Australian-New Zealand defence co-operation »

Publication date: 1968

Australia and New Zealand are regarded in some parts of the world as almost one country. This is not the way they regard themselves, and the sense of separateness in both places that has grown for more than a century has continued and been reinforced, despite a growing number of links between the two countries. This book is the record of a conference that took place in Wellington in February 1968. At a time when both countries are engaged in a reassessment of their role in the world and their attitudes to each other, the conference represented a new venture in nonolficial discussion of Australian-New Zealand defence matters, and it reached a surprising degree of consensus. There are chapters on Australia's and New Zealand's perception of the threats to their security in the situation created by changes in British and United States policies in Asia; on the economies of defence; on nuclear weapons and defence science; and on trans-Tasman defence co-operation. This is a timely book which should interest the general reader as much as the political scientist and the member of Parliament.

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Soundings in modern South Asian history »

Publication date: 1968

In recent years the study of modern South Asian history has been extended beyond the range of older accounts of British administration and the growth of the Indian nationalist movement. This book is the first fruit of the close co-operation between a group of young scholars who worked together at the Australian National University in Canberra. A wide range of topics is dealt with, and the nature of the contributions typifies the new attitude to the history of South Asia. Throughout the book the effort is constantly made to explore the implications of social structures and social values in relation to historical events. Included are several case studies on social change during the last century and a half, in which special attention is paid to regional aspects of historical development. There are also essays on whole societies, on caste groups, on elites and on individuals, in each of which the role of social structures and social values is explored. The potentialities of these enormously varied lines of research are made abundantly clear. Individual chapters, complete in themselves, bear witness to the value of detailed research. Together they provide a model for the current phase of research into modern South Asian history.

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Trade unions and the depression: a study of Victoria 1930-1932 »

Publication date: 1968

The traumatic experience of the depression of the early 1930s has excited the attention of remarkably few historians in Australia. This close study of the Victorian trade union movement is a pioneering investigation which, it is hoped, may encourage scholars to review conditions in other States during the time of economic crisis. For some readers the work will revive bitter or humiliating memories. Later generations of the affluent society may find here a meaningful commentary on the gulf of suffering that separates them from their elders.

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The Stock Exchange of Melbourne and the Victorian Economy 1852-1900 »

Publication date: 1968

The small-scale pastoral ancl commercial community of Victoria in 1850 did not need a stock exchange; by 1900, however, the institution was a well-developed one. How did this change come about? Throughout the greater part of the period 1850-1900 the predominant business of the share market was in mining securities. Gold-mining developments made possible the formation of Melbourne{u2019}s first stock exchange in 1861. Increasing activity in gold-mining shares enabled its successor (1865-84) to establish itself in a more enduring way. Silver at Broken Hill, gold in Western Australia, and copper in Tasmania, were vital to the early history of the Stock Exchange of Melbourne, as it has been known since 1884. The early history of the share market was associated also with railways, banks, insurance companies, gas companies, and government securities. Dr Hall undertook the writing of this book at the request of the Stock Exchange of Melbourne. He has written not only a history of the Exchange to 1900 but a lucid study of the economy that nourished its development. The book will interest economists and historians, and the general reader as well - particularly the investor who is looking for a deeper understanding of the way in which a stock exchange operates.

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The law of Karma: a progression of poems »

Publication date: 1968

The Law of Karma is a Hindu doctrine of the transmigration of souls. In this work each reincarnation of the original soul is carefully placed in a historical and geographical context. It is really one long poem comprising a 'progression' of sixty-six parts through eleven life cycles. This structure allows the images to interact directly, free from connective links - discursive or didactic. The basic theme of the poem is that each betrayal of human responsibility opens the way to another more degenerate betrayal. It begins with the saint's complacent distaste for people and ends, some five hundred years later, with complacent genocide. The poem is a tightly-worked unit of cross-references in verse and narrative forms, echoed images, and frequent recurrence of whole lines.

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Real product, income, and relative prices in Australia and the United Kingdom »

Publication date: 1968

This monograph provides a statistical comparison of the levels of real product and income in Australia and the United Kingdom. As well as overall totals, details are given of the expenditure and relative prices of individual goods and services comprising national product. These estimates provide much of the information needed to compare the levels of living standards and industrial production in the two countries, and therefore enable these aspects of Australian economic conditions to be placed in international perspective. The study should be of particular interest to intending migrants and tourists from the United Kingdom as it shows prices and distribution of personal expenditure compared with those in their own country. Business firms operating in both countries should find useful the figures of the comparative cost of producing different goods and services. Finally, the estimates of product and expenditure should assist economists and sociologists in studying the pattern of consumer and national spending in Australia compared with that in the United Kingdom.

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The interpretation of national income estimates »

Publication date: 1968

Summaries of the flows of total expenditure and income in the economy and in the principal sectors comprising it have been used in many kinds of economic inquiry. In particular, information of this type helps in the examination of current trends in the level of economic activity. This has led to the preparation of social accounts by official statisticians in many countries. In this book an explanation of the nature and purpose of such statistics is given. Topics considered include the economic design of the social accounts, estimation and reliability of the figures, and the types of question which these data help to answer. Principles are explained, but by liberal use of examples and by constant attention to applications for which the data are intended, their discussion is kept on a practical plane. The book should be of value to anyone using national income and social accounting figures. It should be of particular interest to Australian readers, as the examples are drawn mostly from Australian data. However, the principles described have a general application, and some references to overseas practice are made where they are needed to keep the discussion in perspective.

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Secondary education in Queensland, 1860-1960 »

Publication date: 1968

Secondary education has seen more rapid growth in the last two decades than any other section of Australian education. All Australian states have appointed committees to examine the present systems and to make recommendations for changes. As yet there has been no general agreement on such matters as the aim and purpose of secondary education, the most desirable curriculum, the role of public examinations, the place of the university, or the training of teachers. This book traces the origins of the system of secondary education in Queensland - the early grammar schools and small academies, the church schools, the state high schools. It examines the influence of the Scholarship Examination and the effect of university control over public examinations. It deals with the work and influence of individuals - politicians, administrators, headmasters, and teachers. To explain the course of events, it proposes hypotheses which might well form the basis for similar studies in other states. All those concerned with education will find this book of value. For politicians and for educational administrators and historians, there is food for thought in the author{u2019}s account of one hundred years of secondary education in Queensland, and in the comments and criticisms he has to make, while for those engaged in the teaching profession in Queensland it is essential reading.

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Australian inland waters and their fauna: eleven studies »

Publication date: 1967

Australia's inland waters are inhabited by an interesting and unique fauna little known even to biologists. The eleven essays in this book are authoritative studies on various aspects of this fauna and its environment. The book surveys, first, the inland waters, their main climatic and topo graphic influences and chemical characteristics, and their classification. Then follow studies on the crustaceans, molluscs, amphibians, and fishes that inhabit the waters. The concluding section deals with some of the effects wrought by European man on both the animals and their environment. It is a book that will appeal to research workers and teachers; to students; to naturalists, conservationists, and anglers; to all with broad interests in the living world that surrounds them.

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