TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 149 
ECONOMIC SCIENCE AND STATISTICS. 
Address by Wiutram Tire, MP., F.RS., President of the Section. 
THE general business of this Section will be preceded by a few opening re- 
marks which I shall have the honour of addressing to you, and we will then 
proceed with the papers on the programme for the day. One of the usual du- 
ties of Presidents seems to be the presentation of an opening Address; but in 
accepting the office I have now the honour of filling, it appeared to me that our 
time would be better occupied in considering the papers we may have submitted to 
us than in occupying a considerable portion of your time by opinions of my own upon 
the subject. Iwas the more led to this because on looking at what has been done by 
the gentlemen who immediately preceded me, viz. Mr. Newmarch, in 1861, at Man- 
chester, and Mr. Chadwick last year at Cambridge, it appeared to me that each of 
them had almost wholly exhausted the subject, with regard to the objects and 
topics of statistics and economical science, and the admirable réswmé of Mr. New- 
march in 1861 showed what has been done so correctly and completely during the 
thirty years over which his experience extended, that it left little for me to say. 
One or two subjects obviously and naturally suggested themselves, and in referring 
to Mr. Newmarch’s address, we find an admirable calculation of the results, with 
which statistical inquiry is more immediately concerned. He says, “These seem to 
me six-fold, viz., first, all such problems as relate to the real nature of wealth, and 
to the production and growth of wealth in a community; second, all such as relate 
to the exchange of commodities, that is to say, to inland and foreign trade; third, 
all problems relating to taxation and finance; fourth, problems relating to cur- 
rency, banks, and prices; fifth, problems relating to the wages and the hire of 
labour, and the division of employments; and lastly, problems relating to the func- 
tions of the State as regards interference with the economic relations of its sub- 
jects.” These are all so clearly expressed and put, that I cannot do better than 
present them to your notice, and call attention to this able statement of our ob- 
jects and duties. He continues thus: “ With respect to the first three of these 
groups of problems, it is probable that no further important doctrines remain to be 
discovered. There is little further to be found out concerning the real nature of 
wealth, concerning the true principles of exchange, or concerning taxation and 
finance, beyond the conclusions already established and expounded.” I should, 
however, be glad if the present position of monetary affairs in America could be 
brought forward and fully discussed in this Section; for her statesmen and mer- 
chants appear to bid defiance to all the laws and calculations of statistics. I should 
therefore very much like the exact condition of the currency system in America, 
and information as to the extraordinary amount of debt they have certainly 
created, to be brought under your consideration. One other topic I must men- 
tion, which is best explained in the following words in the Report of the Par- 
liamentary Committee :—“ A Committee of the House of Commons having reported 
in favour of the adoption of the Metrical System of Weights and Measures, and it 
being understood that a Bill to carry into effect such recommendation will be in- 
troduced in the ensuing Session of Parliament, your Committee venture to sug- 
gest that the expediency of such a measure might be discussed at the ensuing 
Meeting.” My friend, Colonel Sykes, supplemented this report with a statement 
that a Bill relative to this had heen introduced subsequently to the report of the 
Committee being prepared, and that it had been read a first and second time, the 
latter occupying the House nearly the whole of one day ; and, notwithstanding the 
opposition of Government, the measure passed the second reading. I think the 
most convenient course would be not to enter at present again on a fresh discus- 
sion of this subject, because the principle of the measure has been thus affirmed by 
Parliament, and it has also been very fully discussed in the Meetings of the Social 
Science Association. After remarking on the beneficial effects of the newly esta- 
blished Social Science Association, and the cordiality existing between it and the 
British Association, the chairman concluded. 
