April 3, 1913] 



NATURE 



^25 



THE MELBOURNE MEETING OF THE 

 A USTRALASIAN ASSOCIATION. 



'"PHE Australasian Association for the Advancement 



A of Science met at Melbourne, under the presi- 

 dency of Prof. T. VV. E. David, F.R.S., on January 

 7-14. The meeting proved most successful. There 

 was a large and representative gathering of members 

 from all the Australian Stales and New Zealand. 

 Owing to the approaching visit of the British Asso- 

 ciation, it was decided to postpone the Hobart meet- 

 ing, which in the ordinary course of events would 

 have been fixed for 1915, until the beginning of 1916, 

 and the cordial invitation, which the New Zealand 

 delegates brought, that the succeeding meeting be in 

 Wellington, was accepted. 



The subject of the presidential address was "The 

 Australian Climate, Past and Present," but before 

 passing to it, Prof. David spoke of the interest the 

 Federal Government had shown in scientific work 

 relating to the Commonwealth. Its action in organis- 

 ing the recent scientific expedition to the northern 

 territory, under Prof. Baldwin Spencer, and in arrang- 

 ing for his presence there for the last year, had 

 commended itself both to the general public and to 

 workers in science. The reports already published 

 showed that the northern territory had far greater 

 possibilities than most people had imagined, in regard 

 both to its pastoral and mining features. The ap- 

 pointment of a man of science, Prof. Gilruth, to the 

 important position of administrator was a step for 

 which the association was grateful to the Govern- 

 ment. 



Papua also had not been neglected, and the mission 

 of Mr. Carne to that country had been most success- 

 ful. Among' other things, he had located an extensive 

 belt of oil-bearing sandstones, which he believed to 

 be an extension of the great Burmese oil-belt, which 

 ran through Sumatra, Borneo, and Java, to Timor, 

 and thence to New Guinea. The oil-belt was full of 

 possibilities, and he thought there was no more fas- 

 cinating field for exploration than this island. 



Dealing with the Australian climate, Prof. David 

 spoke of the importance of the scientific observations 

 of the Antarctic expeditions, especially those of Capt. 

 Scott and Dr. Mawson. The meteorological data, 

 communicated by wireless telegraphy from Macquarie 

 Island by members of Mawson's expedition, showed 

 most distinctly the association between the weather 

 conditions of Australia and those of the subantarctic. 

 It was to be hoped that in the near future some joint 

 arrangement would be made between the Govern- 

 ments of Australia and New Zealand, providing for 

 the continued upkeep of the station on that island. 



From the evidence he had collected, he believed that 

 the reason for the great climatic and biological differ- 

 ences between the north and south polar regions is 

 mainly geographical; that it depends on the present 

 distribution of land and water, and on the modifica- 

 tions which they introduce into the circulations of air 

 and water in either hemisphere. The existence of the 

 large continent of Antarctica, with an average eleva- 

 tion of about 6onn ft., acts as a great refrigerator in 

 the southern hemisphere, and causes extremes, which 

 otherwise would not exist, between the south polar 

 and equatorial temperatures. This factor tends to 

 increase the rapiditv of air circulation in the southern 

 hemisphere. It accounts for the periodic fierce out- 

 rushes of blizzard winds, which accompanv the de- 

 velopment of the Antarctic low-pressures, and often 

 profoundly affect Australian weather conditions. 



On the other hand, the absence of land in the north 

 polar regions, and the presence of open water in the 

 summer, cause the temperature in those regions to be 



NO. 2 266, VOL. qi] 



much higher at that season in the Arctic than in the 

 Antarctic. 



In the course of his address, Prof. David made 

 particular reference to the need for further develop- 

 ment of the Department of Meteorology in Australia, 

 and he stated that there was every prospect of the 

 Federal Government making the Australian Solar 

 Physics Observatory an accomplished fact in the near 

 future. 



A noteworthy feature of the meeting was a lecture 

 on the northern territory and its aborigines, delivered 

 in the Melbourne Town Hall, by Prof. Baldwin 

 Spencer, who had just returned after a year's absence 

 in the territory on a special mission from the Federal 

 Government. The Governor-General and the Prime 

 Minister were present, and the large hall was crowded 

 long before the hour at which the lecture commenced. 



Prof. Spencer began by a reference to the vastness 

 of this part of Australia. It was four and a half times 

 as large as Great Britain, but its population, exclud- 

 ing the aborigines, was less than 4000 ; and of the 

 aborigines he did not think there were more than 

 40,000. The Commonwealth Government now had 

 control of this region, and it had organised a series 

 of important departments in which work of a valuable 

 character was already being performed. It was 

 necessary to remember that for forty years practically 

 very little had been done in the territory. Now they 

 had in their administrator a strong, straight, and 

 fearless man, who had quickly won the complete trust 

 and confidence of everyone working under him. The 

 climate was undoubtedly trying, particularly in the 

 wet season, which extends from March until Septem- 

 ber. But inland, on the "downs" country, it is 

 infinitely better than on the coastal fringe. He be- 

 lieved that this cool winter climate would make a 

 very great difference in the opening up, at any rate, 

 of these inland regions, and the existence of these 

 cooler temperatures at certain seasons of the year 

 made the country differ from other tropical regions 

 where such changed conditions were unknown. 



Dealing with the natives he was able to show the 

 audience by kinematograph views and phonograph 

 records some of the results of his investigations. A 

 stav of about two months had been made on a station 

 in the Alligator River district, and this time devoted 

 wholly to acquiring information upon the habits, 

 beliefs, and customs of the natives. He found these 

 differed somewhat from those of the southern tribes. 



A visit had also been paid to Melville Island, some 

 forty miles from the mainland, which he reached in a 

 small lugger from Port Darwin. The aborigines in- 

 habiting that island were of a better type than those 

 on the mainland. He saw ceremonies performed 

 which were entirely new to him, notably a weird per- 

 formance in connection with the burial of a man. 

 A small plot of ground having been cleared of vegeta- 

 tion, a number of fantastic grave-posts were placed 

 upright in the ground on either side of the prepared 

 spot. Some fifty natives lined up, after the fashion 

 of soldiers, whilst four other men ran between and 

 around the grave-posts, stamping with their feet, 

 which action was supposed to drive the spirit of the 

 departed into the ground. Other films depicted the 

 islanders in the canoes, in which thev often negotiated 

 the stretch of open ocean between the island and the 

 mainland, forty miles across. 



In his concluding remarks, Prof. Spencer said that 

 the natives of the northern territorv had certain attri- 

 butes of a high character. Undoubtedly it was a 

 great problem to know what to do with them; their 

 entire lack of knowledge of agricultural methods 

 rendered the problem all the more difficult of solution. 

 He hoped very shortly to lay a scheme before the 



