228 



NATURE 



[October 13, 192 1 



the name of Prof. T. H. Laby, that the Australian 

 National Research Council should adopt such a con- 

 stitution as would enable it to perform the following 

 functions : (a) The discussion and publication of the 

 results of scientific investigation by the publication of 

 scientific papers and by co-operating with the State 

 scientific societies in such work, (t) The promotion 

 of scientific research generally, and the investigation 

 of specific problems, bringing the latter under the 

 notice of the Commonwealth and State Governments 

 when that course is desirable, (r) The promotion of 

 the application of scientific methods in questions of 

 government and administration when such methods 

 are peculiarly and specially applicable, (d) The pro- 

 motion of the interest and status of scientific workers 

 in Australia. The first of these clauses was negatived 

 by a large majority, but the publication by the 

 Council of abstracts of scientific papers bv Australians 

 was agreed to. Clauses (h) and {c) were carried, but 

 clause (d) was rejected. In the discussion on the last 

 clause Prof. Agar said that the Council should con- 

 fine its attention to furthering the interests of science 

 rather than the interests of men of science. The Council 

 also rejected a proposal made in connection with the 

 foregoing motions that it should form from those of 

 its members who represent mathematics, physics, 

 astronomy, and engineering, a section for the encour- 

 agement, discussion, and publication of research in 

 the mathematical and physical sciences. 

 . A letter from Sir Arthur Schuster, inviting the 



Council to submit business for consideration at the 

 Brussels meeting of the International Research 

 Council was considered. In this connection it was 

 agreed to represent to the Commonwealth Govern- 

 ment the need for funds to enable Australia to join 

 certain of the International Unions. Mr. E. C. 

 Andrews was appointed a delegate to the Pan-Pacific 

 Scientific Congress to be held in 1923. 



Among other business transacted, Sir Edgeworth 

 David directed attention to the desirability of form- 

 ing a Commonwealth Geological Survey, in addition 

 to the State surveys, and further action is to be taken. 

 A committee was also appointed to report on the 

 possibility of making a gravity survey of Australia. 



A special committee then reported on the proposed 

 establishment of a solar radiation station at Sydney ; 

 the necessary funds had been raised successfully by 

 public subscription, and it was considered that the 

 project was a matter of considerable scientific im- 

 portance. 



The National Council formally took over from the 

 Australasian Association for the Advancement of 

 Science work of an international character relating to 

 geophysics and physical and chemical constants. 



The Australian National Research Council, so far 

 as its constitution and objects are determined, is to 

 be exclusive in character, and it will be concerned 

 with the organisation of scientific work in Australia, 

 and with co-operation in international research, but 

 it will not discuss or publish scientific papers. 



Scottish Fisheries. 



Bv Prof. W. C. McIntosh, F.R.S. 



T^HE Thirty-ninth Annual Report of the Fishery 

 -*- Board for Scotland, 1920 (H.M. Stationery 

 Office, 35.), as usual, contains much impor- 

 tant information connected with the Scottish 

 fisheries. In the introduction the Board refers to the 

 present depressed condition of the industry, which is 

 due, not to dearth of fishes of all kinds, but to indus- 

 trial and transport troubles and the general unrest, as 

 well as the partial dislocation of foreign trade in cured 

 fishes. It bewails the increasing incursions of foreign 

 trawlers in the Moray Firth, unmindful that the 

 closure of the area beyond the three-mile limit was, 

 as Lord Bryce and others long ago pointed out, the 

 jons et origo of the trouble. The figures of the cap- 

 tures for 1920 show that with 1366 fewer boats than 

 in the record year 1912 the quantity landed was 

 2,261,167 cwt. less. The supposition concerning the 

 "accumulation" of fishes during war-time is 

 conjectural. 



The present remarks, however, mainly deal with the 

 Board's scientific fisheries work, which, so far as 

 its experienced staff is concerned, maintains its high 

 standard. The Board apparently believes in the 

 International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, 

 yet it does not explain how this international camara- 

 derie has failed to put an end to the raids of foreign 

 trawlers in the Moray Firth. Indeed, it may well 

 be doubted if, after twenty-one years' experience of 

 the International Council, any practical result of im- 

 portance to the British fisheries has resulted from the 

 large expenditure, or evolved any solid basis for the 

 revival of the scheme. The details of the Board's 

 expenditure on this head should at once be published. 

 Further, it is remarkable that the chairmanship of 

 this Council has hitherto been only in British or 

 German hands (often unscientific). The most experi- 

 enced fisheries research workers firmly believe that, 

 with a^l deference to the international exchange of 

 NO. 271 I, VOL. 108] 



views, real progress lies in the work of each country's 

 scientific staff in its own ships and marine labora- 

 tories. That the Board is open to criticism is 

 apparent from the fact that whilst other nations, 

 notably the Danes, have worked up the life-histories 

 of the food and other fishes collected in their ships in 

 a praiseworthy manner, the large collection of eggs, 

 larval, post-larval, and young fishes procured by the 

 Board's steamer, with perhaps a few trifling excep- 

 tions, is unknown. Instead of leading the way in 

 such work, the Board appears to pin its faith in this 

 department to endless, but expensive, statistics of cap- 

 tures here and there. It clings to the notion that by 

 a size -limit or by the closure of areas of the North 

 Sea (which it formerly abjured) plaice will be bene- 

 fited—forgetful of the persistence of this fish, not- 

 withstanding the pessimism of nigh a thousand years. 

 The recent work of Dr. Petersen, of Copenhagen, on 

 intensive plaice-fishing will afford the Board some 

 information on this head. The Board's intention to 

 ascertain the present condition of the fishing-grounds 

 (an advice given many years ago) is to be commended, 

 as also is the development of ovster fisheries, though 

 the decline of the oyster fisheries of the Forth is as 

 yet unremedied. A profitable field for the energies of 

 the Board would also be the encouragement of the 

 canning of the sprats from the Forth, Tay, and other 

 places. 



The Board finallv alludes to the reorganisation of 

 its scientific staff, and it is to be hoped that, warned 

 bv the experiences in the Fishery Departments^ of 

 England and Canada, untried, or even non-scientific, 

 men will not be placed over the heads of trained , 

 scientific workers of perhaps a quarter of a century's 

 experience. 'WTiilst these public Departments have in 

 manv respects a free hand, science and the public 

 also have rights, interference with which will soon 

 lower the status of those who enter on such work. 



