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The simplest measure of the mortality experienced by children during the first year of life, for any one calendar year, is obtained by calculating the ratio of the number of infantile deaths in that calendar year to the number of births in the same calendar year. This ratio is called a crude death rate and is published annually for Australia by the Commonwealth Statistician index of infantile mortality. An alternative method for calculation of this index has been put forward by V. G. Valaoras in a paper in Population Studies, December 1950. Dr Valaoras properly points out that the simple method described above is defective, mainly because it fails to refer the infant deaths to the appropriate group of births from which the deaths arose. The first defect is not important when births are being maintained at a fairly constant level. It is, in such circumstances, not unreasonable to assume that births are evenly distributed throughout each calendar year. Recently, however, birth rates have been subject to severe variations and the distribution of births during each calendar year has been very uneven.

Annual variations are often more brutal for nuptiality than they are for other demographic phenomena. Short-term economic movements, in particular, seem to have a more direct impact. In the long run, however, nuptiality is generally considered as a much more stable factor than, say, fertility which has undergone profound changes in all industrialized countries over the past hundred years. In this article the social scientists will attempt to study these recent trends in the light of longer-term ones, by comparing nuptiality movements in four countries: Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand. In this paper, they study the nuptiality of birth cohorts by calculating the proportion ever-married at age 50, and mean age at first marriage. Data are not always strictly comparable between one census and another, especially in Canada and the United States where geographical coverage has varied through time. However, the numbers involved were small. Moreover, the definition of marital status has not been changed, at least not the basic distinction between single and ever-married. Through a study of nuptiality trends for the single for about a hundred different birth cohorts, they will attempt to determine whether attitudes towards marriage have changed. But first, they must eliminate the structural effects which affect the phenomenon studied. For instance, marriage becomes more difficult for women and female nuptiality decreases when there is a scarcity of potential male partners.

This article describes the contraceptive usage of the wives of Melbourne; a portrait of birth control in Sydney would undoubtedly be very similar and indeed the picture is probably a faithful representation of the situation throughout the greater part of Australia. Apart from the evidence it presents on Melbourne, the chief contribution of this paper lies in two methodological innovations. The first is the use of "main" method of family planning for specified time periods; the "main" method being defined as the method used for the greatest proportion of time during the period. The second innovation is the analysis of the contraceptive practice of those women who were not knowingly infecund at the time. By coding separately those women who were not practising birth control but believed themselves to be fecund and those who were using nothing but believed themselves to be infecund, researchers have a reasonable base from which to calculate those at risk of practising contraception. A analysis shows that levels of family planning practice have been largely a function of the period and the technology, and, with the exception of the very young still without children or pregnant at marriage and the older women with increasingly impaired fecundity, the levels of practice have varied little with age. Total practice has increased steadily so that the proportion of fecund women employing some family planning method rose from about two-thirds at the end of the 1940's, to almost three-quarters at the end of the 1950's to nine-tenths in the early 1970's.

In Australia most manufacturing firms are force to make at least two kinds of location decisions, one involving the merits of the six capital cities, and the other based on variables operating inside the metropolitan areas. This paper is concerned with the behavior of the individual manufacturing firm when making the letter decision; empirical data have been obtained from three case study areas in Sydney. There is purposeful economic behavior by firms in locating, the most important influences being closeness to product market and the cost of land. The spatial effect is an arrangement of manufacturers strongly oriented to the CBD and to centrally located transport terminals. In a theoretical context, the neglect of rent considerations is a serious weakness in traditional manufacturing locating theory. The growing ability of firms to substitute among production factors also has important locational effects.

Over wide areas of the earth the railroad has been a decisive instrument in the creation of many of the most important patterns of human geography. Railroads are clearly phenomena of prime geographical interest, yet if it is true that "each means of transport has its own technological characteristics and its spatial layout, or network," it is equally true that their understanding of the inherent geographical implications of these characteristics and networks is far from satisfactory. The following paper attempts to add a further dimension to this common quest by focusing upon the comparative genetic character of two railroad networks.

The article deals with the recent widespread increase in marriage rates in the Western world. A convenient method of studying aspects of the recent history of marriage is provided by easily available data regarding the proportion of single persons at various dates. The article uses these data to disentangle two effects in the marriage boom: the extent to which the cohorts whose marriages have formed the main contribution to the marriage boom are marrying more, i.e. whether the proportion who will ultimately remain single is likely to be lower than in previous generations, the extent to which the mean age at marriage of these generations is likely to fall below that of their predecessors. The raw material for the computations to be presented consists of the proportions single at two recent dates for each of thirteen countries used in the study. The countries included in the study are Czechoslovakia, Denmark, England and Wales, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, and the U.S. The study from the proportion single shows that both reduction in the age at marriage and an increase in the proportion marrying at least once in the course of their lives is occurring in several countries.

The article presents the authors's views on an article on laterite by T. Langford-Smith and G.H. Dury. They states that their interpretation of the article was based upon their discussion of the so-called Barrier and Cobar Peneplains. They apologizes if they gave the impression that Dury and Langford-Smith ascribe all pediplains to erosion under dry conditions, but they also states that if Dury and Langford-Smith did write that pedimentation is now active in a part of Australia which even the most starry-eyed politician would hesitate to call humid.

The article assesses the health effects of the French nuclear bomb tests in the Pacific Ocean on the Australian people. A table showing the average outdoor gamma doses for the Australian population is presented. The reports of the National Radiation Advisory Committee concluded that the French nuclear weapons tests were of no significance as a hazard to the health of the Australian population. It stated that the dose was small in comparison to the average natural radiation. Another table on the estimated yield from several types of nuclear explosives and yield from fissile isotopes is shown.

The article discusses the sources of uranium, and observes its principal occurrence in several countries around the world. The carrying out of uranium research has been kept in the highest level of concealment from media. However, its confidentiality has subsided due to the open statements made by government officials in several countries they possess radioactive resources. These countries include Canada, Australia, France and Sweden. In the U.S. alone, its geologic effort to explore possible resources of uranium is extensive ranging from the Belgian Congo and Canada, and some quantities derived from Colorado. Details about the exploration activities carried out by U.S. Geological Survey are outlined, as well as the three classification of uranium deposits.

The article presents the author's views on the misrepresentation of an article on laterite by T.R. Patron and M.A.J. Williams. He states that it is not quite accurate to say that they regard the formation of silcrete as unrelated to that of laterite. He further states that they have been quoted as suggesting that Australian pediplains developed under semiarid conditions, whereas this is precisely opposite of their statement. The author also states that in view of the results he is now obtaining and publishing, he feels that he should be embarrassed to be credited with the proposition that pediments are exclusively dry-climate landforms.

Discusses marketing of footwear in the 19th century, focusing on the company C. & J. Clark Ltd., in light of records dating back to 1825. The general development of the ready-made footwear industry in Great Britain; Background on the founding of C. & J. Clark; The marketing policy of the firm, including product differentiation and quality; The introduction of a range of fittings and sizes for shoes; The company's contribution to style; Brand management; Bulk production of standardized goods; Exports and distribution failures; The consignment trade; The reason C. & J. Clark started a wholesale business; The use of direct selling by a traveller; Difficulties with the Australian trade.

An air mass frequency model is constructed to facilitate the formulation of a genetic classification of climate. The model uses Venn diagrams to distinguish three basic climatic regimes, each determined by the relative dominance of air masses: the dominant regimes, where a single air mass dominates all year; the seasonal regimes, determined by seasonally dominant air masses; and the compound regimes, with no dominant air mass. Different climates within each regime are distinguished by actual air mass types. Monthly air mass dominance is determined from actual station surface data for application of the model to world climates. This is completed by analysis of monthly data plotted on modified climographs and by the construction of a monthly air mass identification chart. The proposed system is illustrated by Australian data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trees of the genus Eucalyptus from Australia were spread widely and numerously through California after the 1850's. Several factors favored their spread, notably the production of limber and fuel, often with unrealistic hopes of financial gain. Planting for windbreaks and decorative purposes was also commonplace. An important and overlooked additional reason for the rapid dissembation of eucalypts in California. especially in the 1870's and 1880's, was the belief that trees of this genus, particularly Eucalyptus globulus or blue gum, could prevent or diminish the serious malaria problem that beset portions of the state. That certain forms of vegetation, especially trees, represented sanitary influences was an ancient notion and it survived even the germ theory of disease. The supposed method whereby eucalypts achieved their healthful influence was through the trees' imagined capacity to absorb or neutralize the noxious gases that were believed to cause malaria. This erroneous and antique miasmatic etiology of malaria, together with belief in eucalypt prophylaxis, was demolished in the late nineteenth century when it was revealed that the disease was caused by blood parasites transmitted by the bites of anopheline mosquitoes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the factors responsible for the increasingly poor performance of adult mortality in certain Western countries by means of a cross-national analysis. A model has been created which finds a country's death rate at age 55--59 and could predict very accurately by knowing the regional mortality family to which it belongs and its death rate. The male and female age patterns of mortality may be influenced by the same factors, merely with different intensity, or the pattern changes for the two sexes may be unrelated. Cigarette smoking was first adopted on a large scale in Western Europe, the United States Australia and New Zealand predominantly by younger men. A retrospective survey of smoking behavior in the United States shows that per adult consumption figures may understate the increase in cigarette smoking among older males. Reasons for lower female mortality risks from cigarettes include lower consumption levels, less inhaling and greater use of filtered cigarettes. Older males, have suffered a much larger deterioration in their relative mortality position. Almost all of their difficulties can be traced to changing death rates from cardiovascular diseases, cancer and bronchitis.

This article focuses on differentials in age of women at completion of childbearing in Australia. Over 90 per cent of Australian women marry sometime before the age of 45. Of these, perhaps 85-90 per cent bear at least one child. The duration and timing of the period of childbearing will therefore be of considerable importance not only to the women and their families most directly involved but also to the society itself. This wider relevance arises, in part, from the nuclear family's importance as the primary unit of consumption; in part, from the degree to which childbearing determines the extent to which a woman will want, or be permitted or able, to engage in activities outside the home; and in part, from the importance of the timing and duration of childbearing to welfare and insurance programmes designed to protect children and their mothers. It has been pointed out that while the propaganda in support of family planning has tended to emphasize the timing of childbearing, the actual practice of family planning has tended to focus primarily on the limitation of childbearing.

An important feature of the Australian government's post-war immigration program has been the preference shown for immigrants from the British Isles. In a fundamental sense, the success of the Australian government's assisted and non-assisted British immigration program could be measured by the proportion of immigrants who settled permanently in Australia. The fact that no reliable estimate of this proportion has yet been made is probably due to several reasons. It is the aim of this article to discuss the factors contributing to the absence of reliable estimates. The socio-economic characteristics of returned migrant workers have been examines by a sample survey of re-registrations for the National Insurance during 1959.

This study presents the results of an analysis of registration records relating to a small isolated population group of high fertility. The Malay population of the Cocos Islands, numbering nearly 1,800 at the 1947 Census of Malay, live in a single village on one of the smaller islands of the atoll, and for a period of about sixty years ending in 1947 were hardly affected at all by immigration and little affected by emigration. In this study, historical and social background is first outlined. The correctness and completeness of registration records relating to births, deaths, and marriages are then discussed.

By September 1950, 155,500 Displaced Persons from Europe had been admitted to Australia, most of them under government contract for two years. Their adjustment to the country's economy has been good, for they are willing, industrious workmen, though not highly skilled and their absorption has as vet produced no disturbance. Because of accommodation shortage they mostly still live in camps with workers usually separated from their families, a situation which they accept provided they see the possibility of building or owning their own house eventually. For single people and childless couples this long-term plan appears to be perfectly feasible, but for the men with dependents it is very questionable and the future of the latter group does not at the moment seem a happy one. Despite the present camp life it is the official policy not to permit minority communities to form, but rather to press for speedy assimilation ot the D.P.'s as individuals, the main weapon for this purpose being language teaching. The learning of English is slower than had been hoped for and reflects the relative failure of social adjustment and acceptance, since few D.P.'s are making the necessary personal contact with Australians which would make them wish to enter further into the new culture. In the author's opinion this failure is due to the two groups being more distant from each other than either realizes, with the result that both are making inadequate efforts at mutual understanding. A brief description of Australian society is given to illustrate this point. Hostility is not marked. The displacement neurosis with which many D.P.'s have been afflicted as a result of their past sufferings does not show signs of disappearing under the present conditions, and Australian psychiatric practice seems at the moment inadequate either to assist in the removal of this burden or to ensure adequate diagnosis and treatment for non-English-speaking immigrants who become more seriously mentally ill. Government planning of the migration has so far seemed to be good on the economic side but lacking on the social side, and it is suggested that social assimilation requires more energetic measures and some sociologically trained staff to redirect the present efforts of voluntary bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One hundred fifty-four towns with at least one commercial service and twenty inhabitants each are dispersed irregularly through Gippsland, Australia. A general relationship of their services S to population P is log S = 0.699 log P—0.367. The spatial pattern of residuals from this relationship is apparently made up of purely local elements. The fitting of low-order, partial trend-surfaces to the residuals establishes the presence of a weak but significant regional trend in their distribution. There are only minor differences between the map of residuals from regression and that of the deviations from the regional trend of those residuals. The explanation of the spatial character of the residuals, therefore, can remain in this case primarily in terms of local factors. The regional trend nevertheless needs explanation in terms of regionally 0perative factors that have not yet been established but which would not be suggested by more conventional methods of mapping residuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among Australia's many spectacular and important mining camps Broken Hill stands foremost. Since its discovery a half century ago that center has produced minerals worth more than two-thirds of a billion dollars. As a source of lead and zinc it ranks among the world's outstanding producers. Although years of mining are still in prospect at Broken Hill the zenith of production took place as long ago as 1913, and the ultimate near-extinction of the community is inevitable, for non-mining activities of the district cannot justify the continuance of an urban center approaching present size.

The article offers global news briefs related to atomic energy. Sponsored by India, five Asian countries met in Bombay July 23, 1956 to develop a common policy for closer cooperation in research and development of atomic energy. Work has commenced on Australia's first nuclear reactor-parts made in England will be assembled at Lucas Heights near Sydney. The nuclear energy organization in Austria is a stock company with the state owning 51 percent of the capital and the rest subscribed by firms.

The article presents an update of the meetings conducted by United Nation's Atomic Energy Commission in year 1946. A meeting that was held on October 22 gave an outline of the occurrence and working of thorium-bearing sands in Australia. It has been agreed in the said meeting that the wide occurrence of thorium deposits make it more difficult to control thorium than uranium. Another meeting that was held on November 4 presented a general account of the control of chemical and metallurgical processes in industry.