RESEARCH SCHOLARSHIPS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 161, 1 April 1908, Page 6

RESEARCH SCHOLARSHIPS.

; ;Tiie proposal l of. the Government! to establish research scholarships , has already borne useful.. fruit, in the report, which, has -been drawn up by Professors Scott, .Evans,' and Chilton, of Canterbury College, a summary of which was sent to us for publication yesterday vby \our, Christbhuroh : correspondent. What must first strike the reader' of the report is the wide field that! is .• awaiting 1 investigation. The Canterbury Professors: have, perhaps,' not exhausted all the possibilities of 'the"innovation : :in tlipir list' of matters requiring study, but even if there were no other avenues open for profitable research/ their list is extensive enough to give ample occupation to such students as avail themselves of, the scheme. '• >"(The.;'-.Professors;; liave abstained' from suggestions of a '.purely academic character.- Every; one of th'eij suggested subjects - for research calls! for study, and' promises yrich : economic advantages to; successful; investigation. The life history; of insects injurious or useful in agricultiire and horticulture, 'and the chemistry of fungicides and blight sprays :hav'e : oc'ciipied, ; and are occupying, the Biological Division of the' Department of Agriculture, but there is almost endless scope for. fur- 1 ther study. We have Bordeaux spray; arid the Californian lady-bird, but to a country so largely dependent on -'efficiency in; arboriculture, 'agriculture and horticulture, a great deal more is required, arid it is. to science'that we must look for aid. Allied fields of study concern fodder plants and medicinal plants. Wasting, its remedial properties there- may be a New Zealand • rival to' cinchona; thenative ginseng may be educated up to the highest medicinal; efficiency.

' Amongst other matters suggested by the Professors as, worthy of investiga-: tionlare the life history of our food fishes; the chemistry of brown and other coals; the relation between', coal resins and,fossil kauri resins; the oils of certain indigenous seeds; the chemistry of iron deposits and metallic sands and ores; and the best methods of fertilising light pumice land?. Not a great deal, perhaps, can be looked for from ichthyological research, nor is it very likely that New' Zealand research willadd much to modern Industry's knowledge of the possibilities of coal; but the other subjects mentioned involve conditions and things native to New Zealand, and. are practically virgin fields for inquiry. Given brains in the scholars, and an ordinary measure of the 1 happy luck that scientists rely upon, the scholarship scheme should be rich in good results, Thq terms of the scholarship are generous enough to that graduates in science and engineering will be found willing to give thpmselves up to congenial and fairly'well rewarded work for two or three years. At present the graduate in science or engineering toq often finds himself' without a market for his knowledge and talent when lie has febeived his diplonta, and he runs to waste in a hundred obscure ways,

Under the Government's _ scheme the best of these students will have the opportunity of . benefiting themselves and the country as well. Upon some points of detail we dislike the scheme, but we readily admit its general excellence and value, and Ministers are to be much commended upon their serious attempt to put certain of our neglected natural conditions to profitable use.