48 



ASSOCIATIONS FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OP SCIENCE. (AUSTRALASIAN.) 



excluded the principal primary source of all wealth 

 in exchange namely, the existing productive per- 

 sonal services of man. The speaker then read sta- 

 tistics showing the corresponding wealths of the 

 United Kingd ..... . New South Wales, and Tasmania, 



i .led tii-st a> the product of anterior labor agen- 

 lixed capitul). and second, as the product of 

 anterior and current labor agencies. Wealth in 

 consumption was next dealt with, and the speaker 

 proceeded to explain the laws ruling the distribu- 

 tion and consumption of wealth. He displayed in 

 tabulated form the relative value of physical energy 

 exerted by the various agencies engaged in the pro- 

 duction of consumable wealth, and from this it 

 appeared that, ignoring the claims of intellect and 

 ability, and reserving the mere physical forces de- 

 voted to the production of consumable and other 

 forms of wealth, the contribution of the wage earn- 

 ers amounted only to 30.52 per cent, of the whole of 

 the necessary energy required to produce that vol- 

 ume of consumable wealth which would yield each 

 <-la-< and individual that standard of living and 

 comfort to which they had been accustomed. An- 

 other table showed the share of national income 

 appropriated or absorbed by the various agencies 

 employed in the production of consumable wealth. 

 From this he argued that, so far from the capitalist 

 class being enriched at the expense of the wage 

 earner, the very opposite is the truth; for, instead 

 of a reward being allotted in proportion to his share 

 of energy contributed, it has been increased fully 

 100 per cent., energy expended being only 80.52 

 per cent., while his share of rewards represents 

 69.11 per cent. 



The following-named papers were read and dis- 

 cussed before the section : ' The Making and Im- 

 provement of Wheats for Australian Conditions: 

 Details of the Work, its Aims, and Matters of In- 

 terest connected with it," by W. Farrer; "Applied 

 Entomology in Western Australia," by C. Fuller: 

 " Bacteriology in Relation to Australian Dairying," 

 by M. A. O'Callaghan; "Notes on Rust in Wheat," 

 by E. M. Shelton : ' Graminae of Western Australia," 

 " Salsolaceae of Western Australia," and "The Sup- 

 posed Poisonous Plants of Western Australia." by 

 F. Turner ; " Democracy and the Voice of History " 

 and " The Advantage of a Federal Union," by W. 

 Jethro Brown; "Propagation of Fruit Trees," by 

 A. II. Benson; "The Practical Application of Eco- 

 nomics," by Alfred De Lissa; "Federation and Re- 

 sponsible Government," by A. B. Piddington; " Wine 

 Culture in New South Wales," by F. B. Kyngdon ; 

 "Milk Analysis in its Relation to the Butter and 

 Cheese Industries." by II. W. Potts; "Farmers' 

 Weights and Measures/' by Henry Lord; " Farmers' 

 I'nioii-i and Conservation of Forests" and "For- 



e-try in New South Wales," by W. S. Campbell; 

 "The (Queensland Tick: How Us Progress South- 

 ward might be prevented," by .1. I'. Dowling; 

 "State Aid to Agriculture." by H. L. E. Ruthning; 

 "Some Thoughts ,, Social Evolution," by ,1. C. 

 Corlet te: "The Federation of British Australasia." 

 by .1. T. Walker: -An Introduction to Political 

 Economy," by Sir R. C. Baker: " Fconomic Feed- 

 ing of Working Horses," |, v T. ['_ Walton; "Crim- 

 inal Responsibility,' 1 by Sir Samuel W. Griffith; 

 and "The Pino Trees of New South Wales," by R. 

 T. I'.aker. 



II. Kniiiiu'i-rinii nml A n-fii/i-f/iin: This section 

 was presided over by A. B. MoncrielT. who has con- 

 trol of the construction and maintenance of rail- 

 ways, and also the water conservation in the prov- 

 ince of South Australia. 1 1 is address was on Notes 

 on Some Recent Hngineoring Experiences." In 

 opening, he discussed the change that had taken 

 place in South Australia in the carrying out of large 

 Government works by contractors, as compared with 



the carrying out of similar work by the Government 

 Department of Public Works, as was formerly the 

 case. He referred to the construction of railways. 

 waterworks, and other large national undertakings. 

 He contended that the present method was bene- 

 ficial to the workmen, economical, and satisfactory 

 as regarded the character of the work. He was not, 

 he explained, treating the question from a political 

 or social standpoint, but merely with a view to the 

 engineering points involved. He gave a statement 

 of the cost of some departmental manufactures, 

 especially water pipes, and said that the Public 

 Works Department was now making all the cast- 

 iron pipes and all the brass work required in South 

 Australia by the Government. The result was, he 

 contended, satisfactory to the employees, and satis- 

 factory, in the matter of price, to the public. Mr. 

 Moncrieff then dealt with the question of the carry- 

 ing out of some of the deep-well bores for artesian 

 water which had been undertaken by the Govern- 

 ment department. Referring to the relation of this 

 water supply to that from the great central Aus- 

 tralian basin, he said there was no proof of any 

 connection between the central Australian artesian 

 system and that which extended over the head of 

 the Great Australian Bight. He went on to give a 

 description of the electric lighting of the beacons 

 for navigation purposes of the Port Adelaide river. 

 In conclusion, he strongly advised the establishment 

 of some system for recording the rates and prices of 

 work throughout 1 Australasia, in order that each 

 Government might be in a position fairly and justly 

 to compare the prices of similar work in different 

 places. 



The following-named papers were then read and 

 discussed before the section: "The Commercial 

 Conditions governing Railway Extension in Aus- 

 tralia," by C. O. Burge ; " Notes on the Principles 

 to be adopted in constructing Unballasted Lines of 

 Railways," by H. Deane ; " The Rapid Erection of 

 an Iron Viaduct for Railway Purposes in New South 

 Wales." by Walter Shellshear ; " On Narrow-Gauge 

 Tramways," by F. Back ; ' Architecture and the 

 Allied Arts in New South Wales," by J. B. Barlow ; 

 " A Review of Some of the Conditions of Building 

 Construction and Requirements in Sydney, Past 

 and Present," by G. Allan Mansfield: "Some Re- 

 marks on Details of Hospital Construction and Lay 

 Management," by C. E. Owen Smyth ; " The Orna- 

 mental Treatment of Iron and Steel in Building 

 Work," by J. Naugle ; " The Recent Fire in Mel- 

 bourne." by John Sulman; "Coal Mining in New 

 South Wales," by J. II. Ronaldson ; and " The Gro- 

 tesque in Modern Development of the Picturesque," 

 by I loward Joseland. 



I. Sanitary Science and Hygiene. The presiding 

 officer of this section was Allan Campbell, of Ade- 

 laide, South Australia, whose address treated of 

 "Some Aspects of Public Health Legislation in 

 Australia." He divided the subject into three parts, 

 and dealt with the questions : 1. How far public 

 hygiene claims attention from our legislators. 2. 

 What Australia on general lines has accomplished 

 in the, direction of public hygiene and sanitation. 

 3. What remains to lie done, and the lines on which 

 immediate legislation should run. He declared that 

 the history of hygienic progress during her Majesty's 

 reign showed a record of achievement unparalleled 

 in any previous reign. Public hygiene could have 

 no existence without legislation, and it was there- 

 fore necessary to address legislators and plead for 

 an advance throughout Australia. Referring to 

 the compulsory element in health legislation, he 

 pointed out that a strong element of compulsion 

 ran through much of Australian legislation even 

 for economic purposes, and where the object of 

 legislation was to bring in conformity to natural 



