WEST AUSTRALIA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 1449, 3 October 1910, Page 5

WEST AUSTRALIA.

SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITIONS. By Telegraph.—PreS3 Association —Copyright. Perth, October 1. The Swedish scientific expedition, under the leadership of Dr. Eric Mjoberg, has started for the Fitzroy River district, whence excursions will be made in search of flora and fauna.

West Australia has done little of recent years in assisting the scientific study of its aborigines, its flora, or its fauna. In the neccssary attempt to make progress in settlement, and to build up a strong and permanent community within the State, many of the less practical sides of life have been sacrificed. Under these conditions the people of the western State should welcome very warmly the two expeditions the one from Sweden and the other from Cambridge University—which have come to their shores to undertake the duties which they have neglected. The main object of the Cambridge expedition is to solve certain anthropological problems, and the party will also devote attention to zoological research. The Swedish expedition is engaged in the solution of important animal-geographical questions. Dr. Mioberg and his associates are specially anxious to ascertain how far and to what extent immigration has taken place into Northern Australia from the Malay Islands, and how far such immigration has influenced the flora and fauna. The Swedish expedition apparently intends to make two excursions, one inland from Derby, following the Fitzroy River, south and east of the King Leopold Mountains, and returning to Derby along a river north of the mountains, while the other excursion will go from Derby along the coast to the northernmost point of the State. The fact that an English university and a Swedish university should both be engaged in such an attempt for the extension of pure knowledge and the study of matters in regard to which there is no room for profit of any sort, is a gratifying indication of how far, in an age which is largely mercantile, and which is frequently accused of being almost exclusively mercenary, other ideals are nourished, especially in the strongholds of education.