PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 19 



2J-million cubic yards of earth, and the blasting of rock in 

 some parts to a depth of 65 feet. Three English dams on a 

 somewhat smaller scale have also just been completed for 

 the water supply of Bradford, of Leicester and other towns, 

 and of Birkenhead. Of these the first is the largest, being 

 1,200 feet long, and 130 feet high, but its capacity for storage 

 is 1,250,000,000 gallons, as against 3,000,000,000 gallons in 

 the Birkenhead dam. In the building of houses, the limit 

 of height has surely been reached in the Woolworth Building 

 in America, which contains no less than 55 stories. The 

 greatest height recorded by an unmanned balloon is 22 

 miles, and by a manned one nearly 7 miles. Above this height 

 no clouds occur. In surveying, the completion of the Indian 

 portion of the connection between the triangulations of 

 Russia and India should be noticed. Survey work in New 

 .Zealand was curtailed by the splendid response to the demands 

 for the war made by its men, but the completion is announced 

 of the maps of that country on a scale of ten miles to an inch. 



GEOGRAPHY. 



The romantic adventures of Stefansson, the leader of the 

 Canadian Arctic Expedition, who with a few companions 

 was separated from his ship, which was afterwards crushed 

 by the ice and destroyed, have fortunately ended happily 

 by his return after having been given up for lost. In spite 

 of his separation he persevered in his explorations, travelling 

 many hundred miles and discovering some new land rising 

 to a height of 2,000 feet. More recently, somewhat dis- 

 quieting news has reached us of the Shackleton Antarctic 

 Expedition. The ship Aurora broke loose from her moorings 

 in May, 1915, and was damaged and drifted in the pack ice, 

 but has arrived in New Zealand. Unfortunately several of the 

 party were left stranded near Cape Evans, and the position 

 of the other ship, the Endurance, and Sir Ernest Shackleton's 

 party is uncertain. It is hoped, however, that they may 



