SCIENCE AS ALLY OF TRADE

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 71, 16 December 1938, Page 13

SCIENCE AS ALLY OF TRADE

Liaison Officer’s Visit To Dominion

MEMBER OF STAFF OF HIGH COMMISSIONER

Need For Study Of Chilled Beef Shipments

Dominion Special Service,

PALMERSTON N., Dec. 15.

New Zealand-born and on his first visit to the Dominion for 10 years, Mr. N. L. Wright, scientific liaison officer attached to the staff of the New Zealand High Commissioner, London, spent yesterday and today at Massey Agricultural College, Palmerston North. He arrived at Auckland from England recently, and during the three months he will spend in the Dominion he will renew various contacts in this country, confer with the Government and discuss scientific research and the development of several primary and secondary industries.

During Mr. Wright’s residence in England, he has been the representative of the Dominion on various Imperial and research'organizations, including the Eood Investigation Board, the Imperial Institute, the Imperial Wool Committee, and the British Standards Institution, and has represented this country on the executive council of the Imperial Agricultural Bureaux of which he was chairman for two years tilfhis departure for the Dominion. He has also maintained intimate contacts with agricultural and industrial research developments and has acted in a technical advisory capacity to the meat, dairy, and fruit boards in England.

On the way to the Dominion Mr. Wright visited Canada and the United States of America, where he had intimate discussions with Investigators and research workers, particularly on matters of current importance to New Zealand. He was invited to visit the United States of America by the Carnegie Corporation, who made a grant for that purpose. A goodwill visit, it enabled him to have discussions with many high Government officials in Washington and with heads of prominent universities.

During his visit to Canada and the United .States of America be was able to obtain valuable information on the utilization of agricultural by-products aud cm new agricultural and secondary industries which 'are under discussion in the Dominion at present. It is concerning many of these projects that he will visit all the research institutions in New Zealand. Mr. Wright expects to return to England at the end of three months, via Australia and .South Africa, where he will inquire into various developments and research activities and endeavour to promote the further co-operation of those in charge of important current problems throughout the British Empire.

Dominion Research Followed

Mr. Wright said he was very much impress-ed 'by the high regard in which some of the main lines of research in the Dominion were held by other countries, particularly by research workers in Canada, England, and the United States of America. Esteemed most was the work of the Plant Research Bureau, and the Dairy Research Institute, which, lie said, were regarded »s being among the finest research organizations of their kind in'the world. “In the United States of America great admiration was expressed in particular for the soil survey activities which have been in progress over the Dominion for the past few years,” said Mr. Wright. “Now an intensive campaign is being carried out in the United States of America on much the same lines.”

In reply to a question about his other activities, Mr. Wright said that it was comforting to see tlie significant improvement made in recent years in the quality of New Zealand produce sent to England. This was particularly noticeable in dairy produce. Tlie.,quality of New Zealand apples was comparable with that in the very front rank of apples marketed in England from outside countries. Condition of Chilled Beef. “One of the problems which requires urgent investigation is the variability in condition of chilled beef shipments from the Dominion,” he said, ‘‘lt is to be hoped that early steps will be taken in New Zealand and England to organize such investigations so that these troubles which affect the market price and the reputation of the product in England can be eliminated.” Asked to outline the activities of the International Wool Publicity and Research Secretariat, Mr. Wright said that its personnel, which included a New Zealander, Mr. F. S. Arthur, who represented the Dominion, was held in very high regard in England and other countries. It seemed clear, he said, that the position of wool would continue to be affected by the use of wool substitutes in those countries which were attempting to become self-suffi-cient. The reply to this challenge seemed to be that urgent steps should be taken in the wool-producing countries to make every effort to reduce costs of production, improve the quality of the product and strongly support investigations which would help to eliminate fundamental defects in wool in order to induce the consumer to utilize more wool products. It was clear that there had already been quite a substantial swing over to the use of artificial silk garments, par- . ticularly by women, but there were grounds for believing that by suitable processing wool could be treated in order to produce textiles having improved appearance, feel and general physical characteristics. Mentioning the production of artificial wool from casein, Mr. Wright indicated that the claims of producers in Europe on quantity and quality had not been substantiated. There appeared to be less evidence that this new product would be produced in rapidly increasing quantities because of the relatively high cost and the lack of desirable characteristics which were possessed by wool. While in Palmerston North, Mr. Wright attended a meeting of the Dairy Research Institute held at Massey Agricultural College, and took the opportunity of explaining to the committee the present position in England of dairy research problems. “I consider that Massey College and

the Dairy Research Institute compare ' most favourably with similar institutions throughout the world,” he said.