N.Z. scientists ‘losing momentum’

Press, 3 October 1983, Page 6

N.Z. scientists ‘losing momentum’

PA Palmerston North

New Zealand scientists were showing little interest in making science pay and the country seemed to have lost its “early scientific momentum,” according to the dean of the faculty of science at Massey University of Manawatu, Professor R. D. Batt.

“New Zealand science is typically open-ended, devoid of defined commercial goals and seldom planned and executed to a time schedule,” he says in an article in'the Institution of Professional Engineers October journal. Professor Batt calls for a

full investigation into New Zealand science and its productivity. In the early days, he said, there were some remarkable achievements which brought big returns, such as the discovery of cobalt deficiency in the soil, plant breeding -programmes for some new grasses, recogpition of iodine deficiency in soils for the prevention of goitre and more recently the effect fluoride has on dental decay. It should be a matter of concern and urgency to determine why New Zealand “appears to have lost that early scientific momentum,” said. Professor Batt