capitalists in the Colony in this industry, as wine, unlike anything else that man can invest in, improves in value by keeping, and therefore, with ordinary care, it is a valuable investment. The vignerons of the Colony are generally a steady and hardworking, but not a wealthy, class, and would readily welcome capital to expand their industry and afford means of storing and maturing their wines for the high-grade markets of Europe. The excellence, cheapness, and large quantity obtainable of grape wine brandy, owing to the cheapness of young wines which small vignerons cannot afford to hold and mature, and the smallness of the French output of this article, are also referred to.

The mining industry is dealt with at some length, chiefly that of gold mining. Up to date, about 60,000,000 oz. of gold, valued at £240,000,000, have been raised in Victoria. About three-quarters of this quantity has been from quartz uniformly averaging oz. to the ton, average cost of production being two-fifths. Reference is made to the increased annual output of gold of late years, the splendid yields returned, the recent rich discoveries, the high price of Victorian gold (from £4 to £4 3s. 4d. per oz.) as compared with other countries, the abundance of wood and water, the facilities of transport, as railways cover most of the country, and not one hundredth part of the Colony has yet been prospected.

Regarding the gold mining industry, it is stated that some years ago a feeling grew in England that Victoria retained all its best properties for local enterprise and investment, and only sent the doubtful to London. There may have been some truth in this at that time, but many new fields have been opened up since, and numberless discoveries have been made. But the chief factor militating against local enterprise has been the recent depression. Little money has been in circulation for mining development, and much has been locked up in reconstructed financial institutions that might otherwise have been used for this purpose. Still a certain measure of development had to be carried on. The old fields were, naturally, all right, for they were paying, but new fields entered on a precarious time. People hung on, for they saw the rich prospect ahead. This brings us up to the present. The new fields are there with all their promising prospects, and people still hang on, but they can't do more, for they want capital.

Reference is made to the huge area in the Colony still awaiting settlement and to the generous offer of capital and land by the Government to desirable settlers. The paper concludes: Though mining has such a brilliant outlook, for it is an essentially safe

industry in this Colony, it is in the absolutely certain prospects of its agricultural industries that Victoria is to secure that plenitude of prosperity and comfort which its people see plainly ahead of them to-day, notwithstanding the recent speculative reverses which brought upon them so many evil days three years ago. But the people of Victoria are not selfish, and if their kindred across the seas do not accept their invitation to share the blessings of plenty which this bright land affords them, they hope that the varied and healthful products of Australia's "farm-garden" may continue increasingly to gladden the hearts and comfort the bodies of their fellow Britons, whose lot in life might not be so fortunate as theirs.

In the discussion which followed, Mr. H. M. PAUL dwelt on the excellence of Victorian wool and the general appreciation of other Victorian products, especially butter, which commanded a high price in the London market. As regards wine, mistakes had been made in the past, but were being corrected, and wine now produced in the Colony could compete successfully with European growths.

Mr. G. COLLINS LEVEY, C.M.G., emphasised the importance of the gold-mining industry, and contended that a mining and manufacturing country was almost always richer than one that depended on its agricultural resources. While making the most of the agricultural and pastoral resources of the Colony, they should not neglect the development of its mining and manufacturing industries.

Mr. SAMUEL LOWE wished the paper could be heard in Birmingham, Manchester, and other large centres where the wealth and products of the Colonies were not properly understood. Victoria might well be proud of her dairying industry, but it must not be forgotten that other countries had developed even more rapidly. Before ten years were over there would be a large production of factory butter in this country, and the use of the milk separator would increase England's annual output by 8,000 tons.

The Hon. T. PLAYFORD (Agent-General for South Australia) believed that for many years England would be able to take their butter, wool, wine, gold, and even coal. They would have no difficulty in selling produce as long as they produced articles of the very best quality. South Australia produced some of the finest wines in the world, and he had not the slightest doubt a market would be found for them in this country.

Mr. C. R. VALENTINE said that so far as Victorian butter was concerned, the factories were conducted on the best system con

sidering the age of the industry. He advocated the several Governments giving their support on the same lines as the South Australian Government, whose policy had had a wonderful effect in putting their wines on the English market.

Sir FREDERICK YOUNG, K.C.M.G., spoke of the practical value of such discussions, which it was the constant endeavour of the Institute to promote in every possible way.

Mr. J. F. HOGAN, M.P., expressed himself as being in general sympathy with Mr. Dyer's views.

The CHAIRMAN, speaking of distribution on this side, said the Colonies had already done something. South Australia had established a wine depôt, which he believed was extremely encouraging in its results. Some of the other Colonies had employed experts who had done excellent work, but he was bound to say their recommendations had not always been carried out. He always found difficulty in getting a Colonial Government to spend money where they did not see it being spent, or were not there to control it. Mr. DYER replied, and the meeting closed after the usual votes of thanks had been passed.

SECOND ORDINARY GENERAL MEETING.

THE Second Ordinary General Meeting of the Session was held at the Whitehall Rooms, Hôtel Métropole, on Tuesday, December 8, 1896, when Sir Harry H. Johnston, K.C.B., read a paper on "England's Work in Central Africa."

The Right Hon. Lord Loch, G.C.B., G.C.M.G., a Member of the Council of the Institute, presided.

The Minutes of the last Ordinary General Meeting were read and confirmed, and it was announced that since that Meeting 29 Fellows had been elected, viz., 7 Resident, 22 Non-Resident.

Resident Fellows :

J. Stuart Campbell, E. A. Hart, Colonel Charles Hay, Arthur M. Lee, Frederick Newberry, Frederick S. Oliver, George Wyndham, M.P.

Non-Resident Fellows:

Abraham D. Alexander (Transvaal), John Allanson (Matabeleland), Edward H. Barber (New Zealand), James E. Blenkiron (British Central Africa), Thomson Bonar, M.D. (Italy), Robert M. Booth (Fiji), Charles Christian (Cyprus), Robert D. Davies (West Africa), Lieut.-Colonel James Domville, M.P.(Canada), William J. Farmer (Transvaal), John C. Macaskie (Cyprus), Arnold C. Newton, C.E. (Cape Colony), Hon. William Sloane Robertson, M.L.C. (Trinidad), Wilhelm C. Schuller (Transvaal), H. C. Sloley (Basutoland), Richard S. Taylor (Queensland), Hugh G. Tennent (West Africa), John E. Thomson, M.B. (Gold Coast Colony), Rt. Rev. Bishop Herbert Tugwell, D.D. (West Africa), John Van Niekerk, M.B., C.M. (Transvaal), Capt. Hon. Charles J. White (Matabeleland), Samuel Wylie (Victoria).

It was also announced that donations to the Library of books, maps, &c., had been received from the various Governments of the Colonies and India, Societies, and public bodies both in the United Kingdom and the Colonies, and from Fellows of the Institute and others.

The CHAIRMAN: Sir Harry Johnston's name is so well known in connection with the work that has been carried on in Central Africa that no words are required from me to introduce him to your notice. No doubt, we shall hear much that is interesting in the paper he is about to read. It will be difficult in dealing with such a subject to avoid touching on questions of an importance beyond the mere interest of the lecture itself-questions that may involve

very vital and important considerations in the future. It is well known, however, that all political discussion is forbidden at these meetings.

Sir Harry H. Johnston, K.C.B., then read his paper on

ENGLAND'S WORK IN CENTRAL AFRICA.

ENGLAND had not been established many years at the Cape of Good Hope before attempts were made by hardy pioneers to penetrate the regions of South Central Africa. Some of these pioneers were hunters of big game, some were traders; but it must be acknowledged that the most effective results were at first obtained from adventurous missionaries, who were usually better able to appreciate and describe the discoveries they had made. Foremost among these was David Livingstone, whose name will always be immortally connected with the southern half of Africa. Livingstone's explorations led him by degrees to discover the Zambezi, a great river which during the lower half of its course had been known to the Jesuit missionaries and the Portuguese, but whose existence as one of the four great rivers of Africa had never before been suspected or established, for even the Portuguese were not quite clear that the river they knew in various widely separated districts was one and the same stream; in fact, the Zambezi was ordinarily alluded to by the Portuguese before Livingstone's day as the "Rios de Sena," or the rivers of the district of Sena-Sena, a still existing town of some importance on the lower Zambezi near the confluence of the Shire, having been an extremely old trade centre in Eastern Africa, frequented by Arabs for centuries before the coming of the Portuguese.

Livingstone's exploration of the Zambezi from its source to its mouth led to his second expedition under the auspices of the British Government, when he went out as Consul, to explore the Zambezi basin with a view to ascertaining its capabilities for European settlement and planting enterprise. Livingstone's lieutenant on this important undertaking was Dr., now Sir, John Kirk, who is still one of the chief authorities on the physical geography of the countries I am about to review.

In the course of the second expedition Livingstone discovered the river Shire and followed it up till he reached Lake Nyasa, the existence of which important inland sea he was the first European to conclusively establish.

His third and last expedition, which ended in his death on Lake