PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS TO THE 



AUSTRALASIAN ASSOCIATION 



FOR THE ADVANCEMENT 



OF SCIENCE 



BY 



Sir Baldwin Spencer, K.C.M.G., F.R.S., M.A., 

 D.Litt., D.Sc. 



We are meeting to-day undei' very special conditions, and, as 

 President, my first duty is to express to our Tasmanian members, 

 and more especially to the officials upon whom has fallen the 

 duty of organizing the Hohart meeting and who are now unable 

 to he with us, our profound regret that it has been deemed neces- 

 sary, at the last moment, to transfer the place of meeting from 

 Hobart to Melbourne. It was only with great reluctance, and 

 after a very careful attempt to forecast the probability, under 

 existing conditions, of members being able, witli certainty, not 

 only to reach, but to return from, Tasmania, that the decision 

 was arrived at. Many of the' older memibers have the most 

 pleasant recollections of past meetings in Tasmania, and it is a 

 matter of great disappointment to all of us that we are unable 

 to hold this meeting under the shadow of Mt. Wellington, amidst 

 the lovely surroundings of Hobart, with its great harbour, second 

 in dignity and beauty to none other in Australasia. 



It must be understood that this is not a Melbourne meeting; it 

 is a Hobart meeting held in Melbourne by force of circumstances, 

 and with the courteous and generous consent of our Tasmanian 

 colleagues. The local preparations have of necessity been made 

 under great pressure and at very short notice during the holiday 

 season — -during, indeed, only two working weeks — and, though it 

 is not usual to mention such matters in a Presidential address, I 

 feel sure that the members of the Association will approve of this 

 public and official recognition of the work of our local secretary — 

 Dr. Sweet — and the little band of voluntary assistants associated 

 with her, who have by their able and self-sacrificing work made 

 possible the holding of this meeting. The war has taught us what 

 women are capable of in regard to organization, and in the 

 arrangements now made we have once more to recognise their 

 efficiency, and to realize that they are a tower of strength and an 

 ever-present help in time of trouble. ' 



