THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. MONDAY, JULY 12. 1926. ORGANISED RESEARCH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19377, 12 July 1926, Page 8

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. MONDAY, JULY 12. 1926. ORGANISED RESEARCH.

-The debate in Parliament on Sir Frank Heath's report showed all parties in agreement about the need for scientific research and its organisation in the Dominion on the main lines of his recommendations. This agreement, expressed both in the words of party leaders and in the unanimous adoption of the Prime Minister's motion referring the report to the Government for consideration, augurs well. Sir Frank Heath's forte, as the Prime Minister said, is organising. As the secretary of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research in London he has proved his capability. He grasped in a remarkable way the conditions obtaining in New Zealand. and his recommendations, to which the Government proposes to give general effect, are well suited to those conditions. Six points are emphasised as representing the objectives of • the new departure : (1) to co-ordinate and improve the existing Government scientific activities, (2) to co-ordinate and secure greater co-operation between the existing scientific institutions in the Dominion, (3) to institute and direct the carrying' out of research in connection with, or for the promotion of, the primary and secondary industries, (4) to ensure a sufficient supply of scientific / workers fully equipped with adequate knowledge to attack the various problems arising from the changing conditions, and to train them to become scientific industrial leaders, (5) to make available to the Dominon the results of scientific research, not only from the British Empire, but from any part of the world, and (6) to furnish a link between scientific institutions and the workers in primary and secondary problems, and by scientific method to improve working conditions and provide means for promoting the prosperity of the people as a whole. About both the desirability of these objectives and the general value of the suggested means of attaining them there can be little difference of opinion. The war taught the world the practical value of scientific knowledge. It put a premium on brains. The last man and the last shilling could avail little against the latest device that ingenuity could invent. There is no wish to see mind pitted against mind in that fashion again. Instead, the world has turned, with more or less hope, to the co-operation of mind with mind in endeavours to make that dread rivalry impossible. But there has been left a lesson applicable, in peace, to industry. To harness knowledge to productive pursuits in all avenues of human activity has become an indispensable necessity, in order to repair the wastage occasioned by the. war and win back general prosperity. There is a competitive element in this necessity, and it should be recognised in this country. The Dominion must either move with the times or lag behind other countries now exerting themselves to make their industries more efficient. There is no time to be lost. Even before the war some countries were forging ahead in industrial development. Germany, partly by Government aid and partly by the -advantage that large-scale industries gave, was sparing no pains to make science serve industry. The United States presented another instructive instance of this wide-awake policy. In Britain the task was not so easy, because of the-division of the country's industrial business among a large number of relatively small concerns and the tardiness of Governments to break away from the extreme laissez-faire policy of the Manchester School. It needed a King's'"'Wakeup, England!" to arouse captains of industry, commercial magnates and leading politicians into anxiety and action. The institution represented by Sir Frank Heath "is one of the results of that arousal Under central oversight and with Government aid a large measure of co-operation in scientific research has been achieved. The resources of many private ventures have been pooled, and without nationalising them they have been imbued with a national spirit and outlook. The accomplishment of a similar success in the organisation of resources is' highly desirable here. The precise programme of the Goverment has not been disclosed, but the six points mentioned indicate sufficiently the lines to be followed. It is intended to create a new department, to bring within its purview all the scattered ventures in research now being made under the Government and in the higher educational institutions, to extend facilities of research to all industries privately owned and directed, to keep the Dominion's industrial activities in close, touch with research elsewhere, and especially to keep this country abreast of the advance that is now being made practically everywhere. This organising of research will economise expenditure upon it, preventing wasteful duplication as well as admitting of systematic extension. It should prove in many ways a highly profitable investment, both for the State and for contributing industries. In agriculture the need is urgent, as the stage of the cultivation of virgin lands has passed and' something must be done to fortify our soils against diminution of their productive qualities. Coal by-products now being lost ought to be turned to profit. Some secondary industries for which this country is adapted require the application. of scientific knowledge to enable them to withstand foreign competition. Sir Frank Heath's report showed a promising way of marshalling our forces to meet the now situation created by our own changing conditions and the activity of other countries. It is well that there is, in the main, such agreement that the way he indicated should be taken.