PACIFIC COUNTRIES

Otago Witness, Issue 3593, 23 January 1923, Page 59

PACIFIC COUNTRIES

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL PROBLEM'S. WELLINGTON, January 16. At the Town Hall to-night the final lecture under the auspices of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science was delivered by Mr E. C. Andrews, Government geologist of New South Wales and general secretary of the Congress. The major portion of his address was devoted to outlining the history of the Pan-Pacific Congress held at Honolulu in 1920, and to a review of the great humanitarian work that Congress hoped to accomplish in the interests of the peoples living in and around the Pacific Ocean. The aim of this triennial Congress was, he said, to promote harmonious relations between the nations within the great Pacific region. This he expected would be accomplished by consideration of the economic and social problems which were common to all these great nations. Leading scientists of the world interested in Pan-Pacific problems will meet in Melbourne and Sydney and will give freely of their great concerning the various Pacific problems needing solution. At this symposia it has been arranged that all the existing knowledge will be correlated and co-ordinated, and in this way it is confidently expected that problems such as “bunchy top in bananas,’’ “yellows” in pineapples, sugar- cane pests, rhinoceros beetle in cocoanut, rust in wheat, malaria, elephantiasis, the preservation and administration of the native races, protection against earthquakes, forecasting of weather, wireless telegraphy, ocean charting, fisheries, and other urgent problems, will be solved in the near future. To this end 250 leading institutions in various countries, including Britain. France, Holland, and from Europe, since they 7 have interests in the Pacific, have been invited to send delegates. Two hundred and fifty eminent scientists concerned with Pan-Pacific problems have been invited also to send delegates to Sydney where the next congress will be held.