August 25, 1923] 



NA TURE 



301 



The Liverpool Meeting of the British Association. 



Local Arrangements. 



A N elaborate programme of excursions to places of 

 ■^-^ interest and visits to works has been arranged 

 by the Local Committee. Dealing first with the 

 general excursions, on Thursday, September 13, it 

 is intended that a visit shall be paid to the biscuit 

 works of Messrs. W. and R. Jacob and Co., Ltd., 

 to the United Alkali Works at Widnes, the flour- 

 mills of Messrs. W. Vernon and Sons, Ltd., and 

 the Liverpool Corporation electric power - station, 

 when some of the largest and most up-to-date plant 

 will be inspected. The White Star Line is also 

 inviting a party to view the s.s. Adriatic. On Friday, 

 September 14, visits are arranged to Messrs. Bryant 

 and May's match works, to the dyeing and cleaning 

 works of Messrs. Johnson Bros., Ltd., and to the 

 shipbuilding yards of Messrs. Cammell Laird and Co., 

 Ltd. The Cunard Steamship Co. is inviting a party 

 to inspect the s.s. Franconia. 



On Saturday, September 15, there will be a whole- 

 day excursion to Chester and the River Dee, includ- 

 ing a visit to Eaton Hall, by kind permission of the 

 Duke of Westminster. Another whole-day trip will 

 be to the Dolgarrog works of the Aluminium Corpora- 

 tion, Ltd., the party, after inspecting the works, 

 proceeding to Bettws-y-Coed and the Snow don 

 district. A visit, also occupying the whole day, has 

 been arranged to the Liverpool Waterworks at Lake 

 Vyrnwy. 



Of a more general type there will be a day excursion 

 to the Isle of Man, and also by sea to Llandudno and 

 Beaumaris. There will also be a two - day tour 

 (Saturday and Sunday) to the Lake District. On 

 Sunday, September 16, there will be a general 

 excursion by sea to Llandudno and Beaumaris. 



On Monday, September 17, visits will be paid to 

 one of the works of the British Insulated and Helsby 

 Cables Co., Ltd., Messrs. Lever Bros.' Soap Works at 

 Port Sunlight, and to the works of Meccano, Ltd., 

 and to the Union Cold Storage, Ltd. A party will 

 also be shown the Liverpool housing scheme, and the 

 Liverpool Salvage Association is inviting those in- 

 terested to view their plant. The Booth Steamship 

 Co., Ltd., is inviting a party to inspect the s.s. 

 Hildebrand. 



On Tuesday, September 18, a party will visit the 

 Gladstone Dock and other works of the Mersey 

 Docks and Harbour Board, the Llay Main Colliery 

 near Wrexham, Planter's margarine works at Brom- 

 borough Pool, and the large bobbin works of Messrs. 

 Wilson I5ros. at Garston. 



Of the sectional excursions at present arranged. 

 Section A will visit the Automatic Telephone Manu- 

 facturing Co., Ltd., the British Oxygen Co. (Bootle 

 works), and Stonyhurst College ; Sertion B, the 

 United Alkali Co.'s works at Widnes, i\\v Highfield 

 Tannery at Runcorn, Price's Patent Candle Co. at 

 Bromborough, the lactose factory at Haslingden 

 near Crewe, and Messrs. Joseph Crosfield and Co.'s 

 works at Warrington. 



Section C will go to Hall Road and Crosby on the 



north of Liverpool, Storeton Quarries, Burton Point 

 and North Wirral, Lake Vyrnwy district, parts of 

 Flintshire, the Lea Green Collieries and Brick Pits, 

 and Scarth Hill and Skillaw Clough. 



Section D is proposing to go a dredging expedition 

 in Liverpool Bay, and to Delamere Forest. Section E 

 is visiting the Liverpool Docks, Storeton, Burton 

 Point and North Wirral, and a river trip to the 

 Eastham Locks of the Manchester Ship Canal, and 

 down the Mersey to the Crosby Channel. 



Section F intends to visit the Liverpool Docks and 

 the Cotton Exchange. Section G has arranged one 

 excursion only, and that is to the Gladstone Dock. 

 Section H will inspect the Roman remains at Chester, 

 and will also visit Ince Blundell. 



Section I has arranged no sectional excursions. 



Section J has one excursion only, namely, to 

 Rainhill, where the County Lunatic Asylum is 

 situated. 



Section K is planning to visit the Craven limestone 

 district, Mr. Bulley's gardens at Neston, and the 

 W^est Lancashire sand dunes near Freshfield. Section 

 L has arranged no excursions. Section M will visit 

 Wirral Farms and Messr^- Gartons, Ltd., at Warring- 

 ton, and Haslington and the Nantwich district. 



Large as this list of sectional excursions appears, 

 if one is to judge from the experience of previous 

 meetings it will be found to have increased by the 

 date on which the meeting commences. 



A list of all these excursions and visits will be sent, 

 a short time before the meeting, to members who 

 have intimated their intention of coming to Liver- 

 pool, and it will greatly facilitate the work of the 

 Local Secretaries if members will intimate in advance 

 which excursions they would wish to join. 



At the close of the meeting in Liverpool there will 

 be an excursion to the Isle of Man, leaving Liverpool 

 on Wednesday, September 19, and returning on 

 Monday, September 24. The party will have an 

 opportunity of visiting all places of scientific interest 

 in the island, but probably members of Sections E 

 and H will find most to study. A special committee 

 in the Isle of Man is making all arrangements, and 

 details will, it is hoped, be completed by the opening 

 day of the meeting in Liverpool. 



Although perhaps it does not so much concern the 

 actual members of the Association, yet a definite 

 item in the programme of the meeting is the series 

 of public lectures. The number of these it is pro- 

 posed to give in Liverpool will be greater than in 

 any town previously visited by the Association, and 

 further, one will be given in Bootle, Wallasey, 

 Birkenhead, Runcorn, Warrington, Wigan, and, 

 St. Helens, while two lectures to young people will 

 be given in Liverpool and one in Birkenhead and 

 Warrington. It is the hope of the Local Committee 

 that these lectures will prove a great success, and so 

 develop one of the prime objects of the Association, 

 namely, to promote interest in science and its 

 applications. Alfred Holt. 



International 



"[\/TAXy abortive attempts were made before tiie 

 -*- War to found an international hydrographic 

 organisation, but success was not achieved until after 

 the War, when a conference was held in London, in 

 Kjrq, at the invitation of the IJntisli .\(hniralty, with 

 the conlial support of the French hydrogriiphic office. 

 Twenl\ out lates were represented at the conference, 

 invitations lia\ ing been sent to all countries likely to 



NO. 2808, VOL. 112] 



Hydrography. 



be interested, with the exception of the Central 

 Powers, Russia, and Turkey. As a result an Inter- 

 national Hydrographic Bureau was instituted in 1921, 

 and all the States represented at the confcrcMice have 

 now as.sociated themselves with it. The i'.ni(\iu has 

 its official seat at Monaco. Soon aftcn- its institution 

 it became affiliated to the League of Nations, and it 

 uses the official languages of the League, namely, 



