526 



NATURE 



[December 23, 1920 



feated by a majority of nearly three to one. Later 

 attempts to leave out the provision as to 

 colours and colouring matters and organic inter- 

 mediate products ; to direct the Advisory Com- 

 mittee as to the grounds of their decisions ; and 

 to provide that "prohibition shall not apply to 

 any such goods manufactured within the British 

 Empire," were either abandoned or were defeated 

 by large majorities on division. A similar fate 

 met amendments raising the question of the date 

 of the application of the Act ; the prohibition of 

 synthetic organic products imported mainly for 

 medical purposes ; and the importation of new 

 colours. 



The longest discussion occurred on the question 

 of the composition and functions of the Advisory 

 Committee which the Board of Trade is em- 

 powered to set up for the purpose of advising 

 it with respect to the granting of licences. 

 This Committee is to consist of five persons con- 

 cerned with the trades using dyestuffs, three 

 persons connected with their manufacture in Great 

 Britain, and three persons constituting " a neutral 

 body "■ — that is, persons not directly concerned 

 with the manufacture or use of dyestuffs^one at 

 least of whom is to possess "high scientific quali- 

 fications " — not, as one Opposition amendment 

 suggested, "a person of medical skill," although 

 why such a person is needed on such a Committee 

 is not very obvious. Various attempts were made 

 either to enlarge the Advisory Committee or to 

 place upon it representatives of particular trades, 

 such as the export branches of the textile indus- 

 tries, the woollen and worsted industry, and the 

 cotton industry. Nor were the claims of Labour, 

 as such, forgotten. But the President of the 

 Board of Trade, who throughout the four days' 

 proceedings had discharged his responsibilities 

 with urbanity and tact, firmly resisted all attempts 

 to tamper with the constitution and functions of 

 the Advisory Committee as defined in the Bill, 

 and in the end, after repeated divisions, in which 

 the malcontents were defeated by increasing 

 majorities, he got his way. 



As a last resource, the Opposition sought to 

 curtail the operation of the Act. It is provided 

 that the Act shall continue in force for a period 

 of ten years and no longer. Successive amend- 

 ments were moved to limit it to one year, then to 

 three, next to seven years ; but after the closure 

 had been carried it was decided that the words pro- 

 posed to be left out should stand part of the 

 clause, and ten years is to be the duration of the 

 Act, which, as afterwards stated by Sir Robert 

 NO. 2669, VOL. 106] 



Home, is to come into force on January 15 next. 

 Major Wood then moved that the Act shall cease 

 to be in force if an Order in Council, on an address 

 by both Houses of Parliament, should so deter- 

 mine ; but the amendment was declared to be out 

 of order. An Act of Parliament can be repealed 

 only by an Act of Parliament. 



The debate in the House on the Report stage 

 of the Bill was to a large extent a repetition of 

 the proceedings of the Committee. Clauses were 

 moved to limit the extent of prohibition on the im- 

 port of dyestuffs ; to limit dividends and profits by 

 manufacturers of synthetic colouring matters; to 

 curtail the currency of licences ; and to alter the 

 constitution of the Advisory Committee ; but, after 

 repeated applications of the closure, these several 

 amendments were defeated by e\en larger propor- 

 tional majorities than they had met with in the 

 Standing Committee. 



On the third reading a last despairing effort 

 was made to reject the Bill, but the appeal to 

 Caesar met with no success, and the twenty-five 

 stalwarts were beaten by a majority of nearly five 

 to one. 



The Meteorology of the Antarctic. 



British Antarctic Expedition, igio-1913. Meteor- 

 ology: Vol. i.. Discussion. By Dr. G. C. 

 Simpson. Pp. x-f326-rv plates. Vol. ii., 

 Weather Maps and Pressure Curves. By Dr. 

 G. C. Simpson. Pp. 138-1-23 plates. (Calcutta: 

 Thacker, Spink, and Co., 1919.) 



IT was a fortunate day for meteorology when 

 Capt. Scott invited Dr. Simpson to join his 

 last expedition as meteorologist. The Antarctic 

 has always provided a fascinating field on account 

 of the symmetry of its general circulation com- 

 bined with remarkable local phenomena; but 

 never before has a meteorologist and physicist of 

 the first rank studied Antarctic meteorology on 

 the spot and presented to the world the digested 

 results of observations planned and executed by 

 himself. 



The two volumes now published contain a com- 

 prehensive discussion of .Antarctic meteorology in 

 191 1-13, and a series of weather maps at 8 a.m. 

 and 8 p.m. daily (presumably i8oth meridian 

 time) from April i (1911?) to January 2 (1912?), 

 a period of nine months. A third volume will 

 include detailed tables of the results of observa- 

 tion. The printing w-as done in Calcutta and 

 is good, but the registration of the synoptic charts 

 is frequently indifferent. 



In a brief preface tribute is fittingly paid to the 



