POTTERY INDUSTRY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26043, 5 January 1946, Page 7

POTTERY INDUSTRY

RESEARCH ASSOCIATION FORMATION ANNOUNCED (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Jan. 4. The inauguration of the New Zealand Pottery and Ceramics Research Association was announced ' to-day by the Minister of Scientific and Industrial Research. Mr D. G. Sullivan, who emphasised that the Government was desirous of giving all possible scientific assistance to increase the efficiency of New Zealand industries, both primary and secondary. The activities •of the association, which consisted of all the principal firms engaged in the industry concerned. would be closely linked with the surveys and investigations at present being undertaken by various divisions of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, notably the Dominion Laboratory and the Geological Survey, said the Minister. The association would undoubtedly benefit from the work done in the selection, analysis, the classification of New Zealand clay and ceramic resources, but would give closer attention to the common problems of the manufacturers of pottery and ceramics with a view to supplying as much as possible of the Dominion’s requirements of those goods of good quality at a reasonable price. The Government, said Mr Sullivan, was making a substantial financial contribution to the funds of the association, equivalent to the amount contributed by the industry, although the association (which will later become an independent incorporated body) was controlled by a committee of seven members, five of whom were appointed by the manufacturers and only . two (with the Minister’s approval) by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. Thus it would be seen that the direction of the work done by the association was in the hands of the industry concerned. The chairman of the association was Mr Frank Taylor, general manager of New Zealand Insulators. Ltd., and the deputy chairman, Mr W. A. Joiner, assistant director of the Dominion Laboratory Wellington. Discussions with other industries were proceeding, said the Minister, and he hoped it would not be long before other research associations were formed to the benefit of the industries concerned and of the New Zealand public. In a statement accompanying Mr Sullivan’s announcement, Mr Taylor said the pottery industry was wholeheartedly behind the newly-formed association. New Zealand was fortunate in having deposits of a variety of clay, feldspars and flints which, if pro. perly developed, would enable the Dominion to manufacture with its own labour and materials a wide range of pottery articles not only for its own requirements but also probably for export.