658 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVI. No. 40S. 



cellent work has been accomplished in con- 

 siderably less than a year's time. 



By regular attendants at Section F 

 (Economical Science) the Belfast meeting 

 will be remembered chiefly for its presi- 

 dent's address and for the large and atten- 

 tive audience which followed the papers of 

 local interest. Dr. Cannan in his address 

 struck the keynote of the meeting — the re- 

 inforcement of the most elementary 

 economic principles and their immediate 

 application to the complex problems now 

 to the fore in popular discussion. The 

 meeting did not elucidate any important 

 new contributions to economic theory, but 

 appeared to be educative in its character. 

 Again and again professed economists 

 emphasized, apparently to the complete 

 satisfaction of a well-filled room, the teach- 

 ing of the most orthodox Blasters in refuta- 

 tion of badly-conceived proposals. It would 

 be untrue to say that Dr. Cannan 's simple 

 and conclusive application of the theory 

 of rent to the question of municipal hous- 

 ing and other municipal ventures com- 

 manded the immediate and unqualified 

 approval of a section which has been in 

 the habit of debating municipal policy year 

 by year with the accredited representatives 

 of local governing bodies through the 

 length and breadth of the land. "V^Hien Mr. 

 Porter, on the Friday, condemned unhesi- 

 tatingly all productive municipal enter- 

 prises, speakers from Nottingham and 

 Manchester were in disagreement with his 

 conclusions ; but the general audience ap- 

 peared to be in sympathy with the reader, 

 and the discussion was not sufficiently long 

 or representative to cover the ground ade- 

 quately. Those who agree with the reader 

 of one of the weakest papers ever presented 

 to the section, that a large body of educated 

 thinkers are weakening on the strict theory 

 of free trade, should have been present on 

 the day devoted to Irish questions. The 

 representatives of Belfast industries were 



completely at one with the platform in de- 

 nying the practicability of an Imperial 

 ZoUverein, as emphatically as they ridi- 

 culed the proposal for a ' moderate measure 

 of protection for Ireland. ' The advantage 

 to the home-country of a difl:erential duty 

 in its favor on the part of a colony was 

 generally admitted; but the question 

 whether such a relaxation was to the real 

 interest of the colony was not discussed. 

 Judge Shaw 's paper, which introduced and 

 dominated the discussion, was deservedly 

 applauded ; for it put in a simple, accurate,, 

 and intelligible form, calculated to appeal 

 to the ordinary educated man, the fallacies 

 and difficulties inherent in current pro- 

 tective proposals. The plan, introduced at 

 former meetings, of allotting a day to those 

 subjects which are of special interest to the 

 locality was continued and expanded. The 

 ' free trade' day began with a valuable 

 historical essay on the linen trade; and, 

 to judge from the local press, this was cal- 

 culated to be of considerable use to those- 

 engaged in the industry, as well as of im- 

 portance to the statistical historian. A 

 previous morning had been devoted to the 

 consideration of trusts, with particular 

 reference to the shipping combination. 

 Though this excited much local interest, it 

 cannot be said that the audience was really 

 representative, nor that much was added to 

 the theory or the facts in question ; but, so 

 far as it went, the tone was optimistic. Bel- 

 fast does not stand to lose by recent 

 developments; it was expected that the 

 British shipping interest would survive 

 without damage; and, on the more general 

 question, it was held that trasts did not 

 flourish in a free-trade atmosphere, and 

 that, even where their existence could be 

 maintained, prices would not rise nor 

 wages fall ; but there was a lamentable 

 absence of reasoned statistical verification. 

 Education was to the fore in Section F, as 

 well as elsewhere; and, in the presence of 



