ROUND THE RIM.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 16212, 24 August 1923, Page 6

ROUND THE RIM.

TAN-PACIFIC PROBLEMS,

Elec. Tel. Copyright united Press Assn SYDNEY, August 23. Tho delegates to the pan-Pacific Science Congress arrived from Melbourne m a special train and wtoe accorded a civic welcome by the Lord Mayor and a distinguished gathering at the Town Hall. The business sessions of the conference will be opened by the Governor to-morrow. “POOLING” SCIENCE. SYDNEY, August 14.—Millions of years ago there was a slight sagging over nearly a third of the earth’s surface,, accompanied and followed by vast earth-waves or modulations in tho solid globe. As a result the Pan-Pacific Congress is to meet in Melbourne on Monday, and in Sydney on August 23. For the sagging of tho surface gave us the Pacific Ocean, covering 70,000,000 square miles, and the earth waves, the rim of mountains and tablelands that ring in the Pacific. It is the underlying unity of tho aera, in spite of its enormous size and apparent diversity that will be* the keynote*of the Congress. , That unity appears both im its geography, in the arrangement of its important land-forms and in its geological structure. In the past the very vastness of the' Pacific kept apart) the nations that dwelt on its borders. As Dr. E. C*. Andrews has pointed out the ocean was too big for them to fight aerosg it. Now that improved means of communication' have brought tho Pacific nations together it is the aim of science to associate them in material, mental and social improvement and in the victory of man over his environment. <

Such is tho underlying unity of the Pacific regions that many scientific problems of great economic importance are common total! or to many of them. It is by team-work that they can succeed. And it is to secure that team-woTk that the leaders of scientific thought! in the nations interested have been called together. They pool their knowledge without thought of fee or reward. In all 84 scientists have come to Australia, from Great Britain, the United States, Canada, Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines, Holland, tho Netherlands Indies and New Zealand,,

On August 24 tho morning will be devoted to a general discussion on “The Structure of the Pacific Region, its influence on Animals and Plant Life,” Dr. E. C. Andrews will open the discussion. Later in the’ day tho hygiene section will discuss “Climate and its Effect on Human Efficiency,”

Saturday, August 25, will bo devoted to excursions, with a lecture in the evening by Dr. A. C. Hnddon, the famous British ethnologist, on the migrations of peoples and cultures in tho Pacific,

Amongst the sectional discussions on Monday, August 27, will bo one on the blowfly problem, a matter of) immense importance to Australia’s pastoral industry. On Tuesday there will be** a general tasoussiori on “Settlement in Areas of Low Rainfall,” led by Dr. Huntington, one of America’s loadin'? authorities. There will be a similar discussion on I‘lnsects and Their Role in the Pacific Regions”.,on Wednesday. “The Climate of the Pacific Regions, and its Causes and Relation to Economic *’nd Social Tata,” will be toe snbiecti of the general discussion on Thursday, On Friday the best means for organising and co-ordinating scientific workin the Pacific region twill be discussed. After a few excursions on Saturday 'he conferepce will end on Monday,'September 3. Then some of the visiting scientists will have a look nt Broken Hill, and some at tho Great Barrier Reef.