70 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE. 
Geoffrey Duffield, D.Sc., Hon. Secretary; Professor Bragg, F.R.S., 
President of the Australasian Association; Senator Keating; the Pro- 
fessors of Physics of the Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Hobart 
Universities, which they officially represent, and the Government 
Astronomers of the Australian States. 
This Committee formed a deputation which waited upon the 
Minister for Home Affairs of the Commonwealth Government (Fisher 
Ministry), and presented the resolution which had been passed by the 
Council of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of 
Science. The Minister replied that ‘ he thought Parliament would be 
not less public spirited than private citizens, and would probably give 
pound for pound to the erection and equipment fund, and might main- 
tain the observatory after its establishment. ' 
Scientific Institutions supporting the Proposal. 
The International Solar Research Union.—At the meeting in Paris, 
May 1907, the following resolution was proposed by Sir Norman 
Lockyer and carried unanimously: ‘ That this International Congress 
hears with great satisfaction of the proposal to establish a Solar Physics 
Observatory in Australia, and expresses its decided opinion that an 
observing station in that part of the world would fill a gap which now 
exists in the system of observatories distributed over the earth, and 
yield contributions of great value to the study of solar phenomena.’ 
The Royal Society, February 10, 1908.—' The Royal Society are 
strongly of opinion that the foundation and equipment of a Solar 
Observatory in Australia are desirable, or else, as an alternative, that 
provision for systematic solar observations, including an adequate staff, 
should be made at one of the existing observatories. They are of 
opinion that a very valuable contribution could thus be made by 
Australia to the international scheme for solar research now in opera- 
tion, especially as the subject includes the connection between solar 
changes and meteorological and magnetic phenomena, in the systematic 
international observation of which Australia already takes a share.’ 
The British Association for the Advancement of Science, September 
1908, formed a committee to co-operate with Australian astronomers 
‘to aid in the establishment of a Solar Observatory in Australia,’ con- 
sisting of Sir David Gill, F.R.S. (Chairman), Dr. W. G. Duffield 
(Secretary), Professors Schuster and Turner, Dr. W. J. S. Lockyer, 
and Mr. F. K. McClean, and a grant-in-aid of 501. was voted. 
Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, Brisbane, 
January 1909.—The Council passed the following resolution: ‘ That the 
Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science records its 
unanimous support to the movement for the establishment in Australia 
of an Observatory devoted to the study of solar physics, which has been 
so strongly advocated by the International Union for Co-operation in 
Solar Research, by the Royal Society, and by the British Association 
for the Advancement of Science, and which is essential to the scheme of 
solar study instituted by the International Union. The practical 
possibilities, combined with the scientific value of solar research, makes 
the project a matter of national and of international importance.’ 
‘That a copy of the foregoing resolution be forwarded to the Prime 
Minister of Australia, with an urgent appeal that steps be taken to 
