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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 52

Annual Meeting of the Society

page 85

Annual Meeting of the Society.

At the annual meeting of the Geographical Society of Australasia, which took place at the Free Public Library on 30th May, 1884, the following address was read by the Vice-president, Professor Stephens, M.A.:—

It is generally recognized as part of the duties which the President of a learned Society has to discharge, that he should make a report to the Society, at their annual general meeting, of the progress which has during the preceding year been made in the matters which fall within the scope of its operations. He has first to give some account of the doings of that particular Society, and is then expected to make some observations upon the general advance of the science to which they are devoted. The first of these duties will not occupy so much time to-day as might be wished. The second is in better hands than mine, as Mr. La Meslée has undertaken, I believe, to draw up an exhaustive account of all that has been done in the way of Australian exploration during the preceding year. I propose therefore, after brief mention of the operations of the Society in the last twelvemonth, and an account of the formation of the Melbourne Branch, to enter into a short narrative of the circumstances under which the Society was brought into existence, to explain and develop some points which seem hardly to have been made as yet sufficiently prominent, to indicate certain amendments and alterations which appear to require serious consideration, to state the present position of the Society with regard to the proposed exploration of New Guinea, and to direct your attention to the election of members of Council and matters concerned therewith. Much of what follows has been written with reluctance, and all with some diffidence, only overpowered by a sense of duty.

The foundations of this Society, which is now completing the first year of its existence, were laid on April 3, 1883, at a meeting held in the house of Dr. Belgrave, and presided over by Mr. Du Faur, a gentleman who had made persevering though unavailing efforts to establish an effective Geographical Section in connection with the Royal Society of New South Wales. There were present at this meeting: Mr. Gerard, formerly Hon. Secretary of the aforesaid Section; Mr. E. Macfarlane, Mr. E. Marin La Meslée, the Hon. W. Brodribb, M.L.C., Mr. P. A. S. Kennedy (N.-W. Australia), Mr. Harrie Wood, the Rev. J. Jefferis, Mr. J. B. Donkin, Mr. James Garvan, M.L.A., and other gentlemen whose names, I regret to say, are not upon record. In the course of the proceedings the Chairman drew a pathetic picture of the repeated collapse page 86 of the starveling Geographical Section from sheer inanition, the painful attempts at establishing its convalescence, and the final relinquishment of the task in despair. He expressed his hope that the present movement might turn out more successful, and his conviction that the field which a Geographical Society should properly occupy was too vast to be covered by the operations of any mere Section of a more comprehensive Society. Mr. Edmond Marin La Meslée, our enthusiastic Honorary Secretary, whom I may almost call the mainspring of the Society's activity, then stated that he had been led to feel how much such an Association was required from his own experience, and from the statements of the best-informed persons in Europe as to the extreme scantiness and inaccuracy of the information at present attainable, even in England, with respect to the Australasian region. Entering at some length into the purposes which the proposed Society would serve, he concludes as follows: "Among ourselves no work can be productive of more practical good than one which has for its object the perfecting of the knowledge which we already possess of this great land; the existence and the distribution of its natural resources; the natural advantages for the settlement on Australian shores of numbers of the white race, and the preservation and civilization of the various indigenous races. Abroad, on the other hand, it will have the effect of making the Colonies more widely known, and it would be difficult to find better means of sound advertisement. The first precaution of a man who is entering into a new home is, to make himself thoroughly acquainted with the house he has to occupy, to convince himself that everything which is wanted is there, and to make such alterations as may be necessary for his comfort and that of his family. In like manner the first care of a young nation must likewise be to obtain a thorough knowledge of its new home, the land it has peacefully conquered, and which is destined to become the home of countless generations of its descendants." After a lively discussion, in which many of those present took part, a Provisional Committee, consisting of Dr. Belgrave, Mr. Gerard, and Mr. M. La Meslée, was appointed to draw up a definite scheme for the constitution of our Society. This was done without loss of time, and laid before a general meeting of promoters on April 20. At this meeting, which was of a somewhat irregular character, many subjects of great general interest wore discussed. I select some observations of Mr. Marin La Meslée's as worthy of special notice:—"A few days ago I had occasion to see the text of a letter addressed by the Curator of the Map Department of the Royal Geographical Society of London to the authorities here, requesting that certain maps of the Colony of New South Wales, published years ago by the Survey Department, be forwarded to the Society,—the knowledge of the existence of those documents page 87 having come to that gentleman through the medium of a celebrated German publication, Petermanns Mittheilungen. This fact shows how very little attention seems to have been paid to the geography of the Colonies; and there is not the slightest doubt that in the British Isles, as well as in the Continents of Europe and America, a great deal more is known about Timbuctoo, the Congo, and the negro lands of central Africa, than about Australasia. Those countries have been brought prominently before the public of late years through the remarkable discoveries of Burton, Speke, Grant, Cameron, Stanley, Livingstone, De Brazza, &c., &c. Very often the reports of the most atrocious barbarities perpetrated upon human beings that the annals of the world have recorded have directed the attention of the civilized world towards the dark continent, while peaceful plodding Australia is left comparatively in the cold, and little attention is ever directed by the Press of the old world to the growing importance of its settlements, the immensity of its natural resources, and the great field which it opens to European colonization. Why is this? Simply because, despite the enormous amount of money that the Colonies have lavished on Exhibitions and other means of advertisement, people at home do not realize the fact that another America is in process of formation at the antipodes. The names of the great cities of Melbourne and Sydney are in everybody's mouth, but that is all, and people have no more notion as to what the interior is like than we have about the internal structure of the planet Jupiter. The average educated Englishman will tell you that the interior of Australia is a desert, and that the present prosperity of the Colonies is due to the fact that the gold mines are not all worked out yet. Would such notions not have been dispelled long ago had a Geographical Society been in existence, whose object would have been to correspond with the seventy or eighty already existing Geographical Societies, and keep them constantly posted up in Australian geographical information, giving them from time to time accurate descriptions of the natural resources which are being brought to light day by day, and also, as a most important duty, to show them the various advantages which the Colonies offer to almost every branch of industry? The first object of the Society must therefore be to dispel the ignorance prevailing abroad, and, at home, educate our people to a better knowledge of the world we live in, and the advantages of commercial intercourse with other nations. Further, besides the essentially scientific Societies that are established in the principal European centres of commerce, commercial Geographical Societies, whose object is especially to obtain the best and most reliable information on the natural and artificial products, local industries of every country, and their members belong to the higher manufacturing and industrial classes. We are not in a position here to page 88 divide commercial from physical geography; but the work is not too great for a single Society to undertake." Again: "We must look to the practical side of the question, and our first care must be to collect the most complete records of past explorations in Australasia. . . A great deal has been done by the Survey Departments of the various Colonies, and a vast amount of geographical information lies buried in their records, mixed up with an equally large amount of departmental and technical information; and there is little doubt that the Society may rely on the help of the eminent officers who are at the head of those Departments in the various Australian Colonies." The original Provisional Committee was now reinforced by the addition of Mr. Parrott, C.E., and Mr. Harrie Wood, and directed to revise the constitution as originally drawn up by them, in order that it should be printed and distributed among members for their consideration. At the next meeting of promoters, held May 7, 1883, considerable progress was made with the articles of constitution, and by adjournment till a later date, the whole were passed with slight amendments. At a subsequent meeting, May 18, arrangements were made for the first general meeting, and inauguration of the Society.

The first general meeting was duly held, May 31, 1883, in the Chamber of Commerce. As it was upon this occasion that the Society really commenced its existence, which we trust may be marked by the celebration of many birthdays, each distinguished by growth both of scientific acquirement and administrative energy, I have thought it desirable to extract from the minutes of the meeting the more interesting portion of the introductory proceedings, since they are prior to the constitution of the Society, and therefore do not appear upon its ordinary records. There were about seventy gentlemen present, and Mr. Du Faur was elected to the Chair. In an introductory address he remarked that up to this time geography had been almost the only science which had received no organized support from nor been prominently brought before the notice of the community. Although in all parts of the world except this Geographical Societies had existed for years, numbering at present about eighty, yet neither this nor any other Australian Colony had placed itself in a position to correspond with these recognized centres. Australians, with their own continent but roughly explored, with the countless islands of the Pacific in the pathways of their trade, with New Guinea (probably the least known tract for its size in the world) adjacent to their shores, and with the vast Antarctic Ocean awaiting the enterprise of hardy spirits, had as yet not only clone nothing, in their collective capacity, for the exploration of these regions, but had not even formed a recognized body that could confer with and welcome those who from time to time had visited their shores in the cause of geographical science. The Chairman gave an account of the previous efforts to establish a Geographical page 89 Section of the Royal Society, and gave a curious account of our failure to obtain our due recognition in the Geographical Congress at Venice, with which we, in common with all civilized countries, had been invited to co-operate, and for which much valuable information was collected for the Government relative to the geography of New South Wales. It seemed, however, to have been assumed that there was no one in this community who was sufficiently interested in the subject, or capable of representing us on the occasion, and a commission of so important a character, requiring almost essentially the services of an Australian, was put into the hands of a foreigner, who was, as a matter of fact, quite unacquainted with the country. He trusted that such an absurdity would not happen again. Mr. La Meslée, pointing out that Japan, Mozambique, and the Congo, as possessing Geographical Societies, were very much better known among Europeans than Australia, and showing how even the geographies used in British and European schools were full of absurd blunders and oversights, urged further that, as we were placed in the very centre of the unexplored portions of the globe, it would be to our everlasting shame if we allowed others to continue and perfect the work of exploration in Australia, and that with this object in view, the Society would be invited to give its support towards a thorough and scientific exploration of New Guinea, and the completion of the work of exploration in Australia. The provisions of the draft constitution of the Society were now put to the meeting seriatim, and passed. The Chairman then declared the Society duly constituted. All subsequent business appears, therefore, in the ordinary records of the Society. The labours of your Council during the past year have been very considerable, though without conspicuous results. Regulations of various kinds for the conduct of business have been drawn up, a large correspondence initiated, and much time spent in deliberations upon the project for the exploration of New Guinea, though without much progress towards its realization. Arrangements have been made for the printing and publishing of the Society's Transactions, which, through the kindness of the Ministry, we are privileged to have done for us free of charge in the Government Printing Office. We have also obtained permission to use for the Society's purposes certain rooms now in the occupation of Government, by both which concessions the Society is relieved of a heavy expenditure. Besides the large correspondence which has been carried on in Australia, mainly with a view to extend the field of our operations, letters have been written to most of the principal Societies of a similar character throughout the world, notifying the establishment of this Society, and desiring their co-operation and assistance. In answer to these, numerous promises of support and of assistance in spreading the movement have been received both from individuals and from the page 90 following public bodies:—The Smithsonian Institution, Washington; the Imperial Geographical Society of Russia, St. Petersburg; the Geographical Society of Amsterdam, the Commercial Geographical Society of Paris, the Italian Geographical Society, the National Astronomical Observatory of Tacubaya, the Royal Geographical Society of London, with expressions of goodwill and promises of assistance. The papers read before the Society have been—1. Mr. La Meslée's essay upon the exploration of New Guinea, which was received with many expressions of satisfaction by a large public meeting assembled in the Protestant Hall. 2. A paper by Mr. J. F. Mann, upon the Australian Aborigines, describing at length their customs and habits, their arms and ornaments, modes of hunting, fishing, &c. This paper was illustrated with many sketches by the author, representing various scenes of the Aborigines' life, the arms, and other implements. 3. A paper by Mr. A. Morton, upon a visit to New Guinea, and explorations of some portion of the country. The first of these papers has already been published and circulated by the Society, the others being still in the printer's hands, together with the proceedings.

After long perseverance in an active canvass, Mr. A. C. Macdonald, of Melbourne, acting as Hon. Secretary for that province, has succeeded in launching the sister branch in Melbourne; Baron von Mueller, who is always foremost in assisting the progress of science, having accepted the position of Vice-president. The inaugural meeting took place in the hall of the Royal Society, April 18th, Dr. Birch occupying the Chair. The inaugural address of Baron von Mueller, who was unable to preside owing to indisposition, was read by Mr. A. C. Macdonald, the Hon. Secretary. It stated that the object of the Society was to unite all who were interested in geographical research and willing to give it substantial aid. Its efforts would be mainly concentrated on giving new impetus to explorations in the Australian Continent and those adjacent islands which, from the extensive territory of New Guinea to the smallest inlet of the Fijian group, belong commercially, if not also politically, to the great Australian portion of the British Empire. Within the territory of Australia proper but scanty room was left for the discovery of great geographical features, such as extensive rivers, large lakes, or high mountain ranges; but very many important details had yet to be inserted between the lines of exploration, and many years must elapse before the chart of the Australian continent could possibly be completed. Even within Victoria some little geographical work, which had the charm of absolute novelty, yet remained to be done, especially in the eastern part of Gippsland, where there are wide spaces still unexplored. The country towards the north-east and north-west of the Gulf of Carpentaria was but scantily known, and altogether it might be assumed that one-half of the area of page 91 Australia had yet to be explored. But it was not alone in the untraversed regions of Australia that the Society should aid in the achievement of geographic discoveries. The Antarctic region, the southern polar lands, the South Sea Islands, promised to yield some of the grandest results for geographic science as well as for commerce. It was to the exploration of Polynesia that Australian discoverers would more especially direct their efforts. Foremost among the multitude of islands and islets, New Guinea engaged attention. All praise, he would say, to the far-seeing statesmen of Australia who so eagerly insisted that Papua, interjacent between her Majesty's Australian, Indian, and Polynesian possessions, should become an integral part of the great empire of Britain; and those sentiments were reechoed wherever the English language was spoken. Lord Aberdare, in opening the 1883-4 session of the Royal Geographical Society in November, laid special stress on the exploration of New Guinea. The animal and vegetable world of New Guinea was of very great interest to Australian investigators, and of the richness of its mineral resources we could form no conception. Here was a noble work which the Geographical Society of Australasia might take up—a work which did not need very extensive means, a work promising perfect success, a work by which the Society would at once establish a reputation for itself, a work which would not only promote the cause of geography, but would also serve the cause of humanity. The keen mercantile competition, the increasing rivalry in technology, the falling short of many kinds of raw materials for industries, the changes of abodes for the sake of health from one climatic region to another, the search for new rural fields, and the practical calls of the day, brought questions connected with geography more and more into the foreground. The ordinary navigator could not reach his destination without the aid of nautical geography; the traveller in new regions was almost helpless without it; and the tourist had in maps his best guides. The sacred duties of Christian missions had become emphatically connected with geography, principally so in one country of Europe. Sound and comprehensive geographical research could immeasurably support the great strides of the railway system over all inhabitable portions of the globe. The leisurely study of geography could be rendered one of the most interesting subjects of social and intellectual life. It tended to wear away national antipathies and prejudices, and aided powerfully to bring man nearer to man, and to render men worthier of their earthly destination, and in their worldly career more just and happy. This was followed by a most interesting and important paper upon the Kimberley district, N.-W. Australia, by Mr. J. A. Panton, P.M., and Mr. Macdonald concluded with a vigorous argument in favour of an Australian page 92 Geographical Society. The objects of the Society are declared in the articles of our constitution to be threefold: scientific, commercial, and educational. It has been frequently urged against the second of the three that the objects of a scientific Society cannot possibly be commercial; that industry and commerce may indeed often profit to prodigious extent by the results of scientific investigation, but that the questions of commerce, its profit and loss, are quite outside the sphere of geographical science. There can be no doubt as to the propriety of these remarks from a philosophical point of view, and we must therefore acknowledge that our phraseology is not strictly correct. I have, however, with a view to this objection, already quoted from Mr. La Meslée an explanation of that portion of our programme which fully interprets the meaning of the expression "commercial objects," and seems quite to justify its use as practically intelligible and convenient, even though it may be, to some extent, open to adverse criticism. On the third head, the educational functions of the Society have been, I think, somewhat inadequately stated in our constitution. For the promotion of geographical knowledge "among all classes by means of illustrated public lectures, and various publications," is really like ploughing and sowing a desert land. Unless a lecture appeals to an already cultivated audience, its effect is transient and unimportant. What we all desire is that all that information which is at present locked up in books, mostly of an expensive character, and in the minds of those who have a fancy for the subject, should be made common property of the people, and that every one who is not bent upon ignorance should have the opportunity—nay, more, should be tempted and urged, to make himself acquainted and familiar with the various capabilities of the various parts of Australasia, and with the openings for enterprise in this, that, and the other direction; and so generally to adapt himself, with the quickness of the true colonist, to that region and that pursuit which may from time to time offer him the best reward for his labour; while at the same time no encouragement should be offered to that wasteful and useless prolongation of unsatisfactory "prospecting" which is at the bottom of most of our industrial difficulties. Now this work cannot be done on the adult. The helter-skelter habit is too strong in some, the indolence which is always on the look-out for a billet or work under the Government or Corporation stroke, too inveterate in others. The only place where the requisite information can be obtained by the people for the general advantage is the school, including under that term all places of general education. Here alone, while the mind is fresh and unsophisticated, can the knowledge be obtained which is essential to the due circulation of our race. There can be no chicanery in the information which is given by impartial teachers—impartial since they can have no page 93 conceivable interest in any intentional mistatement—while there is often reason to doubt whether even the authorized agents of Colonial Governments have always confined themselves strictly to matters of fact. If this be admitted, it will follow that under our declaration of the objects of the Society we are bound to exert ourselves for an improvement in the geographical work of the schools of the Colony, not so much with regard to the northern hemisphere, or Southern Africa and America, as with a view to the solidarity of all the Australasian peoples, and their freer and profitable intercourse with each other. Regarding this, then, as one of our most important functions, I trust that we may be found to exercise it with diligence and energy in the future. The diffusion, extension, and application of the information which has been already acquired, if not so exciting or so honored an office as that of the discoverer, is nevertheless a matter of equal importance to society in general, and indeed but the planting of the seed-beds from which future explorers will spring and multiply. Rational methods of teaching geography are far better understood even in the primary schools of this country than even in the very highest in the England of my young days. Yet there is ample room for improvements on the lines which I venture here to summarize.—First, there shall be no manuals put into the pupils' hands, or any allowed to remain there. Those with seductive titles as "Mamma's Lessons," "Pleasant Half-hours," are the more specially to be shunned as wolves in sheep's clothing. The plain wolf is the more honest. But such books are like all others of their kind, really the offspring of kind hearts which revolt against the dismal tyranny of the "lesson learning" system, but do not see that if a child—say child, because no one grown up will submit to such stupid imposition—is forced to learn by heart out of a geography book, under compulsion by penalties or pressure from rewards, the style in which the book is written is not of the slightest consequence. Taught without book, by pictures, maps, models, and lively illustration, the subject becomes one of the most enlivening portions of school work, and one which forms an admirable training for all scientific culture. The youngster no longer driven to his lesson book will fly to books of travel, of history, and even to the volumes of the once abhorred geography. I think that this Society might justly and successfully exert its influence in this reform.

In the second place, we may help by careful consideration as to what kind of diagrams, maps, models, and blank projections will be most useful in this Colony—by getting these drafted or constructed under close inspection in Sydney itself, and perhaps also by forwarding, revising, and recommending, under our guarantee, a manual for teachers. It is impossible for these things to be properly done at a distance from the place where page 94 they are to be used. Insufficient knowledge and perfect immunity from criticism are certain to result in that free and perfunctory treatment which we all notice with ridicule or resentment in the remarkable pictures which our visitors from the old country often draw of Australia. And this is far worse, of course, when an author's misapprehensions are made the foundation of instruction.

In the third place, this Society might assist in introducing that higher geography, which Huxley has called physiography, into all our public and private teaching. I must not dwell upon this subject, as it ramifies in so many different directions, in fact into all branches of natural history, that it might be considered to lie outside our particular province. The federation of Australia, only a year ago, was a name to conjure with, so fair were the projects, so sanguine the projectors. And, indeed, a revolution such as was then contemplated, and such as was then outlined in airy sketches by orators of practised skill, bringing about the consolidation of an empire without a war, and the establishment of equal independence without separation, cannot but captivate the imagination and fire the enthusiasm of an Australian. The great and, probably for the present, insuperable difficulties which stand in the way of such an organization of our forces are naturally disregarded, and the tentative approaches towards federation, which for the present are alone feasible, are looked upon askance, as diverting us from our true object, or with contempt, as the result of timid and selfish counsels.

"While these noble aspirations (for they are noble, only too noble for immediate application) were thrilling the political atmosphere, our Society was conceived and born. It would have been very strange if its form should not have betrayed some evidence of the astrological influences which dominated over its nativity. Successful founders of Societies, as also the pioneers of any other adventure, business, or industry, must be men of that sanguine temperament which are so dazzled by the greatness and splendour of the goal that they are blinded to the dangers and difficulties of the road; and yet though only such spirits can lead to success, they often lead to disaster. Timidity will certainly fail, but courage does not invariably succeed. It is my misfortune not to belong to the vanguard. It is more suitable for me to follow than to lead; and it therefore may sometimes happen that I pull up at dangers in front, which are none the less real, because bolder riders have already taken the like and overshot them with impunity. And thus I imagine myself to detect some element of risk and instability arising from this very loyalty and enthusiasm, even in the constitution of our Society, which indeed had very nearly been styled, "The Federal Geographical Society of Australasia," a title which, sesquipedalian as it is, would in reality have been more modest in its implication than that which we have adopted. For our Society, although it enjoys the support of many page 95 distinguished friends inot her Colonies, was, nevertheless, until the foundation of the Melbourne branch, essentially a New South Wales organization, as will be shown hereafter. It has its headquarters in Sydney, its archives are kept here, and its elections are held here. It is unwise then to assume a title which will either prevent the growth of similar Societies in other parts of Australasia, or place us in the ridiculous position of pretenders to the sovereignty over independent kingdoms. And no evasion of the true nature of this claim will serve. It will be to no purpose that we urge that ultimately the Society of Australasia will be the federation of the branches. Though we may shut our own eyes, we cannot blindfold our neighbours. Even if such an attempt were for a time successful, it could not but be in the highest degree invidious and undesirable; and the very smallest disagreement would lead to disruption. But there is no chance of its being even for a time successful among proud and jealous communities like those of Australia, and consequently any symptom of the existence of such an ambition can only tend to frustrate the noble purposes with which it has entangled itself. What we all desire, though we disagree about the means, is the establishment of a centre of geographical information and research in each capital of the Australasian Colonies. The only question at issue is whether they shall be all subordinate to a central body out of which they are to spring, or whether, having, by whatever means obtained an independent existence, they shall voluntarily and on equal terms enter into an association for the common advantage and benefit to all.

Although one would not, in the position of Vice-president, attempt to shirk a due share of responsibility for the draft of the constitution as proposed and adopted at the meeting of May 3, 1883, it may be allowable to mention that it was not until this draft had been in all essential points completed by the Provisional Committee that I became a member of that body. It is not decorous for a recruit to discuss the principles which have been already adopted by his older comrades; the more so in my case, as there was then no idea, so far as appears, of my ever holding any office in the administration of the Society. Certainly no such notion had entered my own imagination. It seemed the right thing, therefore, at that time to confine one's self to matters of detail and verbal alterations, accepting as an accomplished fact the outlines which had been already laid down. I think that was a fair course to pursue under those circumstances, even though, as things have turned out, it has proved a great source of embarrassment and annoyance to myself. For, somehow or other, I slid quite unintentionally into office, and that, too, an office which of all others requires of its holder the most sincere loyalty to the Society which has placed him at their head. Loyalty, however, does not necessarily imply an unreasoning maintenance of such page 96 conditions and stipulations as—however well intended—may probably endanger the very existence of the Society; and if to be faithful to the prescription is to kill the patient, it is surely better to rebel against the one and loyally save the life of the other. In the present instance, I feel the position to be one of those in which one can neither act with effect nor retire with graceful descent. On such slippery ground it is doubly hard to risk the hazard of your disapprobation, which must I fear attend upon the course which I feel bound to pursue, in pointing out to the best of my judgment the error into which we have fallen, and the best method of retracing our steps to the right road, since it will be impossible for me to prove by actual demonstration the correctness of my views, and because it is probable that many members hold a diametrically opposite opinion.

Have we not acted with some haste, not to say presumption, in forming ourselves into a Geographical Society of Australasia, with head-quarters in Sydney, then inviting the sister Colonies to form auxiliary branches, tributary to our central authority? We may disclaim any such intention, but an impartial reading of the articles of our constitution proves that this is what has been, for all practical purposes, directly proposed. In order to put the question in the clearest possible light, I should think one ought to suppose that the organization of several branches has been completed, and that they are working harmoniously under our constitution. But as there are two in actual, though not yet in full, operation, I shall confine myself to these, and only introduce so much hypothetical matter as may be necessary. I suppose, then, that a general Council of the Society is already in existence, composed of a President, whom for the sake of argument I shall further suppose to belong to Victoria; two Vice-presidents, one the head of the Melbourne, the other the head of the Sydney branch; one Honorary Secretary, and one Honorary Treasurer, besides three members of Council from Victoria, and three from New South Wales. (Art. 7.) I cannot find any record as to the place of meeting of this General Council, but as it is stated (Art. 15) that the archives of the Society shall be kept in Sydney, and that reports of all meetings held outside Sydney shall be transmitted to the Honorary Secretaries of the Society, so as to admit of their insertion in the Annual Report of Transactions (Art. 17), I conclude that it is located constitutionally and permanently in Sydney as metropolis. By a simple substitution of Melbourne for Sydney in the foregoing account, and vice versâ, we shall see how very likely such an arrangement would be to work without hitch or misunderstanding.

It is too customary among Australians of all Colonies to declare ourselves perfectly free of any jealousy, envy, or ill-will to our neighbours, while we regret that we have not found them to be actuated by equally disinterested motives. When two respectable persons, falling page 97 into a quarrel, make the same complaint, each against the other, and both defend themselves on the same grounds, an impartial bystander will probably conclude that neither is clear of blame, and neither very guilty. Such a conversion of terms in our case will place us in the bystanders' position, and show us that the favours which we blandly and affectionately extend to our neighbour we should reject with surprise and amazement if offered to ourselves. For suppose that the Geographical Society of Australasia had been roughhewed into working order in Melbourne instead of in Sydney, then the General Council would be permanently located in Melbourne, the archives of the Society would be kept there, and the proceedings of all the branches published there, the said branches forwarding to head-quarters in order to meet the expenses of publication a full moiety of all their local subscriptions. And how many Sydney subscribers would we find among the members of that Society? It must, then, be admitted, as it seems to me, that the place of meeting of the General Council ought not to be permanently located in Sydney, or Melbourne, or any other place. How this can be reconciled with our existing constitution is not only a difficult question, but one which will involve radical alterations in our laws before we can see any road to its solution. Let us suppose, however, that the matter has been amicably settled, and proceed with our hypothetical record. The General Council, whatever may be the place of its abode, has been elected at the end of the preceding session by means of ballot papers (Art. 10), and holds office for a year, one-third of the members of the Council retiring compulsorily (by ballot, I presume) at the end of it, and not being eligible for re-election for the year following. The President, however, Vice-presidents, Honorary Secretaries, and Honorary Treasurer are elected for three years each, and are eligible for re-election (Art. 9), the election of members of the General Council taking place at the end of every session for the ensuing year, through the medium of ballot papers. 10. The general meeting of the Society is held at the commencement of every annual session, in the capital of some associated province. 11. The session begins in the month of May, and lasts eight calendar months. 13. In these regulations an unnecessary amount of complication is introduced. Why should the election of officers and councillors take place in December and the annual meeting in May 1 Would it not be much simpler and in accordance with the practice of all Societies, so far as I am aware, that both the election of Council and office-bearers, and the President's address, together with any other general business which happens to be on hand, should be got through on the same day? The arrangement constitutionally in force, but not acted upon for the present year, as will be explained hereafter, would practically reduce the number of monthly (i.e., working) meetings to six in the year. Moreover, the difficulty of page 98 getting a good representative meeting together, which is a constant trouble with our Societies, is hereby doubled. Again, if the elections are not to take place at an ordinary, but at a special general meeting, it would be well to determine beforehand the time of meeting, the mode of summoning, the right to the Chair in the absence of the President, and the system of ballot intended to be used. If it be assumed that under our constitution the election will take place in Sydney, and this seems to follow from Articles 15-17 as quoted above, the situation from a "federal" point of view becomes still more perplexing, more especially if it should be held that, in the absence of the President (who may unfortunately be unable to leave Melbourne at this particular conjuncture), the Sydney Vice-president will ex officio take his place. It is clear that a point like this requires definite settlement beforehand. In like manner, if an election is to be made by "ballot papers" under such circumstances, where one-half of the voters are in another Colony, and in the absence of the President, some system of voting by written papers must of course be adopted. Such systems are very liable to abuse, and demand very careful preparation as well as management. A precise plan must have been elaborated at least six months previously, and its details made familiar to the voters for some considerable time before the elections, if they are to be fairly determined by written votes, whether produced by proxies, or forwarded by letter to the proper office. I think it will be clear that there are many questions to be answered, and great difficulties to be removed, before the principles upon which the General Council is organized will command general assent, and also before the mechanism, even then, be brought into working order. I now proceed to the not less thorny question of the Administrative Council. Pursuing the same hypothesis we find two Societies in happy co-operation—one in Melbourne, the other in Sydney. Now, as to the latter, there are satisfactory arrangements already in existence. The Sydney Society (Article 8), has an Administrative Council elected from among the members of the Society residing in Sydney, and its President is Vice-president for the province of New South Wales. But about the other Society: The only space which I can find allotted for its operations is defined as follows (Article 12):—"The members of the Society in any associated province may elect a local Committee, the local members of the said Council being ex officio members of the said Committee." It must be assumed on the hypothesis that the Society with its two branches is in harmonious operation, that this position has proved satisfactory to the members of the Melbourne branch, otherwise they would not have been acting in comfortable co-operation with us; but how prodigious the humility—how noble the enthusiasm which can accept such conditions with joy, and labour under them page 99 with devotion! Such self-abnegation is more than human, greater even than geographical. Surely there is cause for apprehension that when our constitution comes to be examined in other quarters with the attention which one of us at least had never devoted to it until it became his duty to administer it, we shall not only not have succeeded in forming one great and homogeneous Society, begetting, and in its turn begotten by, a large number of branches, all equal and all auxiliary; but shall, on the contrary, lay a great obstacle in the way of all future union, by demands for a pre-eminence which, if it were ever so well deserved, will never be conceded. Is it to be supposed for one moment that any Branch Society will tolerate the stipulations that the administration of the whole system shall be centralized in Sydney, that the archives of the Society shall be kept in Sydney, that the reports of its own meetings shall be transmitted to Sydney for publication; that a moiety of their own subscriptions should also be forwarded to the Sydney centre, and that the Sydney branch should be recognized as an essential factor of the General Society, while the Melbourne branch is regarded as only a local and accidental Committee? It might be, and has been at first sight supposed that the Administrative Council of Article 8 was only the Sydney Committee exactly like the local Committee of Article 12; or otherwise that the local Committee in each province would form in itself an Administrative Council on equal and similar terms with that one which happens to have been the first in the field. But this is clearly not the letter nor the spirit of the law. There is but one remedy. Let us surrender all claims to pre-eminence, recognize ourselves as a New South Wales Society, and no more; receiving gladly, of course, members from other Colonies, especially where no sister Society has been established; and by correspondence and conference agree upon rules which shall be acceptable to all, shall stimulate the formation more and more of several ramifications, each of which, while sovereign and independent in its own province, shall meet in General Council or "Federal" assembly with that cordiality which only equality of rights can secure.

Some notice has been taken in the Sydney journals of our delay or failure in carrying out the scheme for the exploration of New Guinea, which, nearly a year ago, was brought very prominently before the public, and was very warmly taken up by some of our members. In order to prevent any misapprehension upon this point, I propose to give a brief narrative of the steps which have actually been taken, and the causes of our present hesitation. At a meeting of the Administrative Council, June 18, 1883, it was resolved that a special fund should be established, under the name of the New Guinea Exploration Fund, and that it should be administered upon principles similar to those recognized by the Royal Geographical Society in their page 100 establishment of the African Exploration Fund, 1877. August 11: A circular was accordingly prepared soliciting contributions for this special purpose, and was largely circulated (2,500 copies printed). The first answer received was one of excellent augury, such as might raise still higher the hopes of the sanguine, and encourage even the doubters. The name alone of Baron von Mueller would have seemed no small gain in the starting of such an enterprise, while his liberal offers both of money and of that assistance which he of all living men is best able to give, were additional and extraordinary items of advantage. But we have good reason to know that there are not many with their hearts so entirely in their work as the Baron shows his to be. The Government of New South Wales had agreed to assist by placing the amount of £1,000 upon the Estimates to be appropriated according to the discretion of the Minister. The Government of South Australia had also given a favourable answer to an application for similar assistance, and that of Victoria followed in an equally encouraging manner. Assistance of this kind, however, never means more than the supplementing of the funds which have been privately collected for some public purpose by proportional donations from the public purse. And as we had only received one favourable answer to over 2,500 circulars, and had therefore only one subscription (outside the Council), it was clear that the matter must of necessity rest in abeyance. Moreover, the ferment occasioned by the annexation of New Guinea by Queensland, and the several attempts at exploration of the island, purchase of land, and establishment of trade which followed, led the Council to the conclusion that in that conjuncture of public affairs it was not for the general advantage that any further explorations in New Guinea should be made by individuals or private Societies, and consequently that all further proceedings towards the equipment and despatch of an expedition by this Society should be stayed for the present. And so the matter rests. We have no funds available for the purpose; and even if we had abundance we should be doing the State an ill service by taking any steps in the matter until an authority has been established in New Guinea, as well as in other islands, which shall have power to control and to punish not only kidnappers and pirates, but also such persons as under the pretext of exploration make war upon the aborigines. The mischief that such persons do is not always at once apparent, and the memory of a wrong may have long died out of the minds of the perpetrators, while it is still fresh in the hearts of the victims, and waits only its opportunity for revenge. With respect to the telegrams which have from time to time announced, directly or indirectly, that the Royal Geographical Society was organizing an exploring expedition under the direction of Mr. W. Powell, it is only necessary here to state, as I do upon the best authority, that page 101 these telegrams were "erroneous and misleading," and that the Royal Geographical Society did not propose to undertake, either themselves or in conjunction with other bodies, any expedition to New Guinea. I see, indeed, in the telegraphic news of to-day that a sum of money has been at last granted by the Society towards the exploration of the Owen Stanley Range by Mr. Forbes. This may very probably be true, or it may turn out to have been, like its predecessors on the same subject, "erroneous and misleading." We are bound to elect, as has been mentioned above, the members of the General Council and of the Administrative Council at the end of every session—that is to say, in the month of December. And the Council had to the last some hopes that it might be possible to proceed to such election in due time, as the progress of the Melbourne branch towards an assured and regular existence rendered it not unlikely that it might by that time have been in a position to co-operate with us in that election. Without such co-operation it does not seem legally within our power to proceed to the election of a General Council, and no steps have therefore been taken in that matter as yet; but since the election of members of the Administrative Council is to take place at the same time, the delay caused by the desire to avoid illegal action in the one case has landed us in a similar illegality in the other, for this meeting is not the last of the session (which seems to be the meaning of the phrase—"at the end of every session") but the first, or annual general meeting, held (Art. 11) at the commencement of every annual session, which begins in May, and lasts eight months (Art. 13). It is not, therefore, strictly within the letter of our rules that we proceed to election of officers on the present occasion, although it is not inconsistent with their spirit, which clearly contemplates the retention of their places by members of Council for a twelvemonth. This twelvemonth since the first election has not as yet elapsed, although to-morrow is the last day of its existence. However, it is competent to any member to object to the course of action which we propose to adopt, and if such objection is supported by a majority of the meeting, it will be the duty of the present Council to take into consideration what measures may best meet the existing difficulty, and lay the result before an adjourned meeting. For myself, I have to add that circumstances oblige me to resign the post of honor in which you placed me a year ago. The lamented death of Professor Badham falling so unexpectedly on the University as it did, made also a sudden and unforeseen alteration in my engagements. It became my duty, in accordance with his frequently expressed desire, to take up for a time, with however, inferior powers, the duties which he had for so many years discharged in the University. It is not necessary to say that these duties, combined with my own, occupy the whole of my time and demand the exercise of all my page 102 powers. It is impossible for me, therefore, both to retain the honor of this Chair and to perform my positive duties to the University. In such a case no reasonable person can doubt what steps I am bound to take, or will consider that I ought to allow the main business of my life to be counterpoised even for a moment by the attraction and distinction of your Vice-presidency. I shall be happy to assist, as a member of the Council, if the Society should require my service, and I am, of course, ready to continue the discharge of my present duties until my successor is elected—provided, of course, that such election is not unnecessarily deferred.

Accept, gentlemen, the expression of my thanks for the patience with which you have heard me, and which has been, I feel, sorely tried by much which I have felt it incumbent upon me to say. You will, I am sure, give me credit for an honest appreciation of the services of those gentlemen who are in reality the fathers of our body, and for an earnest desire for the prosperity of this Society, the multiplication of its sisters, and the successful promotion of geographical science.

On the motion of the Rev. James Jefferis, LL.B., seconded by the Hon. W A. Brodribb, M.L.C., a vote of thanks was passed to the Vice-President for his address, the lattter gentleman expressing his deep regret that circumstances compelled Professor Stephens to resign.