Business power in Australia: The concentration of company directorship holding among the top 250 corporates

This paper presents results from a comparative study of company directors of the top 250 Australian companies. The paper analyses the concentration of directorship holding in Australia and New Zealand in 1991 and compares this with other Australian, New Zealand, British, Canadian and American studies. The paper argues that while the density of interorganisational interlocks in Australia is quite normal by international standards, such comparisons are substantially affected by the relatively small number of board positions characteristic of Australian companies. When we allow for this external parameter by considering the concentration of directorship holding by persons, there is evidence of a significant concentration of available positions in the hands of relatively few persons in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. The paper suggests that the organisation of business power in Australia reflects a continuing tension between principles of regulation derived from the larger economies of Britain and the United States and practical concerns of business leadership in Australia generated by the geopolitical realities facing Australian business.     

Australia’s relationship with the European Union: from conflict to cooperation

ABSTRACT

After decades of tension, Australia and the European Union (EU) now have a substantive relationship, interacting and cooperating with each other within a wide range of areas. The relationship is currently at a critical turning point. The Framework Agreement has, for the first time, elevated the relationship to a treaty level. It strengthens Australia–EU actions and interests on bilateral, regional and multilateral issues. There is considerable potential for closer cooperation and more extensive pooling of the resources and capacities of both interlocutors on a range of policies and within the multilateral context. This article provides an assessment of the relationship, the current state of play and key challenges facing the relationship as the EU and Australia forge stronger ties through the conclusion of a Framework Agreement and the commencement of discussions on a Free Trade Agreement at the same time as the UK’s exit negotiations from the EU. It demonstrates that, although there are challenges facing the relationship, there are also significant opportunities to further develop and strengthen ties.     

Creating authentic ‘glacial’ landforms from waste materials: Two UK case studies

This paper describes two case studies of hills of waste material in the UK that have been specifically conceived to replicate glacial landforms. In one case a spent oil‐shale tip ('bing') and municipal waste dump in West Lothian has been remodelled and restored in the form of a local glacial crag‐and‐tail. In the other, a municipal waste disposal landraise hill in Lancashire has been designed to resemble the local drumlins. An assessment of the geomorphological authenticity of the landforms is made and it is concluded that the involvement of glacial geomorphologists in such projects is important if convincing and authentic outcomes are to be achieved. Adherence to landscape principles and attention to detail can pay dividends in winning public support, in achieving cost savings, and in securing successful after‐uses.     

A Journey among primitive tribes in Madagascar

EUROPE

Island Farm. By F. Fraser Darling. Demy 8vo. Pp. 223. Illustrated. London : George Bell and Sons Ltd., 1944. Price 15s.

A History of the City of York. By Charles B. Knight. Royal 8vo. Pp. ix+774. 3 plans. York : The Herald Printing Works, 1944. Price 42s.

British Survey Handbooks. 1. Belgium. Edited by John Eppstein. Fcap 8vo. Pp. xiv+111. Map. Cambridge : University Press, 1944. Price 3s.

The Dutch Nation: An Historical Study. By G. J. Renier. Demy 8vo. Pp. 272. 1 map. London : George Allen and Unwin Ltd. for The Netherlands Government Information Bureau, 1944. Price 15s.

ASIA

China and Britain. By Sir John T. Pratt. Demy 8vo. Pp.128. 11 plates. 66 other illustrations. London : William Collins, Sons and Co. Ltd., 1944. Price 8s. 6d.

AMERICA

Canadian‐American Relations, 1875–1911. By Charles Callan Tansill. Med. 8vo. Pp. xviii+507. 3 sketch maps. New Haven : Yale University Press ; Toronto : The Ryerson Press ; London : Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press, 1943. Price $3.50 or 23s. 6d.

AUSTRALASIA

The Geographical Basis of Government, Specially Applied to New South Wales. By J. Macdonald Holmes. 9 1/2×7 inches. Pp. 168. 34 figs. Sydney: Angus and Robertson Ltd., 1944. Price 12s. 6d.

GEOMORPHOLOGY

Geomorphology—An Introduction to the Study of Landforms. By C. A. Cotton. Third Edition, revised and enlarged. Pp. 505. 473 figs. Christchurch, N.Z. : Whitcombe and Tombs Ltd., 1942. Price 25s.

Principles of Physical Geology. By Arthur Holmes, D.Sc., F.R.S. Pp. xii+532. 95 plates. 262 text illustrations. Edinburgh and London : Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd., 1944. Price 30s.

OCEANOGRAPHY

The Oceans : Their Physics, Chemistry and General Biology. By H. U. Sverdrup, Martin W. Johnson, and Richard H. Fieming. Demy 8vo. Pp. x+1087. 265 figs. 7 charts. Bibliography. New York : Prentice‐Hall Inc., 1942. Price $10.00.

EDUCATIONAL

Higher Surveying. By Arthur Lovat Higgins. Demy 8vo. Pp. viii+463. 172 figs. London : Macmillan and Co. Ltd., 1944. Price 25s.

GENERAL

The Statesman's Year‐Book : Statistical and Historical Annual of the States of the World for the Tear 1944. Edited by M. Epstein, M.A., Ph.D. Crown 8vo. Pp. xxxvii+1484. Map of Boundaries of Poland. London : Macmillan and Co. Ltd., 1944. Price 30s.