OPENING OF THE 1907 SESSION. 



ABSTRACT OF PROCEEDINGS APRIL 29th, 1907. 



INVENTIONS AND DISOOVHRIES 

 FOR THE YEAR. 



The opening meeting for session 1907 

 of the Koyal Society of Tasmania was 

 held on April 29th.' His Excellency the 

 Governor, Sir Gerald Strickland, presi- 

 dent of the society, occupied the chair, 

 and was accompanied by the Lady Ed<>- 

 line Strickland, and attended by Mr. 

 George Browne, I.S.O. 



Apologies were read from the Mayor, 

 Colonel Legge. and M>:. Bernard Shaw ; 

 also from the secretary (Mr. Alex. Mor- 

 ton), who, to the regret of everybody, is 

 still laid up with illness. 



Mr. R. M. Johnston, the acting sec- 

 retary, feelingly alluded to Mr. Mor- 

 ton's ahsenoe. This was the first occa- 

 sion, he said, on which Mr. Morton had 

 been absent at the oipening even- 

 ing meeting of the session for 

 twenty-four years. Not only this 

 society, but kindred societies and insti- 

 tutions owed a great deal to Mr. Mor- 

 ton's great energy, skill, and noble self- 

 sacrifice. (Aoplause.) He trusted their 

 esteemed secretary would soon be restor- 

 ed to health to resume his noble work of 

 the past 24 years for this and other in- 

 stitutions inthe community. (Applause.) 



The President's Speech. 



The President, who wias cordially re- 

 ceived, said : — 



Mr. Vice-Presidant, Ladies, and Gentle- 

 men, — 



It is usual to open the annual session 

 of the Eoyal Society of Tasmania by re- 

 viewing topics of scientific interest, which 

 have deserved attention in the previous 

 twelve months, and to inquire how far 

 new discoveries in mechanics, engineer- 

 ing, and the arts, may have a special 

 bearing on the future progress of this 

 State. 



At present the economic conditions of 

 Tasmania are decidedly prosperous, not 

 only on account of good agricultural re- 

 turns from wool and apples, but largely 

 on account of the continued high prices 

 of metals. It has been suggested that 

 the high price for all other metals neces- 

 sarily involves a corresponding fall in 

 the value of gold. This rudimentary 



proposition requires qualification; for ex- 

 ample, in a country where all the cur- 

 rency is paper money, the economic law 

 would not hold good. 



Interest-bearing money has been cur- 

 rent \vithin recent history, and although 

 such issues are theoretically reprehen- 

 sible, there is evidence that a system 

 approaching closel.y to interest-bearing 

 paper money is looming large in our own 

 times, under the guise of short-dated 

 Treasury Bills, and of short-dated notes 

 of railways or other commercial under- 

 takings with current and established 

 credit. The London County Council has 

 indulged in this form of finance to the 

 extent of some four or five million sterl- 

 ing, and paid interest as high as six pea- 

 cent. 



It is reported that already, for this 

 year, in the United States, 165,750,0{)0 

 dollars worth of short term notes have 

 been placed with the public at rates 

 varying from 4^ to 6| per cent. The 

 spread of this system of finance — and it 

 is likely to last — ^accounts, probably, for 

 the inflation of all prices, more than any 

 superabundance of the stock of gold. 



Moreover, operations in short dated 

 paper on a large scale tend to show that 

 titles or credit are taking the place of 

 gold, to some extent, as the medium of 

 exchange. These short dated notes are, 

 in fact, for practical purposes almost 

 equi^ alent to ca&h in the settlement of 

 bank balances involving large transac- 

 tions. They are indulged in because 

 gold is scarce, and thereby the demand 

 for gold, and for other metals, becomes 

 more eager, and steadier ; from this 

 point of view the new development of 

 finance enhances the future prospects of 

 Tasmania's mining all round. 



The great increase in the value of 

 iron, and of iron ores, is also of good 

 promise to this community. This rise 

 has, possiblyj come to stay, and we 

 should lose no time in opening up our 

 rich deposits of iron. 



In the year under review, there has 

 been great practical advance in continu- 

 ous processes for the manufacture of 

 iron and steel, and for the application of 

 electricity to this object. An important 

 factor in this general rise in prices of 

 metals is the great prosperity which the 

 leading civilised nations are enjoying in 

 a period of profound peace ; as an ex- 

 ample of the connection between general 

 prosperity, and the demand for metals. 



