xxxvi NARRATIVE OF 



NARRATIVE OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN 



MEETING. 



The invitation to the British Association to hold a meeting in South 

 Africa was given by the South African Association for the Advancement 

 of Science, with the full support of the Government of the Union of South 

 Africa. On July 8, 1926, a deputation from the South African Association 

 interviewed the Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa, General the 

 Hon. J. B. M. Hertzog. As the result of this interview the following 

 cablegram was despatched to the British Association : ' Please convey to 

 His Royal Highness [The Prince of Wales], President of British Associa- 

 tion, cordial invitation to British Association from President and Council 

 of South African Association to visit South Africa in 1929.' 



On September 3, 1927, a cable was despatched from the Leeds Meeting 

 of the British Association as follows : ' General Committee British 

 Association unanimously and gratefully accepts invitation South Africa, 

 1929.' 



The Union Government allocated to the South African Association a 

 grant of £10,000, of which £6,000 was transmitted to the British Associa- 

 tion for distribution in the form of grants, in aid of travelling expenses, to 

 members selected by a committee of the Council, mainly on the nomination 

 of the sectional committees. A sum of about £1,300 was allocated by 

 the South African Association toward the travelling expenses of the Presi- 

 dent of the British Association and certain selected guests, British and 

 foreign. A sum of £10,000 was collected in Great Britain as detailed in 

 the Report of the Council preceding this narrative (p. xvi), and was 

 devoted to further grants in aid of travelling expenses, and to assist in 

 covering the extraordinary expenses necessarily falling upon the funds of 

 the British Association in connection with a meeting overseas. The 

 Rhodes Trustees generously contributed £250 toward the expenses of 

 certain university students selected by the Committee of Council to attend 

 the meeting. In the Report of the Council referred to above, and in that 

 for the preceding year {Report of the British Association, Glasgow Meeting, 

 p. xlii), further particulars relating to the preliminary organisation will 

 be found. 



The number of visiting members from overseas was 535. They 

 travelled for the most part in three ships, the Union Castle Mail SS. Co.'s 

 Llandovery Castle, the Blue Funnel SS. Nestor, and the Union Castle R.M.S. 

 Windsor Castle, which arrived at Cape Town respectively on July 18, 19, 

 and 22. The Inaugural General Meeting in Cape Town was held in the 

 City Hall on Monday, July 22, at 4.30 p.m., and was attended by H.E. the 

 Governor-General (the Rt. Hon. the Earl of Athlone) and H.R.H. Princess 

 Alice, the Hon. the Prime Minister, the Minister for Education (Dr. 

 D. F. Malan), Lt.-Gen. the Rt. Hon. J. C. Smuts, and H.M. the Sultan of 

 Zanzibar. Sir Thomas H. Holland, K.C.S.I., K.C.I.E., F.R.S., was 

 inducted into the presidency of the British Association and the chair of 

 the meeting by the Hon. Sir Charles Parsons, O.M., K.C.B., F.R.S., in 

 the unavoidable absence of the retiring president. Sir William Bragg, 



