398 



NATURE 



[May 27, 1920 



Long- ago we should have left that question to 

 the trade itself, but it is now clear that a policy 

 of IcUssez-faire is no longer possible. The people 

 must have food. The State has already taken 

 partial control, and the logical development of 

 such conditions seems to be the public organ- 

 isation of the means of distribution and, if so, the 

 control of profits as well as of prices. 



Dr. Jenkins does not deal with the^e latter- 

 day economic questions. The conditions are 

 transient, and it is quite impossible for any 

 man to get trustworthy information tending to 

 elucidate them. Probably no administrator or 

 office is big enough to deal adequately with the 

 difficulties of the moment, and the situation must 

 be left to resolve itself in the near future. On 

 the other hand, it would be hopeless to attempt 

 to study it without reference to the other funda- 

 mental questions which we have indicated. Is 

 there really an impoverishment of the fishing- 

 grounds, and, if so, what restrictions are neces- 

 sary that this may be avoided? Regulation being 

 necessary, what is the best form of administra- 

 tion? What is industrial efficiency as applied to 

 the fisheries? Judged by the ratio of fish caught 

 to the man-power employed, the inshore and long- 

 shore fishermen are inefficient, and their methods 

 wasteful. But, that being so, is it in the 

 national interest that a prolific, hardy, and ver- 

 satile stock should be allowed to decline? What, 

 above all, are the nature and value of the informa- 

 tion which we use in order to decide upon these 

 matters? 



Even in present circumstances, then, there are 

 fundamental problems that must be considered 

 before we tackle those of the moment, and it is 

 these with which the author deals. He 

 gives a summary of the methods of sea-fishing 

 employed in Great Britain, and an historical 

 sketch of the development of the trawl- and 

 herring-fisheries. This is based on prolonged 

 literary research and is very well done. There are 

 a summary of the legislation applicable to the 

 industry, a short account of the British and foreign 

 administrations, and a rdsumS of the chief results 

 of the fishery commissions of the strictly modern 

 period. A well-selected bibliography should enable 

 the reader to follow the various discussions in 

 greater detail than that which falls within the scope 

 of the book. It is very proper that considerable 

 weight should be given to the scientific side of 

 the subject, and in his introduction the author 

 deals most conveniently with the situation of the 

 industry at the close of the war period, especially 

 with regard to the reconstruction of the national 

 administrations and the development of an ade- 

 quate machinery for scientific and economic 

 investigation. Altogether, the work is one that 

 must be considered quite essential to anyone who 

 seeks to discover, beneath the confusion of the 

 moment, the natural conditions upon which the 

 continued development of the national sea 

 fisheries, as a whole, must necessarily depend. 



J.J. 

 NO. 2639, VOL. 105] 



Notes. 



The annual meeting of the British Science Guild 

 will be held at the Goldsmiths' Hall on Tuesday, 

 June 8, at 3 p.m. Lord Sydenham, president of 

 the Guild, will deliver an address on " Science and! 

 the Nation," and the president-elect, Lord Montagu 

 of Beaulieu, will speak on " Some National Aspects 

 of Transport." The adoption of the report on the 

 Guild's work since the last annual meeting will be 

 moved by Lord Bledisloe, and seconded by Sir Gilbert 

 Parker. The Guild is extending its activities in 

 several directions, and all who believe in the appli- 

 cation of scientific knowledge and method to national 

 affairs of every kind should give it support. Tickets 

 of admission to the annual meeting may be obtained 

 upon application to the Secretary, British Science 

 Guild, 6 John Street, Adelphi, London, W.C.2. 



At the Imperial Entomological Conference to be 

 held in London on June i-ii, the subjects to be 

 discussed, although mainly relating to agriculture, are 

 not the less on that account of great general interest, 

 and ought to make a wide appeal. Mr. H. A. Ballou, 

 just returned from an investigation of them in Egypt, 

 will read a paper on " Cotton Pests," a subject which 

 he has long studied in other parts of the Empire. Dr. 

 R. S. MacDougall will read one on " Insects in Rela- 

 tion to Afforestation," which is a subject greatly need- 

 ing attention in our own country at the present day. 

 There will also be read important papers on the special 

 insect pests of tea and other crops, as well as on the 

 local insect pests of various places within the Empire; 

 and amongst other subjects for discussion "The Edu- 

 cation of Economic Entomologists " should prove 

 attractive, the more so as Profs. Maxwell Lefroy and 

 Sydney J. Hickson have promised to give their views 

 upon it. The meetings are all to be held at the rooms 

 of the Linnean Society, Burlington House, and visits 

 have been arranged to Oxford, Cambridge, and the 

 Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden. " The 

 Work and Finances of the Imperial Bureau of Ento- 

 mology " will be considered at the business meeting 

 on the first day, when, doubtless, there will be nothing 

 but greatly deserved praise for the work, and very 

 serious consideration in regard to the finances. It 

 is to be hoped that as an outcome the Bureau will be 

 enabled to carry on, unhampered and unimpaired, the 

 extremely valuable work it has done during the seven 

 years of its existence. 



A Pan-Pacific Scientific Congress has been organ- 

 ised to meet at Honolulu on August 2-20. The pro- 

 gramme of the congress is directed by the Committee 

 on Pacific Exploration of the U.S. National Research 

 Council, and the chairman is Mr. Herbert E. Gregory, 

 director of the Bishop Museum at Honolulu. The 

 papers to be read will deal with the present status 

 of knowledge of anthropology, biology, geology, 

 geography, and related sciences so far as they refer 

 to the Pacific Ocean, and will place emphasis on the 

 ' research work which it is desirable to inaugurate. 

 The significance and bearing of the research work on 

 other fields of study will be dealt with in considerable 

 detail. It is suggested that in the working out of 



