lo president's address. 



favourable position to co-ordinate all interests. This is well 

 exemplified by the success which attended the Metric Conference, 

 held at Johannesburo^ in April of this year. It will be recollected 

 that certain resolutions dealin,^ with the adoption of the 

 Metric System, Decimal Coinage, and " Daylight Saving " 

 were passed last year at Pietermaritzburg on the initiative of the 

 Union Astronomer. After receiving the practicallv unanimous 

 support of the Council, they were forwarded to the Government 

 and public bodies specified. The Witwatersrand members felt 

 that in order to strengthen the hands of the Government, and 

 to have these very necessary reforms j)Ut into efifect, it would be 

 necessary to bring to bear the combined weight of opinion of the 

 various scientific and technical societies and public bodies in 

 South Africa. A conference was, therefore, organised, and was 

 attended by nearly 6o delegates, representing 34 societies and 

 public bodies from all parts of the Union, as well as Rhodesia. 

 The resolutions adopted are given in our annual rejDort, and need 

 not be repeated here. 



They were referred for confirmation by the various Societies 

 represented, with the result that the first and second resolutions 

 dealing with the adoption of the Metric System and the Decimali- 

 sation of the Coinage, were unanimously adopted, while only 

 two Societies dissented from the third, advocating the fuller 

 use of daylight. I will not enter into the arguments; it is hoped 

 that a full report of the Conference will be published in the 

 Journal of Science. 



Another resolution, which emanated from Natal, asked the 

 Association to take the following steps in order to make the 

 Metric System and its advantages more generally known in South 

 Africa : 



( a ) That popular lectures be given in the larger towns ex- 

 jjlaining the system, and enumerating its advantages. 

 At the lectures the local member of the Legislative 

 Assembly should be asked to preside. 



(b) That Municipalities be circularised and asked to pur- 

 chase complete sets of commercial metric weights and 

 measures for exhibition in their museums. 



(c) That a booklet on the Metric System, specially written 

 for South Africa, be prepared for free circulation or 

 for sale at a nominal figure. 



'f^^ 



Nothing has yet been done to }jut these resolutions into 

 force — the financial question has again intervened — but the 

 matter will be discussed at our annual meeting of members. 



The question of the closer working of Scientific and Techni- 

 cal Societies is one which has been receiving considerable atten- 

 tion during the past few years, and certain proposals with regard 

 to the formation of a Federal Council of Scientific Societies will, 

 I understand, be brought up for discussion durinf;- our meetings. 



