EDITORIAL. 
WHITE ANT PEST. 
Co-operative arrangements have now been completed between the 
Institute and the New South Wales Department of Agriculture for 
carrying out investigational work in connexion with the white ant pest. 
A Special Committee has been established for the purpose of controlling 
the work. ‘The personnel of the Committee is as follows :— 
Mr. A. A. Ramsay, Agricultural Chemist’s Department, Sydney, 
and Dr. G. P. Darnell-Smith, Department of Agriculture, 
Sydney, representing the New South Wales Department of 
Agriculture. 
Mr. G. F. Hili, Entomologist, Institute of Tropical Medicine, 
Townsville; Mr. L. Harrison, B.A., B.Sc., Lecturer on Biology, 
Sydney University; and Mr. E. E. Turner, B.A., B.Sc., 
Lecturer on Organic Chemistry, Sydney University, represent- 
ing the Institute of Science and Industry. 
It may ‘be remarked that Mr. G. F. Hill has already carried out a 
large amount of investigational work on termites, both in the Northern 
Territory and at Townsville, and he has coneluded that local conditions 
in Darwin would be more favorable for the study of these insects than 
in Townsville. Mr. Hill is now compiling the results of his investiga- 
tions during his four years’ stay in the Northern Territory, and they 
will be published as one of the Institute’s bulletins. 
ALUNITE. 
It is reported that a very extensive deposit of alunite has ‘been dis- 
covered on the West Coast of Vancouver Island, B.C. At the request 
of the persons interested in this deposit, the Institute has furnished full 
information regarding the results of the research work carried out in 
Australia. The authorities in British Columbia are of the opinion that 
the experimental work carried out by the Institute will be of considerable 
value in facilitating the development of their deposits. 
FLUE DUST FROM FURNACES. 
The Institute has been requested to advise as to the value for fertilis- 
ing purposes of the flue dust from the Richmond Electric Light and 
Power Station. Analyses of the dust were made, and disclose the fact 
that the material is of no value as a source of potash or as an agricul- 
tural fertiliser, except for some slight mechanical effect it may have on 
certain soils. The dust contained only 0.05 per cent. of potassium oxide 
and 0.8 per cent. of phosphoric anhydride. 
THE FLAX INDUSTRY. 
The Commonwealth Flax Industry Committee, which was estab- 
lished by the Government on the recommendation of the Institute, as a 
result of the Conference of Agricultural Scientists convened in 1917, has 
recommended the Government to continue the guarantee for raw-flax. - 
It is understood that the Government does not intend to let this industry 
languish. Already the acreage under crop has been increased from 500 
to 2,200 acres, and the Flax Committee anticipates that no less than 
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