Tattoos, Oysters, Subjects For Congress

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31548, 9 December 1967, Page 14

Tattoos, Oysters, Subjects For Congress

Subjects ranging from the tattoos of Borstal girls to the courtship of doves are to be discussed by the 2500 scientists expected to attend the fortieth congress of the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science in Christchurch from January 24 to 31 next year. With accommodation and excursions, plus gentfal spending, the Australians |n Christchurch for the congress are estimated to bring into New Zealand around 5A85.000. Subscriptions from Australians have already brought in SA6OOO. As well as the more highly technical topics, there will

be papers and discussions about such things as the gentry of Tasmania, aboriginal bark paintings, pidgin English in New Zealand, oil formations, earthquakes'. New Zealand oysters, flounders and crayfish, artificial intelligence, and a survey of the fertility of the Australian elite. Although a science congress, the gim is to provide papers of use to all citizens. One prominent speaker to attend is the former Director of Education (Dr C. E. Beeby), who is now Commonwealth visiting professor at the University of London Institute of Education. Mom than half Of the assembled scientists will come from Australia, and their congress will be held at the University of Canterbury while students are on vacation. Altogether the scientists will present about 850 papers under 16 headings.

Accommodation will be in i the university halls of resi- ■ dence as well as in city i hotels, motels and billets. I Other parts of New Zealand ' will be visited by congress i members on excursions and ■ tours designed to let them : see the country while studyi ing historical, geographic and geological features. During the congress there i will be three symposia in- . tended to Bring together the i social and natural sciences. One wijl be about economic • and cultural changes in the - South Pacific, at which the ’ scientists will discuss const!1 tutjonai change in that area, economic changes ip the Cook r Islands since independence, and legislation for the preservation of cultural monuments. Australian-New Zealand relations will be the subject of the second symposium, including historical as well as cultural, ecdnoinie, political and agricultural relations.

i The third congress sympos- • ium deals with feedback meci hanisms in the physical, bio- . logical and social sciences. 1 An Antarctic research sym--5 posium is also being arranged 1 together with an associated 1 exhibition. Lectures and films . will be presented, and the • United States Navy and the Antarctic Division of the De- , partment of Scientific and In- ' dustrial Research will pro- ' vide material for the exhibi- ' tion. An unusual feature of the : congress will be a “junior ! congress” which will allow ! senior secondary-school pupils •to take part. There will be • lectures for them from visit- : ing scientists, films, demon- ■ strations, a panel discussion • and a field day. The president of the con- • gress will be Professor Sir ’ John Crawford, Vice-Chan- ■ cellor of the Australian Na- • tional University and director I of the Research School of Pacific Studies.

His presidential address will ' be called “The Malthusian • Spectre in India,” which will give the congress the oppor- ■ tunity to discuss the responsiI bilities of science in the supI ply of and demand for food. ' Mr A. R Low, Governor of ! the Reserve Bank of New ' Zealand, has been invited to ■ give the Giblin lecture and • his subject will be “Monetary • Policy— A New Zealand Re- • view.” The Giblin lecturer is chosen for his contributions ' to economics and public ad- ’ ministration and government Major Australian newspap- ' ers are sending science reporters to cover the congress. ’ The Australian Broadcasting Commission and the N.Z.B.C. will combine for coverage to be used on the national networks of both countries. The full address by Professor E. W. Titterton, of the Department of Nuclear Physics Of the Australian National University, will be televised.