SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 16 October 1922, Page 5

SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

MR. DIXON'S APPEAL TO THE

GOVERN iviEiNT.

The Parliamentary Committee recommends that £2000 interest on cieatn duty paid be set aside tor suientinc research in New Zealand.. Speaking in the House on the subject of science and industry, Mr. Ji,. Oixon (Patea) said he rose to support the recommendation of tne committee. During the debate he had been thinking now many niembers of Parliament bad. had the privilege of going through the Cawthron Institute, because he felt certain that any member of the Houseivho visited the Institute and saw the splendid work carried out there would support very heartily the recommenda-. tion before the House. It seemed to him that the time had yet to come when a Government of New Zealand would realise the importance of scientific research, which for many years had been voiced by many members of Parliament, but there had never been a Government that had fully realised the importance of scientific research in this country. Money spent in this direction would be a first-class investment and' would repay the Dominion a hundredfold. Nelson had been fortunate in having the Cawthron bequest made, for it enabled the Institute to eater not only for the people of to-day, but for the people yet to be. A great deal was heard of the cost^of primary education, and he felt certain that the people of the Dominion would not think the Government wrong in setting apart money for scientific research. New Zea-^ land had produced some splendid scien-* tists, but it had been difficult to find in the Dominion sphere for continuance" of their research and they had gone abroad. If hon. members would visit Nelson and see the experiments being carried out, also plans prepared, at the Cawthron Institute, showing the result of soil testing in that province and giving information of the suitability of the land for various kinds of farming, they would see at once the great advantage of soil testing to those desirous of taking up land. If the £2000 per annum recommended to be granted" to the Institute were spent in commencing a system of testing of the soils of New Zealand it would be of untold value to the people going on the land. He (Mr. Dixon) trusted that the Prime Minister and the Cabinet would not only give the recommendation favourable consideration, but go further and grant more than was recommended by the committee in order to encourage such splendid work in the Dominion.