NELSON’S GIFT TO NEW ZEALAND

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 306, 22 September 1934, Page 8

NELSON’S GIFT TO NEW ZEALAND

The Cawthron Institute

RESEARCH DIRECTED TO NATIONAL PROSPERITY (By a Special Reporter.) A modest dignity gives the Cawthron Institute a distinction in keeping with its purpose and its fame. It has neither a nameplate nor a sign. The botanic beauty of a zig-zag approach to the main building, a converted 15-roomed dwelling on a hillside overlooking a fine prospect, and trim experimental plots at its base, alone set it apart from many residential homes on a city’s ramparts. Blatant publicity is not needed.. Over 11,000 visitors, including hundreds from overseas, have inspected the Institute’s equipment and activities, while everybody in Nelson can tell strangers the way to its wicket gate. This compact scientific research institute was established under the will of Thomas Cawthron, who died in 1915, leaving a sum of £240,000 for the founding of a technical institute and museum. A staff was selected in 1920 and work began in 1921 when the main building was opened by Earl Jelllcoe, then Governor-General of the Dominion. Although rather off the beaten track of tourists and sightseers, the Cawthron Institute already is well known throughout the scientific world. Of its kind it ranks as one of the best research centres in the British Empire for service to men on the . land. The institute Is well equipped with laboratories and libraries, while its museum, no larger than a small billiards room, has been described .by overseas experts as a model for an effective display of much in little. Across the road from the main three-acre block, but farther up the street, is the comparatively new Entomological Department, consisting of two fireproof buildings, half-a-dozen insectaries under quarantine conditions, and a heated glasshouse for raising noxious weeds for experimental purposes. The department also has ap excellent library, a lecture room, and many cages, and in-, genious contraptions. for rearing and snaring parasitic insects. Each research worker has his own room, it being a belief at the Cawthron Institute that if important work has to be done there should be no distractions. Carrying On In Face of Economy. Lite many other good enterprises in New Zealand, the Institute has suffered economic strain, its revenue having fallen by over 40 per cent., brought about by the national cut in mortgage and debenture interest, the cessation of British Government grants to promote research, and lower income from endowment lands. The records of achievement plainly show that the staff, with team work, energy and enthusiasm, has countervailed to a large extent the stress of economy, and if there has been personal sacrifice in the process, it has gained compensatory results, for there is a wide demand for the institute’s service, there being many requests from overseas.

One of the best features of activity is that the spirit of co-operation, admirably encouraged by the director, Mr. T. Rigg, M.A., M.Sc;,. F. 1.0., F.R.S.N.Z., is .not confined to the institute, but covers a wide field, including State departments, many representative institutions and organisations, and thousands of farmers and orchardists throughout the Dominion. This is\ proved by the fact that the Meat Board, the Dairy Board and the Farmers’ Union, acting together, have granted £620 a year for two years toward the cost of research.

The institute-is divided into four departments, these being agriculture, with Mr. Rigg as chief agriculturist; entomology (Dr. David Miller), mycology (Dr. Kathleen Curtis), and the musuem and photography, with Mr. W. C. Davies, a fellow of the Royal Photographic society, as curator and photographer. The chemical section of the Agricultural Department is in the hands of Dr. H. O. Askew. There is a small staff of efficient assistants. A Threefold Return Already.

Although the institute is- one of the. smallest of its kind in the scientific world, it is a compendium of research as applied to'life on the land, While the records of its achievement since its foundation and within the range of its financial resources compare very favourably with those of overseas institutions supported on a lavish scale of expenditure. In many ways the locality of the Cawthron Institute is almost ideal, since it not only is the geographical centre of the Dominion, but also is In the zone where the flora of the two islands overlaps. It is undeniably true that the Nelson province has gained the most spectacular advantages of having a first-class research station within its boundaries, but that was inevitable in the terms of its beneficent establishment. Yet it would be foolish to suggest that all the benefits of outstanding research work have.heen localised. The institute’s periodical bulletins have a wide distribution and are eagerly studied by practical men, by scientists, and by students of primary production, while, in co-operation with the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, the institute is able to have its seasonal directions to producers and orchardists broadcast by radio to many listeners. ■lt is notexaggeration to ?ay that the value of the institute’s services ' already is in hard cash to primary producers three times at least the amount of Thomas Cawthron’s generous bequest. A Variety of Attractions.

As far as the activities of each department are concerned, it would be misleading on the par-t of any layman to attempt making comparisons, since each deals with something very different from the other, although all aim at the same result: which is to secure the greatest value possible to the Dominion and to the human race. As to popular attractiveness the test. of course, must - be left to individual interest and preference, for there is nothing to encourage prejudice. To some people the amazingly effective museum, and particularly its photographic transparencies in window frames, might be the most, attractive feature, while to others a greater appeal to popularity might be won by the Entomological Department, where the antics and appetites of parasitic insects may cause visitors to realise what human life might be without police. Scienists and admirers of technique probably would vote for the departments where microscopes, test-tubes and chemicals aid skilled researches; but as regards these, the true value of the work is to be seen at Its best in early summer, when a rich countryside is radinut with orchard blossoms and green pastures. Indeed, the whole of the Nelson district soon will reflect the achievements and service of the Cawthron Institute. ■