NATIONAL RESEARCH

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 33, 9 February 1927, Page 8

NATIONAL RESEARCH

THE.PROPOSED COUNCIL

(To the Editor.)' Sir,—Your contributor "Libra," in waxing merry over the "distinctly Gilbertian situation- that has arisen in connection with scientific and industrial research in *ew; Zealand," shows a complete Jack of understanding of . that situation and a saws trg&rirz?k Oom, °[matlo^ °J a National Research Council „ a body completely independent of the Government in order to be able Jm" oef° etS ryrtO °ffer '/frien<J£ ™«- cism of the Government's Council of Scientific and Industrial Research; (2) that he recommended that the Government should find the finance for the £- ™Tkww Cl} Counoil when <*tabl£hed; and (3) that he recommended, that thi New Zealand Institute, should be invited to bring such a body into being He ?r°h b, ly h4 sW-™°re surprised £ lei™ tihe J -New Zea'and Institute's action was the direct result of an invitation from Dr Marsden, Secretary of the Department P iSS leS tlfic and Jndustrial Researching asked the institute to formulate a .chime and refer it to the Council of ScientSe and Industrial Research for approval before adopting, it finally, and submitting it to the Government. . .«•»•■ . The first National Research Council wal formed m -the United States during The war in order to assist in the *£&£ of preparedness" m that couritry.^lt was soon found that there were numerou. other functions which such a body mid* perform m the general interests of scTenc. Sp £Tf **{ and ifc has continued sinct body Tig™ X most aotive and body. l n 1918 the movement-spread to England and France, and National Retw^v^^l^'iornei .ft '.most of the Alhed •countries, lincludirig;"Japkn"»nd tra';a>:R and W\ re stated to an International Research Council? In 1926 it was decided to admit Germany and other former enemy countries to tnU .Intenitional Council. When the New Zealand Institute was invited in 1918 and agahTin PrlsenlT "i!^ *«wSWS fts l- the sclel? cefi and '^eluding in tiL ■ erS^! P Practica% all the acientists m the Dominion, and that the New N»f! inb m °ther countries by their Sir Prank Heath criticised' thig position not found in the composition of the Board of Governors, and in particular medicine and engineering were not adequately represented. The first groundof criticism was not felt to be of much effect, for neither the Governor-General nor the Minister of Internal Affairs ever takes his seat on the board, nor has ti» Presence of the four nominated member* tended to restrain the board-in any friendly criticism it has wished to make of any Government Department. The second ground was felt to have more force, and was the consideration that recently lead the board to make the proposal to form a National Research Council as' a body part of the New Zealand Institute, bSt distinct from the Board of Governor*, with a balanced representative of sciences. J.he total number of members of the proposed National Research Council—4o—ia modest compared with the 100 in Aug. traha and the United States, and a due representation of all' the sciences could hardly be obtained with fewer members. The Press reports of the Institute's pro. posals omitted the proposed balance of the sciences on "which the whole proposal hung, and were to that extent misleading. The proposed constitution was: President of tie New Zealand Institute (ex officio), natural sciences (botany, geology, zoology), 12; physical sciences (mathematics, physics, chemistry, astronomy), 12; medicine, 4; engineering, 4; agriculture, 4; ethnology, 2; other sciences, I. The co-operation of the British Medical Association (N.Z: branch) and the.N.Z. Institute of Civil Engineers was to be sought in selecting the members to represent medicine and engineering respectively.—l am; etc;, • '

J. ALLAN THOMSON.