SCIENTISTS MEET.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVIII, Issue 18534, 9 October 1920, Page 6

SCIENTISTS MEET.

PAN-PACIFIC CONFERENCE. By DU. OHAS. CHILTON, Professor of Biology, Canterbury Ooliego. No. 2. HOW THE CONFERENCE AROSE. The first article of this series, written in Honolulu and published in the '‘Lyttelton ‘rimes 5 ’ of Sopteinber 1, gave a brief account of the aims and objects of the Pan-Pacific Scientific Conference and of Now Zealand’s interest in the scientific problems that were to be brought forward and discussed. That article was written about a week before the opening of the conference. Since then tho conference has held its sittings. finding tho three weeks of meetings short enough for the discussion of all tho problems brought before it; the representatives have returned to their homes in tho countries around the Pacific, refreshed and .stimulated by the intercourse! with their fellow-workers from other parts, and better prepared, both by their individual exertions and by their influence with others, to carry on tho researches recommended by tho conference. There is time now to explain a little more fully how the conference arose, and why it was held at Honolulu. Many causes combined to make the conference desirable and possible, and it is necessary to go far back to look for its first suggestion. HONOLULU THE CENTRE OF THE PACIFIC. The original cause is to be found In the geographical position of Honolulu and of the Hawaiian Islands of which it is the capital. These islands lie approximately in the centre of tho Pacific. They are somewhat north of the geographical centre, for they are about 20 degrees north of the Equator. This, however, gives advantages of climate, and places them in closer proximity to the great countries, Canada', the United Stote3, Japan and China around the North Pacific, for these are of much greater importance in the meantime than the more distant and more widely separated continents that border tho South Pacific. Honolulu is 2100 miles from San Francisco, 2232 from Loa Angeles, and about the same distance front San Diego. Vancouver is 23-13 miles away, Yokohama 3400, Hong Kong 4961, Manila 4778. and the Panama Canal 4665. Towards the south Tahiti is 2440 miles distant. Samoa somewhat nearer, Fiji about as far away as Tahiti, while Auckland is reached after a journey of 3850 miles, Sydney about 4424, and Callao and Valparaiso ana further off at distances of 5147 and 6616 respectively. The Promotion League at Honolulu exhibits these facts by means of maps on their letter paper, circulars, eto. ; allowing Honolulu in the centre with lines radiating to the various places named, and calling the map “ Tho Crossroads of the Pacific.” For these lines are not mere geographical distances. Most of them mark the routes of steamers that run from the places around the Pacific direct to Honolulu or call there on thedr way to ports on tho farther side. By her commerce and by the intercourse that follows from commerce, Honolulu is kept in touch with- the great centres of population around the Pacifto. and the connection is made closer by the mixed character of her own people. In the Hawaiian Islands, besides the native Hawaiiana and the Americans, English and other Europeans, there are large numbers of Japanese, Chinese, Philippines, Koreans and Portuguese, and a Few from Porto Rico and other places. Tho original inhabitants, the Hawanans, were formerly great navigators, and have thedr legends that they came from islands to the south. It is not to. be wondered at, therefore, that th® interests and the'problems of the whole Pacific focus upon the Hawaiian Island* and suggest Fan-Paoifio ideas and aspirations. “ Hawaii is not only toe crossroads meeting-place of the Pacific, it is the groat racial experiment station.” But. these advantages and opportunities arising from geographical position and from the results of parii historical events are passive in their influenco. It needed a man of vision ana imagination to transmute them into action. ALEXANDER HUME FORD AND THE PAN-PACIFIO UNION. That man was Alexander Hume Ford. It would be more correct to say, that man is Alexander Hume Ford; for he is still actively devising fresh schemes for tho more complete embodiment or the Pan-Pacific idea'. The majority or persons see things only as they appear at tho time; they are ignorant of the lessons of the past and indifferent to the possibilities of . the ruture. To see tjie potentialities and possibilities of tho present and to convert them into realities there is required a combination of the vision of the poet with the ordered and controlled imagination of the man of science. Possibly Mr Ford would be called neither a poet nor a man of science oven by his friends and admirers in Honolulu, but it is almost entirely through his efforts that the people of Hawaii have been made to understand and appreciate the advantages of the Pan-Pacific movement. It is not possible to enumerate all the organisations and movements promoted br Alexander Hume Ford for the good of the people of Hawaii in particular and of those of other Pacific lands in general. They are all incorporated, in somewhat shadowy form, perhaps, m the Pan-Pncifio Union, which is ‘ an organisation representing Governments of Pacific lands and with which are affiliated Chambers of Commerce and kindred bodies, working for the advancement of Pacific States and communities, and a greater co-operation among and between tho people of all races in Pacific lands.” The Pan-Pacific Union is incorporated with an international Board of Trustees, representing every race and nation of the Pacific; it has a 9 honorary presidents the Presidents of the United States and of China and tho Prime Ministers of Canada, Australia and New Zealand. There are several honorary vice-presidents, including the Governors-General of Java and the Philippines, the Premiers of the Australian States and of British Columbia, and Mr John Barrett, the “ Director-General of the Pan-Pacific Union.” The president is the Hon C. J M’Carthy, Governor of Hawaii, and tho secretary is Alexander Hume Ford. The main objects of the union are sot forth in the charter and, as will be seen from the following extracts, are wide and far-reaching in character:— 1. To call in conference delegates from all Pacific peoples for the purpose of discussing and furthering the interests common to Pacific nations. 2. To maintain in Hawaii and other Pacific lands bureaux of information and education concerning matters of interest to the people of the Pacific, and to disseminate to the world information of every kind of progress and opportunity in Pacific lands, and to promote the comfort and interests of all visitol3.' To aid and assist thoso in all Pacific communities to better understand each other, and to work together for the furtherance of the best interests of the land of their adoption, and through theta to spread abroad about the Pacifio the friendly spirit of inter-racial cooperation. game of these objects are set forth more fully in the succeeding clauses of the charter, and they are repeated in general form in the last clause, viz.:— To bring all nations and peoples about tho Pacific Ocean into closer friendly and commercial contact and relationship. Fr° m t* lo vague and very generalised language in which th© objects of the union are expressed, and from its large proportion of honorary officers, it

might be thought that the Pan-Pacific Union is a visionary and unsubstantial body without definite achievements. But this would be quite an erroneous conchi.iion. It has promoted and succes-’ fully carried through several important conferences besides the scientific one with which we are now concerned, ana for tlie last ten years it has kept itself before the public bv means of its official organ, ‘‘The Mid-Pacific Magazine,” conducted by its secretary, Alexander Hume Ford. This is a monthly magazine of articles dealing with tn*> geography, history and other aspects of lands around the Pacific. The magunino is well illustrated, and tho articles are written by persons who are recognised as authorities in the subjects with which they deal, and the result is a journal serious nud educative in character, but at the same time attractive to the ordinary reader. The contents of each number are well varied and deal impartially, with all the countries of the Pacific region. For instance, the September number of this year has descriptive articlca dealing with matters in Pacific America, Samoa, Philippine Islands, Australia, New Zealand, China, British Malaya and Hawaii, The “ MidPacific Magazine ” contains in each number the bulletin of the Pan-Pacific Union, and thus keeps its readers in touch with the operations of the union and its projects for the future. The part that the union played in initiating and carrying through the Pan-Pacifio Scientific Conference is not the least of its achievements, but the story must b® reserved for another occasion.