44 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION A. 



• 



thought Parliament would be not less public spirited than private 

 citizens, and would probably give pound for pound to the erection 

 and equipment fund, and might maintain the Observatory after 

 its establishment." 



The Object of the Committee. 



The Solar Physics Committee was formed to " promote in 

 Austraha the study of the sun and allied stellar and spectroscopic 

 research." 



It is of opinion that the subject requires a separate institution 

 erected in a locality which will be favourable as regards climatic 

 conditions, etc., in regard to which the existing State Observatories 

 are unsuitable, and for which they have not the necessary equip- 

 ment. Such a course also obviates the subject becoming a 

 subsidiary one at an existing institution. 



The Secretary acknowledges with thanks promises of sums 

 of money amounting to a little over £1,000, which have been 

 received since October, 1908, towards the purchase of a large 

 spectro-heliograph, conditionally upon the remainder of the £1,500 

 required being promised before October, 1910. A generous offer 

 of a telescope has been made by the Trustees of the Estate of the 

 late Lord Farnham, whose will provided that the instrument 

 should be devoted " to the best advancement of astronomy," and 

 Mr. James Oddie, F.R.G.S., of Ballarat, has offered a 26-inch 

 reflecting telescope and a 9-inch Grubb refractor, as well as some 

 electric plant. These offers are also conditional upon a promise 

 to house the instruments at an early date. 



The Committee estimates that £10,000 will be required for * 

 the equipment, the erection of the necessary buildings, and the 

 housing of the telescopes and apparatus that have been offered. 

 It is further estimated that £1,500 per annum is the minimum 

 sum required for the up-keep of the Observatory. 



It is hoped that this money will be forthcoming without 

 delay, that the chain of Observatories round the earth may no 

 longer remain incomplete, and that Australia may take her place 

 among the nations by establishing an Observatory for the study 

 of the sun which will both by the encouragement of original 

 research and by its co-operation with other nations assume an 

 international importance. 



SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTIONS SUPPORTING THE PROPOSAL. 



The International Solar Research Union. — This organisation is chiefly 

 responsible for all work connected with the sun. It has appointed Committees 

 to undertake such special work as the choice of the necessary standards, the 

 measurements of solar radiation, the investigation of sun spots, the organisa- 

 tion of eclipse expeditions, and the selection of suitable systems of research 

 to be carried out by different observing stations. 



