PERSONAL. 
time, and subsequently, he has had a large share of the responsibility 
of directing and supervising the investigational work in two of the 
largest industrial research laboratories in Australia. 
Mr. Avery is chemical adviser to the Melbourne and Metropolitan 
Board of Works, which controls Melbourne’s water supply and sewer- 
age systems. 
Notwithstanding his numerous professional activities, he devotes 
considerable attention to public affairs, especially to educational 
matters. Mr. Avery is a man of culture in the wider sense, but he is 
a firm believer in science as a cultural subject, if it is taught in the 
right way. On his retirement from the Working Men’s College he 
was appointed Government representative of the Council of the College, 
and he is now senior vice-president of that body. He is also yice- 
president -of the West Melbourne Technical School. He was one of 
the founders of the Society of Chemical Industry of Victoria, of which 
he is also a past president. He is a member of the Food Standards 
Committee under the Victorian Health Act 1919. 
On his return from Tasmania in the beginning of 1919 Mr. Avery 
was appointed a member of the Executive Committee of the Advisory 
Council of Science and Industry, and has devoted much time and 
attention to the work of the Institute. 
At the May meeting of the Royal Society of Tasmania His Excel- 
lency Sir William Allardyce, K.C.M.G., took the chair as President 
for the first time. Major L. F. Giblin, D.S.O., was elected a member 
of the Council in place of Mr. T. W. Fowler (resigned). 
Messrs. H. Tryon, A. Cayzer, B.Se., and L. E. Cooling have been 
elected members of the Royal Society of Queensland. 
The Council of the Linnean Society of New South Wales has 
elected Messrs. C. Hedley, F.L.S., W. W. Froggatt, F.L.S., A. G. Hamil- 
ton, and Professor H. G. Chapman, M.D., B.S., as Vice-Presidents; 
and Mr. J. H. Campbell (Royal Mint, Sydney), as Hon. Treasurer for 
the current session, 1920-21. 
Professor R. D. Watt, M.A., B.Sc., has been. re-elected President 
of the Sydney University Agricultural Society. Other officers elected 
were Messrs. J. H. Maiden, L.8.0., F.R.S., F.uL-S., C. O. Hamblin, 
B.Se. (Agr.), R. J. Noble, B.Sc. (Agr.), P. Hindmarsh, M.A., B.Sc. 
(Agr.), Vice-Presidents; S. Cook, Hon. Secretary and Treasurer; and 
T. H. Harrison, Assistant Secretary. 
After an absence of fifteen months in the United States of America 
and Great Britain, Professor Kerr Grant (Professor of Physics at the 
University of Adelaide), recently returned to Adelaide. Professor 
Grant spent several months in the research laboratory of the General 
Electric Company at Shenectody, New York, and was specially engaged 
upon the application of X rays, chiefly to the analysis of metals and 
other crystalline substances. ; E aah 
379 
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