SCIENCE OF BUSINESS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2922, 7 November 1916, Page 3

SCIENCE OF BUSINESS

■ LECTURE TO CITY MEN. A lecture on the science of business was delivered in tie "Assembly Room of the Y.M.O.A. last night by Mr; Andrew Deerj Governing Director of the Sheldon Institute of Business Science of Australasia. A representative body of some 200 WeEington business men were present. The Mayor (Mr. J. P. Luke) presided, and introduced the lecturer as a good Australian, and thcreforo a British subject. Mr. Deer began by denning "business;" and argued for a definition wido enough to embrace all useful effort- 1 -: "busy-ness." After outlining the essen. tial components in any business activity, and generally indicatingthe relative importance and the significance of the. various parts', Mr. Deer gave some account of the genesis of the Sheldon Institute, and how it was that Mr. Arthur Sheldon, from being a poor schoolmaster in America came to study business method. Ho went on then to discuss in much, more detail the quasiscientifio questions arising in the control and carrying through of business activities. His method of dealing with this subject was very much after the American plan. He has many of the Americans tricks of phrase, too, but in his manner of attacking the most uninteresting study of business lie used always the graphic American terminology, with an occasional diagram or formula to stimulate or hold the interest of his audience. His talk covered a great variety of subjects and studies, and his method was fresh and unconventional. Especially was this so in that portion of the lecture relating to the study of human nature, the value of accurato character reading, the importance of physiognomy,_ and so on. He outlined steo the business science circle movement, referring to its growth and development in Britain and British countries-, and he _ suggested that a circle should be established here. The proposal he made to the meeting was that it should set up a committee to decide whether it would be well to have a business science circle established in Wellington. No committee was set up, but a vote of thanks was accorded to Mr. Deer for his address.