NOTES 4/i 



guaranteed ,£20,000 a year for five years on condition that the members raise 

 ,£5,000 a year during the same period. Among the other Associations formed, or 

 in course of formation, since last year, are those involving the following trades : 

 silk, jute, motor, sugar, rubber, Portland cement, leather, boots and shoes, cocoa 

 chocolate and jam, bakery, laundry, piano, etc. Up to July 31, however, only 

 nine licences had actually been granted, and eight associations " approved." The 

 conditions of grant have now been modified to give the Associations the sole right 

 to any discoveries they may make. They may not, however, be communicated to 

 foreigners, and must be sold to any other Associations who might desire to benefit 

 by them for reasonable payment. 



The Institute of Science and Industry of Australia has sent us the first four 

 numbers of their official journal, entitled Science and Industry, and Bulletin No. 12, 

 which deals with the prickly pear. As might be expected, the Journal is largely 

 devoted to discussions and articles of an agricultural or pastoral character. This is, 

 however, due only to the fact that such problems are of paramount importance to 

 the Commonwealth. It is intended that the Journal should cover all branches 

 of science of an industrial character. Vol. 1, No. 4, for example, contains instruc- 

 tions for the manufacture of Epsom salts from Australian magnesite, and discusses 

 how the tanning of Australian sole leather may be modified so as to make it equal 

 to that prepared in England. The striking feature of all these publications is the 

 evidence they bring of the serious losses the country has suffered from imported 

 pests. Sheep-scab is a thing of the past ; but the losses due to cattle-tick and 

 worm nodules, prickly pear, water hyacinths, and, of course, the rabbit, still 

 continue. The two cattle diseases probably originated from beasts shipped to 

 Port Darwin from Java in 1872. The population of the town, which then consisted 

 of a few officials and the officers of the British- Australian Cable Company, was 

 short of fresh meat, and the nearest supplies in Australia were a month's journey 

 distance. Eight cows and four bulls were therefore obtained from Java. Some 

 of these escaped into the bush, and to them it has been possible to trace the 

 diseases. Prickly pear was first introduced into Sydney about 1788 ; but it seems 

 probable that the plants then imported subsequently died, and that the plants 

 which now cover 22,000,000 acres owe their origin to one brought to Scone (about 

 200 miles from Sydney) in 1839 by a Dr. Carlisle. It was propagated purposely 

 as a hedge plant, and as a stand-by for stock in a drought year. It grows very 

 fast, and in one case on record advanced in a solid mass for half a mile on a four- 

 mile front in two years. Prickly pear cannot be employed commercially for any 

 purpose save as a green manure on soils deficient in humus. To eradicate it 

 seems equally difficult, but it is hoped that some harmless insect may be found 

 which will destroy it. With this end in view the Executive Committee of the 

 Institute recommends that a sum of ,£8,000 per annum should be provided for a 

 period of five years, in order to pay for experiments, and for the services of 

 a biological expert at a salary of ,£1,200 per annum, and two entomologists at 

 salaries of .£750 per annum. The water hyacinth, which is choking up the 

 Clarence and Richmond Rivers, New South Wales, has propagated itself from a 

 specimen thrown into the Swan Creek near Grafton. It seems possible that this 

 plant may ultimately be utilised as a source of potash. The cheapest method of 

 removing it so far devised is by means of a mechanical destructor. 



