A SERIOUS NEED.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17702, 31 January 1918, Page 6

A SERIOUS NEED.

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

STATEMENT BY THE MINISTER OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS.

At the annual meeting of the Board of Governors of tlie New Zealand Institute, held at Wellington on Tuesday, the president (Professor Benham. F.R.S.), in his address, said he trusted that steps would he taken to persuade the Government of tho very setious need for encouraging in every way. and especially by generous financial support, tho prosecution of scientific research, not merely of research as applied to industry, but also, and primarily, of research in pure science. It had taken the scientific men of Britain over forty years .to convince the British Government <;f the valuo of scientific research, for as long ago a s 1870 a Royal Commission recommended the establishment of a State Council of Science, presided over by a Minister of Science. As 1 rofessor Pope pointed out in an address delivered in October last: “ If suitable provision had been made by the State tor the pursuit of scientific research, even twenty years ago, wc should have been spared the horrors of the present conflict.” It was only now, as the result of the urgent appeals of scientific meii in Britain since the commencement of the war, that the British Government had established a. department of scientific and industrial research with an endowment of £1.000,000- Since the war began the public, had awakened to the fact that all our present needs in ordinary life were the outcome of discoveries made by scientific men in their laboratories, and several books had been published impressing upon the public that much of the backwardness in the British Empire was due to inadequate recognition, financial and social, of scientific research. In New Zealand there was need for a constant reminder of those facts. Tlie councils of the University colleges must bo urged again and again to mako proper provision for carrying on researches in pure science. Provision must also be made for obtaining men to do research. Greater encouragement should bo given to graduates to continue their studies in the University colleges and to learn how to carry out research work. Tlie present research scholarships should be held out to graduates so that they might encourage those students who were capablo of research to continue their studies. At the last meeting it was resolved to urge tho Government to take immediate steps to form a scientific and technological library- Had anything been done in that direction? In his reply the Minister of Internal Affairs (Hon G. W. Russell) said the Government had not been unmindful of the necessitv of increasing tlie amonnp to be devoted to science. It was a surprise to him to find that the annual grant of £SOO to the society was onltf the came as that which was paid in 1868. He hoped tho Government would fully realise the responsibility it owed to 'science, and ho would place before Cabinet a proposal to greatly increase that amount on clearly defined lines. (Applause.) The Minister added that in addition to the rote of £SOO there were further sums totalling £750 for research and other work.

Speaking generally, the Minister said Cabinet had still before it tho Institute’s report submitted to the National Efficiency Board, and he believed that it would enable the establishment of a really effective Board of Science and Industry in New Zealand. As to the financial proposals in that report, he thought a, definite sum would be set) aside year by year, so that the expenditure would come yearly under the purview of Parliament, and it should, in his opinion, he devoted to providing better equipment for the four University laboratories and also of the Dominion Laboratory. New Zealand had up to tho present been in a kind of happy-go-lucky position in regard to the income of its inhabitants- They had had gold “rushes,” wool, meat, flax and butter and cheese. To a large extent those industries had not called for science, and ho believed that arising out of the war problems we must by means of science strive to exercise all our byproducts and to create secondary industries. It was necessary to create an industrial population to produce articles which we now had to import In future, added tho Minister, we would be greatly helped by what the Government had done in the production of electric power. New Zealand was pre-eminently fitted for the production of hydro-electric power, ami if that forre was harnessed we would not only save coal, but thereby obviate a great deal of industrial trouble. He thought the State should use every endeavour to develop the Dominion’s resources in that respect. He also referred to the subject of our fisheries, which contained, he believed, one of the most valuable sources of wealth in the future- He looked to the help of science in that respect. There was also our phormium, and in this respect he said he was anxious to have a thorough examination and test .made of the hill flax that grows in tho centre of the North Island. As an outom© of tho war the import to New Zealand of the commoner classes of earthenware had been stopped. In Canterbury works had been started for tlie manufacture of such goods, but not much could be done owing to the absence of expert labour and material. Inquiry should be made into the discovery of suitable clays. We should also consider scientifically the subject of our petroleum fields, and investigate the huge areas of mineralbearing country which has never been visited by a geologist. Again, they should inquire into the so-called “poor” lands of the Dominion, and it wus applied science which would show the people of New Zealand that there are probably very few useless areas in fhe Dominion. No more important work could be done than that connected with the economic and statistical sides of research, and ho hoped that full attention would be paid to that side of the subject. The Government recognises very fully the important part that science must take in tho development of New Zealand, and every recommendation tho Institute might make would receive the fullest encouragement not only from himself hut - from the Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance and the other members of the Government. (Applause.)