RESEARCH IN N.Z.

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2834, 27 July 1916, Page 6

RESEARCH IN N.Z.

SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY DISCUSSION The Wellington Philosophical Society devoted last evening to a discussion of tho need for the organisation of scientific ami industrial research. The discussion was opened by Professor T. H. Easterfield, who pointed out that owing to the loss of many of our best men through the war some"such organisation had become an Imperial necessity. The problem was a complex one, because it was not only the organisation oi scientific research that was necessarv, but'a change in the ordinarv attitude of mind to science. Nearly everyone would subscribe to a belief in science, but the majority of educated men were totally ignorant of its language. Others who Knew its powers and wished to get its benefit were unwilling to contribute; others, again, had a mistrust of science, as being theory, and all theorists, according to them, were necessarily cranks. Many instances were given <f the neglect to recognise, the effectiveness of welldirected research. In the British • War Office, for instance, before the war, the salary of the most highly-paid chemist had been reduced from .£I2OO to ,£350. This man was Sir Frederick Abel, the first to investigate the chemistry of guncotton, and the inventor of cordite. The War Office had certainly got good value for their money. After' the -(Tar started chemists were in great demand in the making of munitions, and advertisements wore issued at the Woolwich Arsenal for men- who were required to b9 trained, chemists and accurate analysts, university graduates or members of the Institute of Chemistry preferred. The salary offered was ■■£■} os. 6d. per week. It was hardly necessary to point out that the ■membership of the Institute of Chemistry involved two years further work after graduating in science. Well-trained of his acquaintance had been given ,£IOO li. year in gunpowder works, men who had subsequently written standard works on their own subjects. One man, employed at .£IOO ayear in autarch factory, was not allowed to leave his laboratory to look through tlie works, on the grounds ttiat lie might learn tho process and divulge the secrets. These instances illustrated the general attitude of the British manufacturer towards science. Things in New Zealand were not greatly different. He himself had been offered 30s. for a week's work of investigation on behalf of a company which proposed to spend ,£10,01)0. The attitude of the enemy was markedly different. In Switzerland and Germany gentlemen's clubs ' had on their reading tables all the well-known scientific journals, both English and German, as .well as such papers' as "The Times" and "Punch." These- papers were not bought for nothing. They were there because the average educated man did read and could appreciate science. It was no. wonder, then, that the Germans thought it worth while to get the best scientific advice, and to pay for it, and the result was the present position of the German chemical industries. >

Research in pure science could not be neglected. Such research was necessary as a training for research in .applied 1 science. In the German dye industries the men soughMor were those who had done t\vo or three years' research work in problems of pure science, as being best fitted for' the complexities of this -industry.

There was room in New Zealand for a very great number of researches on the problems of our primary .and secondary industries. He would cite only the flax industry, in which no important work had been undertaken since the Flax Commissioners issued their report some 30 years ago. He did not see why the Government should bo expected to do everything. A very small percentage of the profits of the Association, if spent in subsidising research on this industry, would have long ago paid for itself many, times oyer. In his own case, he had been consulted four tiuies in connection with this 4 industry, twice by English companies, who had "got into a mess ami wanted to get out of it, and tivico by Germans, who wanted to know what (scientific knowledge existed to avoid getting into a mess. That was typical of the attitude towards science of. the two nations.

In order to ensure that the matter was carried further than a mere academic discussion, he would inovo that a committee be set up to consider the best means of organising scientific, and industrial research, tho ' committee to cooperate with similar bodies, and to consist of tho following members j—'Messrs. AV. Ferguson, E. Parry, and G. Hogben, Dr. L. Cockayne, F.R.S., and the mover, with Mr. S. H. Jcnkinson as honorary secretary.

Dr. Allan Thomson briefly explained what had been done in England and Australia in organising research, and stated that as he was preparing a report on tho subject for the Government he could not discuss details. He confined his remarks to tho need for an improvement of the popular attitude towards science, aud suggested that the New Zealand Institute had not taken a sufficient part in popular education. The University of New Zealand had been disappointing as an institution for'encouraging research, and this he ascribed mainly to the system of external examinations.

Dr. Cockayne also emphasised the popular ignorance of science. The public did not realise that present-day civilisation was built up upon the manifold and patient labours of many generations of scientific men, labour for which in tho great majority of instances nothing was paid, and tho value of which,- in no few cases, was priceless. It thcrfeore behoved the scientific man, who surely ought to know .better than the layman what is required to , remedy this state of affairs, to make tho public aware of his requirements, so as to educate the public as to its scientific liabilities. They were willing to pay for a certainty, and could not appreciate the value of a research such as lie himself was now carrying out on the common piri-piri or bidi-bid, and yet this research had for its ultimate aim the definite study of certain phases of heredity, which if we really understood them, not only would assist in improving fail beyond present possibilities -our domestic animals and plants, but also would have a distinct bearing on tho improvement of the human race.

All this showed that the' term "applied science" .of necessity postulated "pure science," -and that without research in pure science advance was impossible- Indeed, there was no line' of demarcation.'between them, and both must be equally endowed and enconrHged. Agriculture was., par excellence, the industry of this Dominion, and problem after problem, was opened up for which the old empirical .methods were of no use. and could not tend to advance. Here the botaniflt,"cliemist, and the physiologist were required, nor could the zoologist and geologist be neglected. Botany was the science unon which, above all others, agriculture denended, and yet it was the most neglected science in the Dominion, and flourished only in girls' schools. ' Professor Kirk attacked' the Crovernmentfor their failure to liberate the services of some of their medical officers for a whole-time investigation of the recent outbreak of infantile uaralysis. It had cost the country inanv lives and much misery, and yet we had not got any nearer to the causes of this serious epidemic. Mr. S.. H. .Tenkinson remarked that the discussion- had turned chiefly on research, and had neglected the question of organisation. Frankly, lie considered tlint tli° most important sciences of which the country stood in need were political economy a.nd finance. Tt was no exaggeration to say that in the "iiaiiipnriiiEC industries the failures were due' tn the inefficiency of the emnloyer and also of the employee, who failed to understand that his prosperity depended on production. Messrs.- Burbidire and Morgan also spoke briefly to. the motion, which.was carried unanimoifslv ...