The first meeting of the Club was held last ovening in the Court-House. There were about 25 members present. Mr J. K. Macdonalcl, Chairman of the Executive Committee, opened the pro ceedings by reading a letter from Mr H. W. Northcroft, R.M., thanking the members for electing him President of the Club, and regretting that he was unable, for various reasons, to accept the position. .The Chairman then moved — " That Mr James Hume be the President of the Club for the ensuing year. " ! This was seconded by Mr L. O'Neill, and carried unanimously. The President having taken the chair, read the following address :—: — Mr Chairman and Gentlemen : I have to thank you for the honor you have done me in electing me the first President of the Hamilton Chess and Debating Club ; and, in taking the chair to-night, it may be proper that I should make a few re marks with reference to the use of an institution of this kind and the advan tages to be derived from it. It is an old saying and a true one that we are never too old to learn ; aud it is also true that our education only begins when it is gene rally supposed to have ended — with our schoolboy days. Most men entertain rather a mistaken idea as to what education really is, and many, possessed of energy, and still in the vigour of life, deplore the want of advantages iv their early years and the deficiencies of their education, when they are perhaps daily wasting leisure hours which, if properly made use of, might still secure for them no mean attainment-; and there is a vigor and self-reliance about a self-educated man which is hardly attainable by any othpr means, and we are all aware that many of the most re markable men of all ages have been en tirely self-educated. 