PROCEEDINGS FOR 1902 XVII 
work, and (2) in the lack of competent and enthusiastic observers. 
The first difficulty is by far the more serious, and could it be over- 
come, there would be comparatively little difficulty in meeting the 
second. While competent observers are numerically few, it is also 
true that those who might be selected are usually not in a position 
personally to meet the often very heavy expenses attendant upon 
long journeys and other items necessarily incidental to the acquisition 
of desired information. It, therefore, becomes evident that under 
present conditions, the work of the Committee cannot expand beyond 
very narrow limits, and it may be that even that must terminate after 
a few years. 
The Committee have had under consideration for some time, a 
plan whereby the various provincial governments might co-operate to 
secure the desired result. Briefly stated, it is as follows: — 
The present Committee of the British Association or such reor- 
ganization of it as may be found desirable, should form a central 
committee for the entire Dominion, in whose hands should be placed 
the control of a comprehensive ethnological survey of the entire popu- 
lation. Each province should contribute a certain proportional share 
to the working expenses of this Committee, and should undertake to 
establish a museum relating to the ethnology of its own territory. 
By exchange with one another, each museum would thus become a 
more or less complete exponent of the ethnology of that particular 
province, while, at the same time, indicating its ethnological affinities 
with all the others. In return for the financial assistance granted, 
the Committee would give to the museum of each province, the 
original or duplicate of each article or photograph obtained by a 
study of the people within that province, while any further duplicates 
could be transmitted to the English section of the Committee to be 
deposited in the British Museum or such other place as might be 
selected. 
The work at present conducted by Mr. David Boyle, under the 
auspices of the Department of Education for Ontario, is a step in 
this direction, and if the initiative of Ontario were followed by the 
other provinces, and the entire work were systematized under a cen- 
tral Committee as suggested, great good might result. 
The Royal Society of Canada is the most representative and 
influential body of its kind in Canada, and it is believed that if it 
were to lend its influence in the direction of making suitable repre- 
sentations to the various provincial governments, it might be possible 
to place the very important work of ethnological research upon a 
basis of permanent usefulness. 
Proc., 1902. B. 
