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(Reprinted from The Times, 1884)
It seems early to begin to speak of the arrangements for the nextmeeting of the British Association, but it is a far cry to Montreal, anda proportionately long start must be made before the final leap istaken. So heartily have the Dominion Government and the Canadiansavants entered into the preparations that everything is ready;all the presidents, vice-presidents and secretaries of sections havebeen selected; all arrangements made with steamship companies andAmerican railways; all excursions have been planned, and all possibleroutes provided for; instructions of the most detailed kind have beendrawn up for the guidance of members; nothing has been left, indeed,except what depends on contingencies of time and place, so thatProfessor Bonney and his legion of officials may at any moment take uptheir portmanteaus and walk on shipboard. All this forwardness andcompleteness are largely due to the zeal of the High Commissioner, SirCharles Tupper, and his energetic and obliging secretary, Mr. Colmer.When the decision was come to at Southampton to hold the meeting of 1884in Canada there was widely expressed disapproval of the step, and doubtas to its legitimacy; but the prospect of entertaining the upperthousand of English science has evidently so greatly gratified ourCanadian brothers that even the most stiff-necked opponent of themigration must be compelled to give in if he has a shred of good natureand brotherly feeling left. There are doubtless a few grumblers who willmaintain that the Montreal assembly will not be a meeting of theBritish Association; but after all this Imperial Parliament ofScience could not be better occupied than in doing something to promotescience in one of the most important sections of the British dominions.Indeed, since some maintain that so far as this country is concerned ithas almost ceased to have a raison d'etre, might it not extendits functions and endeavour to exercise the same effective influence onthe promotion of science in other parts of the Empire as it hasundoubtedly done in the past in the Mother Country? It can scarcely hopeever to hold a meeting either in Australia or India, nor even, we fear,in South Africa; but there are other means Which it might adopt moreappropriately than any other body to encourage the progress of sciencein these parts of the Empire, and make accessible to the publicinterested in it the good work which is being done, at least in some ofthe Australian colonies. In Canada itself there are several importantscientific societies; but so far as we know, they have no common bond ofunion. Seeing that there is already an efficient American Association,we should not advocate the formation of a separate Canadian body; butpossibly the Montreal meeting might be able to do something tofederalise the separate Canadian societies. We suggested some years agothat the Association might do such a service to the numerous localsocieties in this country, and we are glad to know that the suggestionhas borne fruit, and that already a real advance has been made in thisdirection.
But whatever may be the results of the Montreal meeting, it is clearfrom the programme which