12 PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 



to Buenos Ayres. Round Cape Horn the charts are practically 

 correct. A Report on the magnetic survey of New Zealand, 

 which was commenced in 1899, has also been lately published, 

 Further experiments in electrifying crops have been made 

 in Dumfries with satisfactory results. The electricity was 

 applied from overhead wires, and the crops of oats subjected 

 to it produced 49 per cent, more in grain and 88 per cent, in 

 straw than crops grown in adjacent patches in the ordinary 

 way. Furthermore, crops of clover grown after the oats were 

 much improved, though the electricity was discontinued. 

 The extra profit was 6 7s. and the cost of electricity only 

 11s. for the acre so treated. In connection with this subject, 

 my niece, Miss Rogers, tells me that at Hampstead, where she 

 lives, the trees and shrubs near the road electric lights 

 always come out before those further away, and that in the 

 last two years, when the electric lights have not been used, 

 this difference in time of shooting has not taken place. Boats 

 controlled by wireless electricity have been used in the war. 

 Fog signals are also worked in this way, the machine being 

 started by wireless at the beginning of a fog and continuing 

 to explode automatically at intervals until stopped. 



CHEMISTRY. 



One of the many important industries which have necessar- 

 ily developed or greatly increased in this country since the war, 

 and in which we have hitherto depended chiefly on German 

 supplies, is that of dyeing. In 1915 " British Dyes, Ltd," was 

 started with a capital of 2,000,000, and lately the Govern- 

 ment has sanctioned a scheme involving an expenditure o* 

 several millions of pounds. There is probably much in regard 

 to dyes which we do not know, and the services of research 

 chemists will be most valuable. America has also made 

 great strides in supplying itself with the dyes which it cannot 

 now import. An Australian Chemical Institute has been 

 formed, with its headquarters in Sydney, with the object 

 of advancing the science generally, holding examinations 



