CHEMISTS CONFER

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 62, 15 March 1933, Page 15

CHEMISTS CONFER

NEW ZEALAND SOCIETY

PHARMACY COLLEGE

Speaking at the annual conference it the Chemists' Guild and Pharmaceutical Society last evening, Mr. J. C. Burbery, president of the Wellington division, said he took a great deal of pride in having been associated with the building of the Pharmacy Hall. He had tried to impress upon all chemists with whom he came in contact that the hall was tho property of the chemists of New Zealand. As tho Wellington member of the board, he asked all chemists to bear in mind what the hall stood for. A School,of Pharmacy— long desired, but long delayed—had now been established. Its importance would be more and more realised as time went ' on. Everything that the profession could do to support the. school should be done. r

The Mayor (Mr. T. C. A. Hislop), after ■welcoming the guests, said the Pharmacy Hall and the School of Pharmacy -were proofs of the progress of the profession. The Pharmacy Hall was a solid tribute to the ability of those who had conducted tho affairs of the society in past years. In the early eighties the society commenced with a membership of some 15 or 20; now there was a membership of 750. The president of the society, Mr. Edward Smith, of Auckland, said that as time went on they looked more and more to 'Wellington as the home of the organisation, because the Pharmacy Hall was here. The members of the profession were proud of the hall and at the Pharmacy College, which had recently, been established. The laboratory Jn tho Pharmacy Hall compared favourably with the best laboratories in Australia. The expression was sometimes used that it was hoped "we would soon, come back to normal times." He maintained that professionally and socially there was no going back. We must accustom ourselves to the changed conditions and progress until -we reached a better state of things than existed before. The annual conferences could help members to go forward. They had now established a School of Pharmacy for the instruction of students; that school was self-supporting, and it was hoped that it would be continued on that basis.

Mr. F. Castle, a past-president of the society, said the annual conferences were of great educational value, especially to the younger members of the society. The educational and scientific side of the profession should always occupy a foremost place in their deliberations, because they were the basis of their calling. The proceedings concluded with, a programme of music and dancing.