OF THE AUSTRALIAN MEETING. 685 
invitations issued to foreign representatives was large in proportion to 
the number of those who were able to accept, but eventually the Over- 
seas Party included altogether 1 Canadian, 10 American, 3 South 
African, 8 German, 1 Russian, 1 Polish, 2 Italian, 1 Swedish, and 
5 Danish members and guests, and also 3 from British India. 
Number of the Overseas Party.—Apart from the allocation of grants, 
the question of the total number of the Overseas Party demanded careful 
consideration. The Council had not the power, even if it had felt the 
inclination, to impose any direct limitation upon the number of Members 
attending the Meeting. On the other hand, the Australian authorities, 
while offering very extensive facilities in the direction of free railway 
travelling and hospitality up to a number largely in excess of the number 
of the grantees and other Members specially invited, were obviously 
compelled to take into consideration the number for whom it would be 
possible to provide special trains and find hospitality. Moreover, it was 
essential that the number and composition of the Overseas Party should 
be known at as early a date as possible, in order that the local organisa- 
tion might be carried out with a reasonable knowledge of the require- 
ments of the party. A general circular concerning the Meeting was 
therefore issued to Members in October 1913; replies from those who 
intended to attend the Meeting were invited by November 1 (excepting 
the case of Members residing abroad), and it was made clear that any 
delay in replying might involve a Member in difficulties and incon- 
yeniences for which no responsibility could be accepted. In December 
1913 the Council decided that Members whose intimations of intention 
to attend were qualified by doubt, or were received late, could be 
guaranteed no special facilities in Australia, and that no new Members 
should be enrolled for inclusion in the Overseas Party, except at the 
discretion of the Committee, as in the case of an applicant whose 
attendance might be deemed to be of special importance on scientific 
grounds. It remained open to Members to proceed to Australia, and 
take part in the Meeting, at their own risk so far as concerned the 
facilities already mentioned: a few did so. But the provisions above 
detailed succeeded in their object of ensuring that no serious difficulties 
should be ultimately encountered by the Australian authorities in dealing 
with the transport and accommodation of the party. No division of 
the party was made into ‘ official ’ and ‘ non-official’ classes for purposes 
of differential treatment in these- departments. The total number of 
the Overseas Party was 300. No Associates were enrolled in England 
for this Meeting. 
Arrangement of Sectional Programmes.—The Council held a special 
meeting on October 17, 1913, in order to appoint sectional officers, 
and thus enable the Organising Sectional Committees to get to work ag 
early as possible. It was agreed that as it would be barely possible, 
in view of the great distance, for these Committees to receive and 
consider papers offered by Australian scientific workers, local com- 
mittees in Australia should undertake the responsibility of selecting 
these, working on the rough rule that local communications should not 
generally occupy more than one-third of the time available for sectional 
work, though in such sections as Geology, Zoology, Geography, 
