SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—]-:. 3-1-9 



of South Africa with its great glacial deposits of Palaeozoic age in the constitution of 

 the rocks of this sector. 



Economic Possibilities. — Value of sector confined entirely to marine products, 

 chieflj' whaling. Brief sketch of whalins; development in other sectors and application 

 to the conditions in South African quadrant. 



Conclusion. — Need for investigation of problems and methods of attack. 



Thursday, August 1. 



Prof. C. B. Fawcett. — The Location of the British Empire in relation to the 

 Old World. 



The Old World here means those lands which were accessible to the civilised 

 peoples of Asia and Europe before the development of trans-oceanic navigation, i.e. 

 it consists of Europe, Asia and Africa north of the Sahara, together with their marginal 

 island groups. 



This Old World contains approximately half the land of the world (excluding 

 Antarctica) and more than three-fourths of the human population. And it is mainly 

 one continuous land area, in strong contrast to the widely separated insular and 

 peninsular lands of AustraUa, Africa south of the Sahara, South America, North 

 America and many islands, which together make up the New World. Hence the Old 

 World is, and is likely to remain, by far the most important among the land areas of 

 the earth. 



In relation to the Old World the lands of the British Empire form two very in- 

 complete concentric series. 



1. The irmer series is formed by the British Isles, the waj'-stations from Gibraltar 

 to Aden, the Indian Empire, Ceylon, Malaya and Hong Kong. These lands lie on, 

 or just off, the western and southern margins of the Old World land mass, and occupy 

 important positions along its open-water coasts. Within them lie the ' mandate ' 

 territories of Palestine, Trans Jordan and Iraq. 



2. The outer series is formed by Newfoundland and Canada, the British West 

 Indies, the West and East African territories, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand 

 and some Pacific islands. All these lands are parts of the New World and lie from 

 2,000 to 6,000 miles away from the central land mass of the Old World. 



The lands of what I have just called the inner series together occupy about one-fifth 

 of the total land area of the Empire ; but, since India and the United Kingdom are 

 by far the most populous divisions, this inner series contains nearly four-fifths of the 

 Empire's population. 



If, however, we distinguish the lands of the British Commonwealth (the self- 

 governing States of the Empire) from their dependencies, we may note that in the 

 Commonwealth only the British Isles are in our inner series close to the Old World 

 continent. All the other Dominions are in the New World. Measured by mere area 

 the British Isles occupy only one-sixtieth of the land of the Commonwealth, with 

 perhaps one-tenth of its population capacity. At the present time, however, these 

 islands contain about two-thirds of the white population of the British Empire, a 

 proportion which is still overwhelming though it is steadily diminishing owing to the 

 greater rates of increase of population in the younger Dominions. And when, as a 

 result of this growth, the British Isles cease to be the most populous part of the 

 British Commonwealth, the Empire will be to a much greater degree than it is at 

 present a part of the New World, with the homeland of Britain as its outpost towards 

 the Old. 



Mr. R. 0. Buchanan. — Geographic Influences on the Dairying Industry of 



New Zealand. 



New Zealand stands second only to Denmark as an exporter of dairy produce, 

 and provides an excellent illustration of how local geographic advantages may counter- 

 balance such disadvantages as shortage of labour and distance from markets, the 

 latter causing in turn the diflSculties of expense, rapidity, frequency and regularity 

 of delivery of supplies. 



Distribution. — Distribution maps of New Zealand's dairy cattle show the enormous 

 preponderance of North Island (1,087.866) over South Island ^264,784), and the 

 predominance in North Island of the following regions : South Auckland, especially 

 the counties of Hauraki Plains, Piako and Waikato ; and Taranaki, surrounding 



