ASSOCIATIONS FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OP SCIENCE. 



Cities of the Ant rank wi 

 . tepidity. Nothing wil 



. --, . VM : 

 the product U imnwliatoly 



to itwtrh thmugh con- 

 s from xmth to north, 

 yet M* rren approximately 



'-It 



, up. 



, In China, Japan, and 

 not be loet sight of. This 



construction of the great 



a&Mfttal line from the Ural to 



jjoanlifj of Corea, a distance of 



_ paper* were then read 

 the section: 



Gold 



Himalayan State 



A. W. Paul ; * Rotuma and the Ro- 

 WilUam Allen: and 



in the Congo Free State," by 



P. JBfAnefejy amd Anthropology. Th\* sec- 

 tion was presided over by Thomas Wonmop, 

 town clerk of Adelaide, whose address dealt 

 Tb* Prehistoric Art* of the Aborigines," 

 and was tllost rated with 25 lantern views of ab- 

 Offciaal drawing*. Prom these the author ar- 

 med that all drawing* by the aboriginals were 

 the remit of a self -tutorship ami original; that 

 arrived in Australia in some ro- 

 of any knowledge of art, 

 and, being And to that oofxDtkm, remained un- 

 toseire to th* present .lay. In all the handi- 

 of the Australian aboriginal there was an 

 originality which distinguished him 

 from all other aarage races. He had made the 

 wet of hit rveoarcee. utilizing them all no com- 

 pletely that drilittd man was unable to suggest 

 any improvement. They poeseseed an intimate 

 kBowledge of their flora and fauna, and they 

 laid also BMsssierablii knowledge in anatomy. 

 It should be remembered that art among civil 

 ttt*d reees wee the remit of cumulative in- 

 fltroction. and that U was the duty of civilized 

 Met to jttdfe leoieotly of eflbrte which were 

 qejfee eqval to those of oar forefathers at no rery 

 fWMUiMriod. -The an and skill with which 

 eoeM of the ficvrea are drawn, and the great 



by such simple 



it moet probable thai many 'of 

 re been extent*! with the inten- 

 ttoo of eserHfint! an infiu*nc upon the fears 

 and the MpentiBoui fliniri of the ignorant 

 and barbanms native*. Por such a parpose thej 

 d well calculated. I hare no doubt 

 this feb^eet foUowed up by intellinal 

 and other* who may be brought into 



contact with examples of natire art much profit 

 and greet pleasure would bo derived fr.-m their 

 reproduction nnil publication. A f.-nnily lik.- 

 n<i marks all ,,f them: the details are every- 

 where the name. All an- imitati'.e. and arc the 

 reeultant product of untutored taste." 



II.. fallowing papers were the* read and dis- 

 eased in the section . 



"The Ancient Government ..f Snmos," by Rer. 

 Samuel Klia .!,." t-v Kev. TI...II.U* Moore; 



i n ..',.,- . Rei n. \ Bobertaon? "Notei ..n 



.1 i. 



View of ft" 

 Customs'* an-l - Kiirlv Samoan Voyage* and Si-ttle- 



by Rev. J. II. > >ntributions 

 -lore." by Rev. A. <'. Sutherland ; Foods of 



ormng and Woonirm : K\..lnti..u. \ 

 tribution," bv Archibald Mwton : M Foodn of th- 

 N ' \ r. trini / bi .1 oghlan: - M.- ..... rial 

 .- l.y .l..l,i. K-IKT; "Outlinca of a 

 ;.r of tin- Turruhul I- Ipawich 



. on the Sandy 



- of the W, 



riean Tribes," bv of th. 



I*, , , lanao) Btrei kboriginmts,' 1 b) John K. 

 Small; Aboririnal Drawings in the Wollornbi 

 Caves," > W. .1. Knri." -thews; and 



. :d Marriage CUM..,,,. " 



/.'ronomu; Science end Agriculture F'n.f. 



Wultrr Scott, of Sydney Universitv, presided 



his section, and the tonic of his address 



l-'ixinu' a Miniinuin Wage." He said : 



Whether int. rf. nine with free contract and fiv<- 

 0) .mprt it i. in will yiehl a balance of good or harm, 

 varies according to circumstances, and eax*h .-a^ 

 must be considered on its merits. We are pr..!.- 

 ahly all agreed that the wages of some worki-rs 

 as settled by free bargaining are lower than is 

 desirable. Can governments do anything to raise 

 sueh wages as we may consider t"<'. low f In the 

 first place, governments can (and Aust ralian gov- 

 ernments do) pay to their own employees in some 

 cases wages above the lowest rate at which they 

 could get the work done. A government that de- 

 cides to take this course may meet the >M 1 . l.y 



hintf other public services, or (2) by addi- 

 tional taxation. In the first case it is the p 

 public that is the loser, being deprived of certain 

 luxuries or conveniences that its government 

 could otherwise have supplied; and the n-ult 

 may be that we shall have on the one hand, say, 

 fewer ornaments on our public buildings, and on 

 the other hand certain government laborers bet- 

 ter provided with the means of a satisfactory life. 

 If we prefer this way of spending our public rev- 

 enue there is no law of |Mlitical economy to for- 

 If. on the other hand, tin- L r "\-rnment dc- 



. meet thecost by fresh taxation there-ult 

 will be that certain taxpayers are (lepri 

 some comforts and indulgences, while certain 

 government laborers get more : a change of di- 

 tribiition which may be an improvement. The 

 practice of the government twinp to accept the 

 lowest tender, the competition of the tenderers 

 forces wages down, and ifsweatingexi-t.it i< the 

 government that is the sweater. To forbid sub- 



ting would raise the cost to the public 



.t benefiting the wajre earner. Wkr should 

 not government fix a minimum wage in these 

 contracts also f It is possible and expedient in 

 the general interest to fix a minimum wage in 

 private employment also t That must be done r 





