The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-02-27
RALASlA.
Conflict of Authority as to the Territory
Which 1t Includes.
(From the New York Sum-

(From the New York SUM-
A learned society is rather uniortunaoo
to say the least, when it Is unable TO 'oii
what its name means. This is the diem
ma of the Royal Geographical eocie's
of Australia sia. 1t asked the lnteru"
tional Geographical Congress in Lonuon
last year to give an answer to the queS-
ton: What is the trus dehnitlon Oh Vne
term Australasia? The congress, peihs
very busy with otLer matters, hau Ao
time for this oonundrum, and tne qaee-
ton is still unanswered.
The Australian gaographers decline "
accept the British definition OF the "oiu
as given in the imperial statute, "hion
declares that tsthe term Australasia siall
signify and include New Zealand an"
| Tasmania as well as Australia why,
ask the Australian geographers, snouiu
New Guinea, Fiji, New Caledonia an"
the other islands OF the South seas De Ga
cluded? In fact, no geographical sooieos
ana few wrltera accept the British aehnl-
ton; Tut confusion arises because every
body uses tao sVard according to MS OWE
idea Of what it embraces. Inc Au p
tralians fieM have tried ln - e,oo "
reach a common understanding. seoo,,
graphical conference at Melbourne III 1903
argued the question, but failed TO nos'a II
any conclusion, and none has pooh "a
rived at since, though the gfeae soeioys :
with7itS branches in all the leaulnss oo'o-
nies, said in its memorial to the Lohuoh
Congress that eve consider 1t lhaeUer
of daily increasing Importance.
L. The fact in, kthere are Few aooep 1s1
Iibonndaries fo,. narts Of the world consld7
cred in "a geographical instead OF poiitl-
cal sense. What is the geographical, VIZ
socalled snatural. division between hurope
and Asiasinsthe Southeast? one Famous
authority says it is the ManYuscn uepies
sion north OF the Caucasus; announcer, Inal
it. is the line following the crast u ING
main Caucasus range, ana SELL anuulel,
that it is the southern nounuaIy "
Trans Caucasia; and the latest edltloh OF
g Reyollerung der Erde, - which deals
with the,mafter, gives three defefmlna-
tions of tie fatal area of Europe, accoru-
| ing as one or other of these boundary
| lines is accepted. IL.
There Is mo agreement even as TO the
number of continents, for some dlseih'
guished writer's recognizes only tniee,
Enro- Asia, Africa and America; anu
when they talk of the great divisions OF
the land surface, the number varies from
i've to eight, according to different
writers. Perhaps in only one respect IS
this mattersof much Importance. When !,
writer or speaker refers to "a region, y
is highly desirable to know how much OF
The earth's surface ne includes under the
name.
Until half century ago there was
IN uch confusion i'll books and aliases
/ Il nv, n nv
the various oceans. The Royal Geograph'
iral Solciety of London appointed com.
mittee, in 1s45, to settle thess matters,
and the conclusions reached by the COM
lnittee. with some notifications, were
generally accepted and have proved adj
vantaaeous. There is much less con
fusion with regard to tie names and ex
| tent Of land surfaces, but such as exists
is not likely to be remedied unless som'
auth oritative tribunal takes tho matter
in band aud the rest of the world accept;
its decisions.