
cane farming. The committee held a large number of 
meetings, while there had also been a meeting of 
persons interested in cane farming, and with these and 
the pamphlet which had been prepared he hoped some 
good had been done. There was no question that 
people in the colony were very much interested 
in cane farming, and, where the physical conditions 
were suitable, as for instance at plantation Hampton 
Court and plantation Marionville, where cane farming 
had been carried on for two or three years, it had beei 
attended with very good results. Unfortunately, o i 
the East Coast, where is the densest village population 
the physical conditions were against it, as farmers 
would have to carry their canes over the dams, and the 
net result to the farmers was therefore less than it 
would be in more favoured places. Another matter 
which had attracted the attention of the Societ}' was 
the subject of bee-keeping ; while a short time ago Mr. 
