Half a Century of Australasian Progress; A Personal Retrospect (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: their day in a voyage, and upon an occasion, that will certainly mark an era in the great Australasian group, if not indeed iu the empire itself. Our experience in this matter takes next another direction. Canada contributed S per head towards the passage-money of every Association member crossing the ocean on the occasion. This might mean, relatively, at least 20 for Australin, so that, in my discussion of the subject with some leading Victorians, they seemed overwhelmed with the abyss of expense to which they might possibly be committed. Now I am sure that any one who thoughtfully regarded this cnse, so as to deduce, as I had to do, that one half or more of the company, not however by any means quite regardless of science, were yet mainly bent upon a pleasure trip, reached the conclusion that most of this Canadian money was really thrown away. Counting heads in a case of science is even worse than in a case of democratic politics. Secure the men of science, and the others will follow. But those who have the fullest heads have not seldom the emptiest pockets. I conclude that the men of science only should be paid for, and that by a full free passage. The rest of us will take care of ourselves. And thus some trifle of 5000 may be all that is needed. Plan of the Work. And lastly, as to the plan of my work. How should accounts of Colonies, young and ever-changing Colonies in particular, be written ? In five different volumes which I have successively issued I always PLAN OF THE WORK. 13 treated my subject " historically." That is the way natural to one who sets about his work in business fashion. He tells the history, and sets it off with abundant statistical illustration and proof. " Very good," say most of his audience interested or appealed to; " possibly an exc...