80 SCIENCE AND THE STATK, KTC. 



by the aid of subscriptions from the public. The Government 

 have made a grant of £50, but is it not a mistake to apply to 

 the Government for help ? I would rather base the appea' 

 to the public for subscriptions upon the fact that it is entirely 

 dependent upon them, and I am sure the appeal will not be 

 in vain. There are only a hundred members at present, and 

 this is not at all an indication of the interest taken in fighting 

 a disease which not only involves so much suffering and dis- 

 tress, but perhaps more than any other appeals to human 



sympathy. 



BRISBANE UNIVERSITY. 



There is another movement on foot in which the public 

 should assist in order to promote and extend scientific know- 

 ledge in Queensland. We have to acknowledge the necessity 

 for Government retrenchment, and it results in hampering 

 and even stopping scientific work. If farther retrenchment is 

 necessary, and science continues to be entirely dependent upon 

 the Treasury, it may be starved to death. Is there no means 

 of averting such a calamity "? I understand that there has been 

 for some time an idea of creating a University in Brisbane, and 

 that the scheme hangs fire, owing to the financial position of 

 the Government. Is this not again an instance of too much 

 dependence upon the State ? Let the Government by all 

 means be asked to give a large grant of freehold land in trust 

 for the University, and in more prosperous times, to give a 

 subsidy towards its support ; but will not private munificence 

 endow professorships and scientific laboratories, the expense^ 

 of which cannot possibly be defrayed by the students' fees ? 

 In England, in America, and in Canada how much has been 

 done by private effort. Surely a commencement might be 

 made by an influential committee to organise the University 

 and to raise a sum which will enable the building to be com- 

 menced. A University for Birmingham, largely owing to the 

 influence of Mr. Chamberlain, has been commenced in this 

 way. It is a matter in which everyone in Queensland will 

 take an interest, for no country or State can hold its own, and 

 much less advance, unless education takes a foremost place. 

 In England we feel severely the competition of America and 

 Germany, and we are fully conscious of the fact that the 

 progress made by our competitors has been the outcome of 

 their complete system of education. We are now endeavour- 

 ing to meet that competition by extending scientific and tech- 

 nical education and by founding new universities in London 



