PROBLEM OF THE PACIFIC.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 January 1923, Page 5

PROBLEM OF THE PACIFIC.

VALUABLE HELP FROM SCIENCE. THE PAN-PACIFIC CONGRESS. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. 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 the congress hoped to accomplish in the interests of the peoples living in and around the Pacific Ocean. The r, : m of this triennial congress was, he said, to promote harmonious relations between the;, nations within the great Pacific region. This was expected to be accomplished by the consideration of economic and social problems which were common to all these great, nations. The leading scientists of the world interested in panPacific problems would meet at Melbourne and Sydney and give freely of their great knowledge concerning various Pacific problems needing solution. At the symposia arranged all existing knowledge will be correlated and co-ordinated, and in th ; s way it was confidently expected that problems such as “bunchy top in bananas,” “yellows” in pineapples, sugar-cane pests, the rhinocerous beetle in cocoanut, rust in wheat, malaria, elephantiasis, the preservation and administration of native races, protection against earthquakes, forecasting of weather, wireless telegraphy, ocean charting, fisheries, and other urgent problems to be solved in the near future. To this end 250 of the leading institutions, including Britain, France and Holland from Europe, since they have interests in the Pacific, had been invited to send delegates, while 250 eminent scientists concerned with pan-Pacific problems had been invited also to send delegates to Sydney, where the next congress is to be held.