SCIENCE CONGRESS.

Hokitika Guardian, 31 August 1923, Page 3

SCIENCE CONGRESS.

AI’STItAI.IAN AM) N.Z. CAM.I2 ASSOCIATION, i PEOPbES OF PACT FK’. THE EARLY MIGRATIONS. SYDNEY'. Augit't 30. The Science Congress had illicith<*v busy day discussing a wide range of subjects. Cotton growing and other sub-tropi-cal crop-, with their cli.scr.scs. insect ]:c--ts and c-ontrcilliiig agencies, came up for consideration. The necessity for strict legislation, for controlling the importation of plants and tree- " ,lh stressed. Prfessor David, dealing with ccual reels, stated that evidence supported [ the theory that there had been a proloimed lUilisidicneo at '.he Fuantuti A toil (in the Ellice Group), hut the erowtli of Ilaroils reef-forming organisms appeared to have kept pace with the subsidence. IU emphasised the need for fixing permanent marks on the coral Atolls in the Pacific, and ot taking fresh levels every few years, m older to ascertain whether subsidence elevation, or staple conditions obtained. Doctor biathlon, of Cambridge Cni-ver-itv. lecturing on the migrations ot people iu the Southwest Pacific, said the latest theory was that an archaic civilisation of high culture spread im mediately from Indonesia into me Pacific. He postulated ‘ that, befoie the coming of the bearers of this c'vilisaiiiin. the original inhabitants of tne Pacific- lands wen- mere collectors id loot!, with a very rudimentary culture. |)r Hacldou quoted examples of customs similar to those of Ancient Egypt. India and Western Europe, amongst the earlv Pacific; islanders. How these customs reached Melanesia was obscure, and it- was evident that one had only just begun to appreciate the extreme, complexity of the problems surrounding jibe' human occupations of the Pacific'.