t may be necessary at the outset that I should make my apology for appearing before you this evening to lecture on the subject which I have undertaken to bring before you. It may seem to some of you somewhat anomalous that one whose daily avocation is analogous to that of an undertaker, whose duty it is to decently bury the dead, or to that of the long shore man, or wrecker, who saves here and there some little flotsam and jetsam, remnants from the disasters of the sea, that he should come to you with words of encouragement to tell you how much life there is in you, and how little need there is for your gallant barque to get into shoal water and make [unclear: shipwreck] of your hopes. I will briefly state, therefore, how it is that I have come to take an interest in the question of our auriferous resources, [unclear: and] how I have acquired such little knowledge as I have of the matter, Some 18 years ago I had, in the capacity of Member of the Provincial Council, to accompany a Goldfields' Warden on his journey over what is now our most northern goldfield, in order that he should report whether it should be proclaimed or not. I saw so much then to interest me that I rubbed up my early studies in geology, and began to seek a clue to some of the problems presented to me. I subsequently travelled over a large part of the interior, and hitting at that time upon the glacial theory—which, if I remember rightly, was first suggested to me by Mr. L. O. Beal—I found that it fitted in with much that I saw in my travels, and from that time to this, I have accumulated evidence that this theory is now established almost to demonstration, and that it is a most important key to the geological features of the wonderful country in which we are living. I shall have much to say about this theory this evening. Some 16 or 17 years ago I ventured to give a lecture at Cromwell on "Glaciers and Gold," and I was glad, on a recent journey, to find that this was still remembered. An old inhabitant remarked to me: "Do you remember giving such-and-such a lecture?" "Oh, yes," I said. "You were quite right," he remarked—"perfectly right." I hope some of my present audience will be able to say the same when I have finished this evening. Fellow colonists, we have of late passed through a period which has somewhat daunted us, and one of my objects this evening is to inspire you with fresh hope. I wish to see a period of progress set in once more, and as a homely illustration sometimes goes a long way, I may be permitted to remind you of that useful animal who would not proceed, and of the two courses taken to induce him to page 6 get on. Fellow colonists, you are the donkey, and I am holding] before you, like the bunch of carrots, a tempting bait, in the shape of vast wealth, not, indeed, available without labour, thought, and skill, but affording for generations to come vast scope for all these, and a fair reward. I imperfectly remember some lines addressed to "Luck," in which that shadowy will-o'-the-wisp is apostrophised thus:—

By labour and thought, by skill and persistence,
My house I have wrought without Fortune's assistance;
And since I have gained the reward of my labours,
And without help from you am as good as my neighbours.
Now, Luck, keep away!

Accordingly I shall seek to show you that not luck, but labour, steadily applied and well directed, will make you as rich as you deserve to be and mark this—no richer. With this brief introduction to a subject which would afford matter for many lectures, and which might well be handled by abler hands than mine, I proceed. My main divisions will be as follows:—

I.	What has the past disclosed in regard to our Auriferous Resources?
II.	What has Science to say on the subject?
III.	What may we fairly expect the Future to disclose?
IV.	What are the principal obstacles in the way of development?