ROYAL SOCIETY OF N.Z.

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26187, 10 August 1950, Page 4

ROYAL SOCIETY OF N.Z.

Science Congress In Christchurch

ATTEMPT TO INTEREST GENERAL PUBLIC

The seventh science congress of the Royal Society of New Zealand will be held at Christchurch from May 15 to May 21, 1951. The aim of the congress is “to bring together workers in various branches of science and interested members of the public to review progress in scientific endeavour.” Scientists in different fields will discuss topics of common interest, thus giving the congress a much wK»er appeal than any previous scientific gathering on such a large scale m New Zealand. “It is intended that papers submitted to section meetings should be intelligible to scientists generally. This means that they will also be intelligible to the • layman,” .said the Director of the Canterbury Museum (Mr R. S. Duff) who is publicity officer for the congress, yesterday. More than 500 scientists are expected to attend the congress, which is being organised by the Canterbury branch of the society, in co-operation with kindred bodies. The congress will be held at Canterbury University College. It is proposed to arrange the programme chiefly in symposia, some of which will be conducted jointly by different sections, to show how various sciences are * becoming increasingly linked. Besides joint symposia, all sections will have sessions dealing with particular topics. There will be sessions for miscellaneous papers apart from symposia, to enable work of an independent nature to be reported. As an example of a topic which is likely to interest scientists in different fields Mr Duff gave “The Age of Man in New Zealand.” Set down on the programme for the anthropology section of the congress, this subject also appears on the geologists’ programme. “Animal-Plant Relationships” will be discussed by botanists, zoologists and workers in agriculture, forestry and soil sciences. Other subjects likely to arouse wide interest are: “Geothermal Energy Resources of New Zealand” (to be discussed by physicists rnd geologists); “Hydrology and Land Use” (geographers, geologists and agricultural scientists); and “Juvenile Delinquency” and “Public Price Fixing” (social scientists).