N.Z. SOCIETY OF DORSET MEN BEYOND THE SEAS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1298, 29 November 1911, Page 5

N.Z. SOCIETY OF DORSET MEN BEYOND THE SEAS.

» ; — A meeting- of the Nc.r Zealand Socio'y of Dorset Men Beyond I ho Seas was held in Godber's Rooms on Monday evening. The president (Mr. A. Smith) was in the chair, supported by Lieutenant-Colonel A. Hume'(a vice-president). There was a good muster of the members and their lady friends. A communication was received by the parent body in London offering the New Zealand Society a "blue vinny" cheese for the first annual dinner in January, 101-. The secretary was instructed to write the London Society and suitably acknowledge their gift. A committee was formed consisting of the president, Lieutenant-Colonel A. Hume, and the "secretary to arrange the dinner. The president then introduced Mr. A. Hamilton, of the Dominion Museum, who gave a most interesting lecture on "The Roman History of the County of Dorset. 1 ' The members were all the more interested as many of them as schoolboys had played upon the old fortifications around the old county town of Dorchester. In the coursc of'thn lecture, the following items were touched upon most lucidly by the lecturer-.—Dorset or Wessex.at the lime of tho landing of the Romans in Britain about, the year'ss' 8.C.; the object of the Roman invasion and conquest of Britain, leges coloniae, the plan of campaign and the preparations for occupation of new territorv; the work of the Roman in Britain! the redistribution of the land amongst the emigrants from Rome and Italw the methods of surveying and dividing the land for revenue and administrative purposes; Koinan roads, tamps, fortifications, and cities; details of some of the more prominent defensive camps and fortre"os in-Dorset, •Maumbury Rings, etc., plans of Maiden Castle and Badbury Rings were shown, also a map of the Roman ruads and towns or cities at the time of the English Conquest. • ■\ vote of thanks was proposed by Mr. F. "Williams, seconded by Mr. ,J. Besant, and carried, for the very able paper prepared bv Mr. A,.Hamilton. Refreshments were provided by the society, and altogether a very enjoyable evening was spent.