June i, 191 i] 



NATURE 



46; 



tion. The Rev. Peshall has also volunteered to make a 

 collection of shells, sponges, &c. Thus even if we are 

 clouded out and do not get our astronomical observations, 

 we hope at least to bring back some new material which 

 may advance science in other directions. 



On Tuesday, March 28, Father Cortie delivered a lecture 

 on " Eclipses in General," while the following evening 

 Mr. McClean was persuaded to describe and give his 

 experiences on aeroplanes. In fact, we have all been most 

 busy, and the ship has been rolling and pitching nearly all 

 the time, and a stiff head wind N.E. has been blowing. 



On March 31 we were invited to a concert given by 

 the ship's company, which proved very successful. 



Early this morning (April 2) we passed on our star- 

 board side the islands of Tofua and Kao ; both 

 are volcanoes, the former active, but there were no 

 signs of activity. Tofua lies in the centre of the eclipse 

 track, but has not been looked upon as a suitable place for 

 an eclipse station. On our port side we are now nearly 

 abeam of Late Island, a lonely peak in this landless 

 ocean. In fact, except for a very few birds and a few 

 flying-fish, the ocean and air have been lifeless. The 

 barograph is daily marking out the diurnal double oscilla- 

 tion superimposed on long waves of rise and fall. The 

 temperature has been steadily rising, and has now reached 

 the eighties. The hydrograph persistently records more 

 than 80 per cent, of saturation, but on the moving ship 

 this humidity is not very much felt except when violent 

 exercise is indulged in. We are now in very quiet trade 

 winds, and the good ship Encounter is becoming more 

 steady. To-night, or rather this afternoon, we expect to 

 arrive at our destination, and then we shall feel the effects 

 of the tempernture and humidity. 



At the present moment no decision has been arrived at 

 as to whether we shall live on board or ashore. Most 

 probably it will be the latter. Our present intention is to 

 occupy the spot indicated on the large-scale map of Vavau 

 portioned off as a naval coaling station, for the harbour 

 is sufficiently deep for the ship to lie just off. This 

 harbour has only a very narrow entrance, so that the ship 

 will be well protected from strong winds and landing will 

 be easy. 



To-morrow morning (April 3) will be spent in looking 

 for a suitable site, and then on the following day the 

 Union Steamship Company's mail boat arrives from Auck- 

 land, bringing the Australian astronomers and the other 

 members of my party, namely, Messrs. Brooks, Raymond, 

 and Winkelmann. 



I have arranged with Captain Colomb that, should we 

 be successful on the day of the eclipse, the ship will not 

 leave Vavau until about May 5. The object of this is to 

 give us plenty of time quietly to develop and copy all 

 negatives ; as the climate is so hot and humid, particular 

 care must be taken to produce the best results, and it is 

 quite possible that development may only be successfully 

 accomplished during the cool ( !) of the night. In the case 

 of our being clouded out, Vavau will be left on May 2. 

 On her return journey to Sydney, H.M.S. Encounter will 

 make for Suva, Fiji, to coal, and to land Mr. McCIean 

 and myself there. 



It is now 11.30 a.m., and two small patches of land 

 ahead give us the first imprint of Vavau, our future home 

 for some time to come. At last we are there after this 

 long journey. W. J. S. Lockybr. 



T//E PRIVATE SESSIONS OF THE IMPERIAL 

 EDUCATION CONFERENCE. 



TN our review of the public sessions of the conference 

 -^ (see Nature, May 4), we hoped that the report of the 

 private sessions would reveal a useful interchange of ideas 

 between the delegates from various parts of the Empire, 

 and that organised concerted action would result. The 

 report (Cd. 5666, price is.) issued by the Board of Educa- 

 tion is now before us, and we may state at once that it 

 disposes of the fear — to which the character of the public 

 meetings naturally gave rise — that the Colonial Govern- 

 ments had not been duly consulted with reference to the 

 agenda of conference. Furthermore, we believe that the 

 debates have been of a useful character, and that an 



XO 



. 2170, VOL. 86] 



important step has been taken to fulfil our aspirations by 

 the organisation of an Imperial Education Bureau. The 

 agenda of the meetings may be summarised as follows : — • 

 (i) action arising from the previous conference in 1907; 



(2) memoranda prepared by the Office of Special Inquiries 

 and Reports on schools in the self-governing dominions ; 



(3) training and qualifications of teachers ; (4) cost of 

 instruction and cost of living in connection with advanced 

 technical colleges and universities ; (5) the Board's 

 examinations in the overseas dominions ; (6) the formation 

 of an Imperial Education Bureau. 



Two mornings were devoted to problems of an educa- 

 tional, rather than administrative, character. English 

 spelling and spelling reform formed the subject of papers 

 by Dr. E. H. Edwards (H.M.I., England) and Dr. A. H. 

 Mackay (Nova Scotia) ; also Dr. W. J. Viljoen (Union of 

 South Africa) contributed interesting information with 

 reference to the simplification of Dutch orthography and 

 grammar. H.E. the Governor of Sierra Leone submitted 

 a paper, written by R. F. Honter, on the psychology of 

 the negro child and on the adaptation of primitive customs, 

 manners, laws, and traditions in a system of education. 

 Sir F. D. Lugard, Governor of Hong Kong, presented a 

 memorandum on the best methods of training character 

 and inculcating a high moral standard in universities 

 founded primarily for non-Christian races, without the 

 compulsory teaching of the Christian religion, and this 

 subject is to be considered further at the next conference. 

 Among the appendices is a report of the Conference on 

 Bilingualism, convened by the President of the Board of 

 Education. The discussion of this question by repre- 

 sentatives of South Africa, Canada, the India Office, Scot- 

 land, Wales, and Malta, brought clearly into view the 

 desirability of bringing into the common stock the varied 

 knowledge and experience of administrators under diverse 

 conditions. 



But the success of the conference rests upon its treat- 

 ment of the urgent administrative problems indicated in 

 our six- items of summarised agenda, especially in regard 

 to the last. Much credit is due to Dr. Frank Heath, as 

 director, and his staff at the Special Inquiries Office. 

 Their activity has been even more productive than 

 appeared from Mr. Runciman's address {vide Nature, loc. 

 cit.), as the interchange of officials, as well as of official 

 memoranda, has been facilitated, and the difficulties of 

 mutual recognition of teachers' certificates are approach- 

 ing solution. The main outcome of the conference is the 

 extension of the work of Dr. Heath's department. If the 

 unanimous and weighty recommendations of the conference 

 are carried into effect, the Office of Special Inquiries and 

 Reports will perform the functions of an Imperial Educa- 

 tion Bureau. The machinery by which these functions are 

 to be performed, the provision for the continuity of the 

 conference, modes of cooperation of the several education 

 departments of the Empire, have all been made the sub- 

 ject of definite proposals of a practical character. From 

 these, which will be found on pp. 12 to 18 of the report, 

 we quote the penultimate recommendation : — 



" That the several Education Departments of the Empire 

 should publish, each for their own part of the Empire, the 

 following monographs in the order named : — (a) the curri- 

 cula of schools for general education ; (b) the training of 

 teachers for schools giving general education ; (c) the laws 

 of compulsory attendance and their working ; (d) the 

 general education of children in sparsely populated areas; 

 and (e) the medical inspection of schools for general 

 education." G. F. Danieix. 



THE ENDOWMENT OF HOME SCIENCE. 



TT was announced on Friday last (the Queen's birthday) 

 -*• that a sum of 50,000/. had been subscribed for the 

 endowment of " home science " in connection with the 

 Women's Department of King's College, and that her 

 Majesty had graciously allowed her name to be associated 

 with a new hostel to be erected at a cost of 20,000!. 

 Another 20,000/. is to be used for building and equipping 

 lal)oratories, and it is hoped to supplement the remaining 

 10,000/. so th.nt the endowment for salaries and current 

 expenses may be 60,000/. 



