1015] on the Visit of the British Association to Australia ;U5- 



Australia, which is in other respects admirable. The cost of convert- 

 ing all lines on the continent to a 4 ft 8 J in. gauge has been esti- 

 mated at about 37 milhons sterling. Up to the 30th June, 1912, 

 only 944 miles out of a total distance of 17,842 miles of railway 

 open for general traffic were under private control ; up to the present 

 time, 160 millions sterling have been expended on the Govern- 

 ment hues. 



The outbreak of war necessarily affected our proceedings most 

 seriously, as public attention was centred upon that topic ; unfor- 

 tunately also, the Parliamentary elections were close at hand. 

 Nevertheless, in addition to our home party, about 4700 local 

 members joined the Association, so that the meeting was the largest 

 on record. 



The public lectures (of which at least a dozen were given) were 

 well attended and evoked much interest. The proceedings in not a 

 few of the sections were also well supported and often gave rise to 

 serious and sound discussions on topics of special local importance. 

 The press, on the whole, treated us very liberally. So that, even 

 regarded from a technical point of view, the meeting was a complete- 

 success and far more was done than is usually done at our meetings 

 to bring the general public into touch with the Association. Founda- 

 tions were laid which we may hope will be built upon in future ; thus, 

 the second part of our President's Address, delivered in Sydney, was 

 a most weighty pronouncement of direct public importance such as 

 has never been delivered hitherto by a president of the Association, 

 as attention was called to the problems of heredity in terms which 

 could not be misunderstood even by a general audience. It is 

 deplorable that no notice has been taken of the address by the public 

 press at home. 



A deputation of astronomers was received by the Prime Minister 

 of the Commonwealth with reference to the establishment of a solar 

 observatory at Camberra, the future capital of the Commonwealth. 

 They were assured of bis sympathy, though no promise could be 

 given under the conditions then prevailing. 



AVe were unable to give more than a cursory glance at the life 

 and manners in the course of our rapid passage across the Continent. 

 It is not going too far to say that, one and all, we felt at home at 

 once : the welcome was so warm and the surroundings so absolutely 

 British. Some of us, I think, had the feeling that we were back in 

 Victorian England and that the background was in some way dis- 

 tinctly simpler and more serious than that we had left at home. The 

 Australian, though confident, is generally free from bounce ; he 

 believes, as he has a right to believe, in the future of his country. 

 But perhaps he has been, if he be not still, a little lacking in outlook : 

 we have to remember, however, that though an Imperial people, we 

 are all of us too much afflicted with the vice of parochialism for an 



