SCIENCE CONGRESS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1645, 11 January 1913, Page 5

SCIENCE CONGRESS.

WAGES AND THE COST OF LIVINGEFFECT OF INCREASEB, Bjr Telegraph—Press Association—Ooryrlirht (800. January 10, 9.45 p.m.) Melbourne, January 10. A paper on "Wages" was read before the Science Congress by Mr. Bobert Mackenzie Johnston, 1.5.0.,- Tasinnnian Government Statistician and Bcgistrar-General. He said that the standard of living of the people as a whole could only be raised by cheapening the cost of commodities by further improvements in labour-saving machinery, and tho allied natural forces. An arbitrary increase in'.nominal wages, if restricted to a few industries, might increase both nominal and real wages or the purchasing power of the wage-earners belonging to those trades; but if this mere raising of nominal wages was too widely extended it would tend to lost the advantage to those whom It included, owing to the faot that they were consumers as well ae. producers. ' ■ ■. Industrial Freedom. Dr. Mercer, Bishopof Tasmania, read a paper on "Labour.ns-the Basis of the Social System."/ Market prices, he - said, were almost entirely the' result of' the automatic.working of the social forces. "It is hard," he said, "to find a satisfactory . substitute for /labour, which is not the sole sourco of valuo, Land and capital,'apart from the questions of State individual ownership, have their part to play. We may grant that a living wage must bo established, but we must pre-, serve a large sphere for industrial dom in a system "of free exchanges and open markets if industrial stability is to be assured." ;' ;■■-...' •/ !

Dr. J. W. Springthorpe (Melbourne), in an address on "Some Desiderata in Australian : Hygiene," said Australians wero enefgetio; enterprising, . progressive, and were .free to act beyond most others, but tile Australian failed to see evolution as a factor, in both progress and production. He devoted his energies to remedies rather than prevention, and relied far 'more on legislation than obedience. '■> : ■: '■ '■.. -New Zealand Papers. "'. Professor Kirk, of Wellington, in his presidential, address to the biology section, dealt, with' the present aspect of sonio problems of heredity. Mr. GVJ. Keakus, of the 'Department of Agriculture of Now-. Zealand, contributed note's of his investigation of o nutritive disorder of ruminants, the 60-called "bush sickness," which occurs in a section of tho Bay. of Plenty country.-' --■ -~ Infantile Mortality. /.Mr. -Wickons, of the' Federal Statists' Bureau, stated that the investigations into infantile mortality disclosed-by the Commonwealth experience, for tho decennium 4901-10 that of, a hundred thousand males -born-87,620 would' reach the.age of fivo; while of a hundred thousand females the number would be 69,289. ■'■■'',- - ■' ■■■ ■'' ( Professor Henderson, in -dealing with national selection, said it.needed only a sufficient number of strong and peaceablydisposed , nations to sign a treaty, to mako it practically imjossible for warlike'.nations to take tho liggressive. ....':' y ■ i ■, .;.!■■'';' ■'. '.;'," :•■-[ '-v Monaco of the Empty North, :■','■ ; ' ■ Professor 'Baldwin 'Spencer, in lecturing on the Northern Territory, stated thatit contained,' apart from,.aboriginals,less iithan.4ooo; people, scattered.over an area' ,0f.523,000-;square miles.;'. There were oil/ 840 whites in Darwin, while a/iewVdays' 'sail away, were some small islands containing thirty-seven million., On , seeing those, one had fears as to what might happen in the near, future.- .:,