SCIENCE IN INDUSTRY

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 23, 27 January 1940, Page 16

SCIENCE IN INDUSTRY

EXPANSION AHEAD

CHEMISTS IN COHERENCE

The relationship between chemistry and industry was one of the main subjects dealt with by Dr. R. Gardner in his presidential address to the meeting of the New Zealand Institute of Chemists, which meeting was part of the general conference of chemists held yesterday in Wellington and which was continued today. It was his view, he said, that the Dominion was at the present time at the. beginning of an era, of considerable expansion in manufacturing industry- The . great ma j ority.of New Zealand manufacturers appreciated: the fact that help from scientific workers was essential in their industries, but they did not always realise how that help could be best obtained and utilised. Instantaneous .assistance was not generally possible. The speaker dealt in detail with the way in which the laboratory can assist the factory, and said that what V was needed was primarily ati industrialist - with a knowledge of science, rather than a scientist with a knowledge of industry. A schoo; training' in the rudiments, of chemistry was often enough to enable an industrialist to recognise a- problem as a chemical one arid to call in a consulting chemist in time to save considerable loss and trouble.

Dr. Gardner concluded his address with special reference to the activities of the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry, rerharking that he was one ,of those! optimists who believed that there was a great future for the profession of chemistry in the Dominion. "Some Aspects of Standardisation" was the subject selected by Mr. R. L. Andrew,' of the Dominion Laboratory, for his presidential address to the annual meeting of the New Zealand branch of the Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain-and Ireland, which was held last evening in conjunction with the conference. After some general remarks on standardisation, he dealt in detail with the tests made at. the Dominion Laboratory, in order to determine whether, samples of milk conform to the required standard or, not. The testing of other materials, such, as paint, detergents,, and boiler compounds, was also dealt with.

The conference concluded this morning, and this afternoon many of the delegates made a visit to the Exhibition. -■ ■ :'■■"... ~...-■■.,