New Zealand Institute Science Congress. 517 



General Section. 



Presidential Address : " Science and the Principle of the Relativity of 



Motion," by E. Miller. 



Abstract. 



The aim of the address is not to give an adequate account of Einstein's theory of 

 relativity, but to pick out therefrom certain features which should serve to fit the 

 subject on to familiar scientific conceptions, and thereby render the most important 

 results of the theory intelligible, perhaps even acceptable, to the non-specialist. The 

 metaphysical notion of void space involves the relativity of all positions, directions, 

 and motions, including rest, or zero motion. But the scientific conception of space has 

 for ages past been more or less inconsistent with this view. The latter, however, has, 

 during the progress of science, vindicated itself with regard first to position and direction, 

 then in regard to uniform motions, and, within the past few years, with regard to all 

 motions. Each such vindication has constituted a sudden and remarkable increase of 

 intellectual power, and has involved a notable reconstruction of scientific conceptions. 

 The conceptions chiefly affected by the recent intellectual advance are those of space 

 and time, natural geometry, gravitation, and the other natural forces. Besides these, 

 a rtew dominating conception has been introduced which, when it is once mastered, 

 allows of a much more accurate and simple representation to our minds of what is really 

 happening in the external world. 



Events referred to this entity, which has four dimensions, lose certain refractory 

 inconsistencies which they undoubtedly present when they are described in the usual 

 terms of space and time. Just as ethereal radiation is put forward by science as the 

 real external event giving rise to our subjective experiences of light and warmth, so 

 our movement in this four-dimensional continuum is put forward in the address as 

 giving rise to our subjective and other experiences of the measure of space and time 

 which we associate with natural occurrences. The conception affords us a truer 

 apprehension of what is really going on in the external world than we can receive 

 directly by our space-and-time experiences, which have been found by modern science 

 to vary with our relative motion in a most confusing and irreconcilable manner. The 

 satisfactory unification, as seen from the new point of view, of previously unrelated 

 facts, especially of the facts of gravitation, inertia, and centrifugal force, was described 

 in the address ; and, since non-Euclidean geometry is used in relativity investigations, 

 a short popular account was given of what such a thing may be. 



CC 



Maori Culture Areas in New Zealand," by H. D. Skinner. 



Abstract. 



The main culture-division in the island region of the Pacific lies between Melanesia 

 and Polynesia. " Melanesia " is culturally a very ill-defined term, and appears to cover 

 very heterogeneous material. The culture of Polynesia appears, on the other hand, to 

 be remarkably homogeneous. Maori culture, taken broadly, shows features derived 

 from Polynesia and others that find their closest relationships in Melanesia. In language 

 and in social structure the Maoris are Polynesian, but their material culture shows many 

 points of resemblance to that of the Western Pacific. Thus the rectangular, circular, 

 and pile types of house common in New Zealand are without parallel in Central and 

 Eastern Polynesia, but occur in almost identical form in Melanesia. 



The material culture of the North Island shows strong affinities with the Western 

 Pacific while that of the South Island seems more nearly related to the material culture 

 of Polynesia. This division between the North Island and the South is the most im- 

 portant that can be made on cultural grounds in New Zealand There is a transitional 

 belt embracing both shores of Cook Strait. The South Island may be divided into three 

 other districts — Murihiku, south of the Rangitata ; Kaiapoi, south of the Buller and the 

 Awatere ; and the Wakatu, including the rest of the Island except the transitional 

 region about the Marlborough Sounds. 



The North Island may be divided into four areas, exclusive of the transitional belt 

 along the shore of Cook Strait. The West Coast Area stretches from the Rangitikei to 

 a little north of the Mokau. The East Coast Area lies south of the Mahia. The Centra] 

 Area includes the rest of the Island south of the Auckland Isthmus. The Northern 

 Area includes the rest of the North Island. To these areas must be added the Chatham 

 Islands, which show many points of resemblance to Murihiku. 



" The Strange Disappearance of Maoris in Fiordland," by W. H. Beattie. 

 (This paper appears as " A Mystery of Fiordland : A Vanished Maori 

 Tribe," in the N.Z. Journal of Science and Technology, vol. 4, 

 pp. 86-90, 1921.) 



