204 REPORT — 1875. 



Iceeper of tlie Papers at tlie Foreign Office, has recently prepared a collection of 

 treaties, in one tliiu volume, showing how the trade between this country and 

 Austria is regulated in the present year (1875). 



Mr. E. Plertslet mentions the desire publicly expressed by Austria, Turkey, and 

 other foreign powers to revise their commercial treaties not only with Great Britain, 

 but with other states. He shows precisely in his treaties' collection what commer- 

 cial treaties have been concluded between foreign states, containing clauses con- 

 ferring more favourable treatment on their respective subjects, on commerce, and 

 on navigation, than are specially provided for in the English treaties, but the bene- 

 fits of which concessions are or might be enjoyed by British subjects under the 

 "most-favoured-nation " clauses of the Englisli treaties. 



If the commercial treaties between different countries are likely to be considered 

 at the Buda-Pesth International Statistical Congress, a calm and dispassionate 

 survey of international commercial relations may be anticipated on the part of an 

 assembly comprising official representatives of high statistical talent from nearly 

 all civilized nations. 



The Council of the Statistical Society of London nominates a small number of 

 delegates to attend each Congress ; and the Committee of Section F may perhaps 

 arrange for some representation of the Section of Economic Science and Statistics 

 in the Buda-Pesth Meeting of 187G. 



In another department of statistical research, education, the General Committee 

 of the British Association formerly voted grants, which materially aided educational 

 inquiries. In 18-36 the Report of a Committee of the INIanchester Statistical Society 

 (consisting of Messrs. W. K. Greg, W. Langton, and Henry Eomilly), on the state 

 of education in the borough of Liverpool, was presented to Section F at Bristol. 

 The investigation had occupied thirty-one weeks, at a cost to the Society of £9G. 

 On tlie recommendation of the Sectional Committee in Bristol the sum of £150 

 was placed at the disposal of a Committee (consisting of Colonel Sykes, afterwards 

 ]M.P. for Aberdeen, Mr. Hallam, and Mr. Porter, Secretary of the Board of Trade) 

 in furtherance of inquiries into the actual state of Schools in England, considered 

 merely as to numerical analysis ; and similar grants were bestowed, with a like 

 object, for several years in this Association. 



Last year, at Belfast, some of the leading Members of the Statistical Section inter- 

 ested themselves in the restoration of harmony between the masters and the opera- 

 tives in a strike which was going on at the time of the British- Association Meeting. 

 A conference was recommended, happily followed by a compromise, and the differ- 

 ences were satisfactorily arranged. 



At the present Meeting, the Section of Economic Science has various communi- 

 cations of much interest to be brought forward ; and it gives me pleasure to request 

 the reading of the first paper, thanking you, at the same time, for your courtesy in 

 listening to my introductory observations. 



On the prohahle Cost and Propriety of removing to Ewjland the fallen Ohelish 

 of Alexandria, presented to Oreat Britain hy the Pttcha of Eriy^t. B\] 

 Major-General Sir J. E. Alexander. 



On the Need of Systematic Observations on the Physical Characters of Man in 

 Britai'.i. By John Beddoe, 31. D., F.R.S. 



The Vvi'iter endeavoured to show the need for the collection of extensive and 

 systematic observations on the stature, bulis:, weight, rate of growth, &c. of 

 mankind in the British Islands. He had already laboured in this field for some 

 time, but sought for more active cooperation from those interested. He pointed 

 out how great results had already flowed from Quetelet's researches in this depart- 

 ment of knowledge, and how the practical bearing of such statistics on factory 

 legislation, on the recruiting question, &c. might be immediate and considerable. 



