September 9, 1922] 



NA TURE 



.345 



The British Association at Hull. 



THE British Association meetings are now in pro- 

 gress, and notwithstanding a slight difficulty 

 which threatened to arise in obtaining rooms for the 

 unusual influx of visitors, this has been removed and 

 things are running smoothly. The Local Committee 

 has endeavoured to improve the appearance of the 

 city as much as possible by elaborate signposts, and 

 metal signs on the electric standards, indicating the 

 positions of the various meeting rooms and sectional 

 lecture halls. Thus the usual appearance of a town 

 visited by the British Association being transformed 

 into a bill-posting station, has been avoided. Similarly, 

 in the Reception Room and in other places, are gaily 

 coloured artistic banners and signs in profusion, in 

 addition to which the Parks Committee has made the 

 rooms gay with plants and blooms. 



Various corporations and public bodies in the east 

 of Yorkshire have risen to the occasion, and, with the 

 co-operation of the North-Eastern Railway Company, 

 an elaborate system of special trains has been arranged 

 to convey the members to different parts of this attract- 

 ive county. 



The Corporation of Scarborough is entertaining four 

 hundred members ; the Yorkshire Philosophical 

 Society is entertaining the same number of members 

 in the York Museum, where an official welcome will 

 be given by the Lord Mayor ; the Corporation of 

 Harrogate is also entertaining four hundred members ; 

 Bridlington is entertaining 250, and Beverley 100. 

 These are in addition to arrangements made in Hull 

 itself, which include a river trip to Spurn Point in 

 the s.s. Brocklesby, kindly lent by the Great Central 

 Railway Company, on which occasion the members 

 will be entertained by the Local Committee. 



There is also a garden party in Hymers College 

 grounds (the old Botanical Gardens), where the members 

 will be entertained by the Hull Literary and Philo- 

 sophical Society, the Local Committee, and the 

 Governors of the College. 



Various firms in Hull and district (Messrs. Reckitt 

 and Sons, the Humber Portland Cement Company, 

 Earle's Cement Company, The British Oil and Cake 

 Mills. Xeedler's Confectionery Works, the Olympia 

 Oil Mill, Selby, and the Hull Fishing Vessel Owners' 

 Association) are showing parties round their respective 

 places and providing refreshment, etc. 



On account of the wealth of suitable lecture and 

 committee rooms, the work of the various sections is 

 running smoothly, and the new Guildhall with its 

 fine reception room, banqueting hall, etc., makes 

 admirable headquarters, while the reception room is 

 in easv access of the various offices placed at the disposal 

 of the' general and local officers of the association. 



An experiment has been tried in the provision of 

 an artistic numbered badge for each member, for the 

 purpose of identification, and also for admission to 

 the various functions of the association in place of, 

 or in addition to, the familiar membership ticket, 

 which, like many innovations for the Hull meeting, 

 has been made a convenient size. 



The Hull Tramways Committee has granted free 

 tram-rides to the wearers of badges, to the great 

 convenience of the visitors. T. S. 



NO. 2758, VOL. I 10] 



Report of the Council. 



A number of important matters is referred to in the 

 report of the council presented to the meeting of the 

 general committee on September 6. Sir Ernest 

 Rutherford was nominated by the council as president 

 of the Association for the meeting to be held at Liver- 

 pool next year. 



During the year covered by the report, the Associa- 

 tion received from Sir Charles Parsons the generous 

 gift of io,oooZ. War Stock for general purposes and also 

 a legacy of 450L from the late Mr. T. W. Backhouse. 

 A very welcome gift was one of 75/. from Mrs. Sidney 

 Brown to form " the John Perry's Guest Fund " for 

 use by the general treasurer in case of emergency 

 connected with guests of the Association. There is 

 frequent need for financial help such as a fund of this 

 kind may supply, and it is to be hoped that other 

 benefactors will be forthcoming to increase the modest 

 amount now available for this purpose. Certain it is 

 that no more appropriate memorial to the late treasurer 

 of the Association, Prof. John Perry, could be estab- 

 lished than such a fund would afford. On account of 

 the expanding activities of the Association, professional 

 men who are not members are often invited to give 

 addresses or read papers to one or other of the sections, 

 but under present conditions sectional secretaries have 

 no power to pay even out-of-pocket expenses to such 

 men or offer hospitality to them. The least the 

 Association should do in such cases is to pay railway 

 fares and entertain the special visitors as guests. 



Provision of a similar kind is made by the establish- 

 ment of the " British Association Exhibitions " now 

 offered to students not above the standing of B.Sc, 

 nominated by the senate of each of twenty universities 

 and university colleges, and covering the railway fares 

 of such students and their membership if not already 

 regular members. The Local Executive Committee at 

 Hull has kindly supplemented this aid by an offer of 

 financial support and hospitality for such nominees. 

 What is wanted now is to give power to each organising 

 committee of the sections to offer like facilities to two 

 or three leading workers in particular fields to attend 

 meetings for the purpose of expressing their views on 

 aspects of science seen more distinctly from outside the 

 scientific world than within it. 



The council has made some important recommenda- 

 tions with regard to the Conference of Delegates and 

 the Corresponding Societies Committee. It has been 

 agreed that the conference at Hull should consider, in 

 the first place, what steps should be taken to induce 

 local societies to group themselves round local (i.e. 

 district) sub-centres for the interchange oi information 

 and for the more economical publication of the results 

 of research. 



The Corresponding Societies Committee is to prepare 

 a oeneral survey of local scientific societies, including 

 information as to existing federations and local unions. 



Mr. W. Whitaker has been nominated as president 

 of the Conference at the Hull Meeting. 



The follow ins; new members of council are nominated : 

 Rt. Hon. Lord Bledisloe, Dr. W. E. Hoyle, and Mr. 

 A. G. Tanslev. leaving two vacancies to be filled by the 

 general committee without nomination by the council. 



