Section A.— ASTRONOMY, MATHEMATICS, PHYSICS. 

 METEOROLOGY, GEODESY, SURVEYING, ENGI- 

 NEERING, ARCHITECTURE, AND GEOGRAPHY. 



President of the Section — I'koe. John ( )ru, B.Sc, M.I.C.E. 



FRIDAY, JULY 7. 



The President delivered the followins;- address : — 



SC)URCES OF ENER(;Y AND ECONOMY JN FUEL. 



At a time like this, when the British nation is in the throes 

 of the greatest and most terrihle war which the world has ever 

 experienced, and we all hope never will again. I think that the 

 proposal of the Johanneshnrg Section of this Association, that 

 the work of this session should, as far as possihle, have refer- 

 ence to problems arising ont of the war, was one which must 

 receive the heartiest support from the members of any scientific 

 and technical body. 



The Minister of Munitions has said, " This is an engineer's 

 war, for equipment was even more needed than men," and, as 

 Professor Unwin has said in his presidential address to the 

 Institution of Mechanical Engineers, " VVe have to overcome the 

 material resources of an enemy who had long made deliberate 

 and, as he believed, adequate preparation." 



The British nation is becoming aroused as to its mistaken 

 ])olicy in the past. If this war succeeds in creating a greater 

 feeling of ])ride of race, and leads the British peoj^le to drop 

 the anaemic and suicidal policy which has led to a foolish consi- 

 deration of the interests of the foreigner as against their own 

 material prosperity; if it leads to a due a])preciation of the risks 

 which have been run and the pro1)lems which have to l)e faced; 

 if it creates a new nati(Mia1 spirit and awakens the great masses 

 from their lethargy, so that industrial advancement may be 

 recognised as a vital necessity for its existence, and that the 

 supremac}' which in many instances has been foolishlv surren- 

 dered may be ])ermanently recovered; then this war ^vill not have 

 been fought in vain. 



The criminal neglect of science by the British ])eo]')le. the 

 boastful and culpable feeling of security, which we must admit 

 has, in recent years, almost come to be recognised by our enetnies 

 as one of our characteristics, has, I hope, been clearh- brought 

 home to ir< all. .Science is coming into its own ; that fact has been 

 recognised e\'en by the British Government, and, late in the day 

 as it is. T am sin-e we all welcome the steps vvbich have alreadv 

 been taken, to foster and encom-age I5i-itis1i industries, and to 

 ])rotecl tlieni from unfair .'uul unscrupulous coni])etition after the 

 war. by the apixtintment of the Committees, the constitution of 

 which has been recently announced. 



In July. 1915. there was set up, by an ( )rder in Council, an 



