president's address. — SECTION G. 181 



SECTION G. 



SOCIAL AND STATISTICAL 

 SCIENCE. 



ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT : 



G. H. Knibbs, C.M.G., Hon. F.S.S., etc., 



Commonwealth Statistician. 



STATISTICS IN REGARD TO WORLD AND 

 EMPIRE DEVELOPMENT. 



1. Singular importance at presej^it tim€' of statistical and econoi- 



mic studies. 



2. Range of studies of special urgency. 



3. Difficulties which are >jnminent . 



4. International homogeneity and rate of natural increase. 



5. Rate of exploitation cf natural resources. 



6. Possibilities of food supply, and of water supply for cities. 



7. Statistics and the conflict of national interests. 



8. The British Empire Statistical Conference. 



9. Proposal to establish a British Empire Bureau of Statistics. 



10. The proposed character of the Bureau. 



11. Observations on the work of the Conference. 



12. Conclusion. 



1. Singular importance at present time of statistical and econo- 

 mic studies. — The huge destruction of material wealth, and the 

 world-wide dislocation of economic relations, which have char- 

 acterized the greatest war of human history, have revealed more 

 clearly than ever before the importance cf statecraft — using the 

 word in its better sense — and have disclosed the measure of our 

 need for an adequate conception of two of the larger elements of 

 statecraft, viz., political economy and statistical science, each in 



