CHEMISTRY AND INDUSTRY

Evening Post, Volume C, Issue 38, 13 August 1920, Page 9

CHEMISTRY AND INDUSTRY

At the invitation of the Petone Technical School Board of Managers, Mr. W Donovan, M.Sc, Assistant-Analyst at the Dominion Laboratory, delivered an extremely instructive lecture to an interested audience of ' students and members of the public at' 1 the Petone Technical School last evening; The lecturer said the number of industries in which chemists played an important part was surprising;.in fact, ther« were few in which it did not have some part. In the mining industry chemistry had .worked a revolution, first, in assisting in finding metals, and, secondly, in extracting metals from base ore. The cyanide process had enabled hitherto worthless mines, to be worked at such a profit that in Waihi alone £'5,000,000, had been paid but in dividends as a result. To the work Dr. M'Laurin had contributed very largely. In the. dairy industry, year > ago, said the lecturer, producers were' content with the products of butter and cheese—the butterfat and the butter-fat and casein—but now casein itself was being extracted, from which, glue, paint, and imitation ivory wore being made.. The discovery of how to test the acidity of milk,, had valuable bearing on the dried milk and cheese industries. In the sugar beet industry in France, co-operation of the farmer and fcht-, chemist had resulted in producing a. beet with its sugar content increased from'lo per cent., to 18 per cent. The production of alcohol for power purposes from sa-wdus 1 was a subject demanding close research. So far, the experiments made in New Zealand were by no means of a final nature. Another subject which demanded resea-reh work was the clay deposits of New Zealand, co that brick and tile making might be assisted. It would pay many of the big companies to employ ,chem-' is-ts, but results must not be looked for in a day. The Germans had captured the dyo industry, but only after Beyer had experimented for fifteen years, and a company for anothe. twenty years, at a, cost of over £1,000,000. The result, however, was worth £2.000,000. per year. On. the motion of .the Chairman (Mr. D. M'Kenzie), the lecturer was accorded a hearty vote of thanks.