A MEETING OF SCIENTISTS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 30, Issue 772, 7 May 1954, Page 6

A MEETING OF SCIENTISTS

ANY of the outstanding scientists of the Dominion, some of whom are of world status, will assemble in Auckland on May 17 for the Eighth New Zealand Science Congress of the Royal Society of New Zealand. On this occasion the Congress has been .organised by a committee representative of the Auckland Institute and Museum, the Auckland University College, and various ‘national scientific bodies. Over. 300 papers will be presented, under 12 main headings, including the physical, chemical, botanical, zoological, geological, geographical, medical and social sciences, anthropology, architecture and engineering, agriculture and forestry, and soil science. The guest speaker, who will address a public meeting in the Auckland Town

Hall on Tuesday, May 18, will be Professor M. L. E. Oliphant, Director of the Research School of Physical Sciences at the Australian National University, Canberra. Dr. Oliphant is one of the world’s foremost physicists. His address, Science and Mankind, will be recorded and broadcast from 1YC at 10.0 p.m. that evening. Most of the Congress meetings will be held at Auckland University College, and to facilitate radio coverage a temporary NZBS studio will be established in the College buildings. Listeners throughout New Zealand will first hear a talk on the organisation and objects of the Congress, given by Dr. L. H. Briggs, Chairman of the Executive Committee, and broadcast from main National Stations at 8.45 p.m. on Sunday, May 16. Then during the Congress itself there will be a programme of approximately twenty minutes broadcast. in place of Radio Newsreel on the evenings of May 17, 18, 20°and 21, and possibly .also_on May 19, which is a day free of formal meetings. Called Science Report, this pro2ramme will be in the form of a newsreel, including commentaries on each day’s events, and excerpts from some of the papers and lectures. Auckland listeners will in addition hear a preview by James Fox, of the Geography Department at Auckland University College, broadcast from 1YA at 7.0 p.m. on May 13. Mr. Fox will talk about some of the topics on the Conegress programme. The Congress is primarily a meeting of scientists, but it is open to anyone who wishes to enrol as a Congress Member, and the organisers have tried to keep the various papers as non-tech-nical as possible so that scientificallyminded lay people can follow them. Wherever possible symposia have been arranged so that scientists specialising in different fields can hold joint meetings. Some highly technical subjects have been included, but, The Listener found, many of the matters to be dealt with

elsewhere cover problems of very great interest to a great many people, One of the. symposia, for example, bringing in the chemical, social and geographical sciences and agriculture, will be on the impact of substitute foods and fibres on New Zealand’s primary industries. Some of the subjects to be discussed from varying points of view by New Zealand’s greatest authorities on these matters will include the effects of the’ competition" offered to wool by synthetic fibres and problems arising from the development of margarine as a substitute for butter. "Dairy farmers may wonder if there is a threat to their security behind the fact that in parts of the United States dairy land has been converted to soya bean cropping be-

cause chemists are finding it cheaper to get. fats from plants by extraction than to atlow. the work to be done through the metabolism of the cow," one «scientist at A.U.C. explained. "Butter is three times the price of margarine, you know; and unpalatable fats such as lard and tallow can now be readily and economically converted to edible margarine." Another symposium of specially wide popular interest will be on insecticides, on May 21. It is expected to show that such "kill-alls" as DDT can be a very mixed blessing. Some insecticides are deadly to insects important to the welfare of crops, and there is the possibility of cumulative poisonous effects on

animals and on man _ himself. Blanket ase of DDT has often had unexpected results, it was explained, one typical example arising from the fact that this insecticide does not kill red spider, but does kill this pest’s natural enemies. DDT treatment thus gives red spider an opportunity to make phenomenal progress. Farmers should have a particular interest in a series of papers on trace elements and their importance’ to various crops and farm animals, which will be‘ presented on May 18; and there should be wide interest, too, in a ‘symposium on geothermal development, to be held on the same afternoon. 7 Among other subjects which appear to have an appeal for non-scientists as well as for the specialists for whom they are primarily intended are radio carbon dating, soil analysis, plant physiology, biological control of unwanted insects and weeds, race relations in New Zealand, wood and wood products (excluding timber), climate and agriculture. Of particular interest for city dwellers will be a symposium on Greater Auckland and its problems. "Urban Sprawl," "Town Planning Within’ the Urban Fence," and "Phe Cultural Cen*re" will be discussed, Congress events will be open only to enrolled members, apart from three to which the public will be invited. These are Dr. Oliphant’s address in the Town Hall, a meeting in the Seddon Memorial Technical College Haii at 8.0 p.m. on. May 20, when there -will be an address by Dr. R. N. Robertson, a plant physiologist with the Commonwealth Scientific -and Industrial Research Organisation, and an illustrated public lecture on "Geology and Geography in the Exploration of the Himalaya," to be held at the University at 8.0 p.m. on. May. 21, when the speaker will be ‘Professor N. E. Odell, Professor of Geology at the University of Otago. ¥