IMPORTANT ROLE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27166, 23 August 1949, Page 4

IMPORTANT ROLE

CHEMISTS IN INDUSTRY MUCH WORK TO BE DONE PA AUCKLAND, Aug. 22. The number of chemists and chemical engineers was expected to increase in New Zealand, and eventually there would be 616, of whom 193 would be employed in industry, said the Minister of Scientific and Industrial Research, Mr McCombs, in Auckland to-day. The Minister, who was opening the conference of the Royal and New Zealand Institutes of Chemistry, emphasised the important role chemists were playing in the development of industry in the Dominion. Mr McCombs said that in 1927 there were in New Zealand only 92 qualified chemists, of whom 26 were employed in industry. There were now 450 chemists and chemical engineers, including 138 in industry. Mr McCombs said the utilisation of New Zealand’s exotic forests was a problem for chemists. These were rapidly maturing and something would have to be done to ensure that products were not wasted. The Gov- . ernment’s intention to establish pulp and paper mills depended largely on and chemical engineers. The * ■ extraction of valuable minerals, including solar salt for industry at Marlborough, illustrated the chemists’ valuable work. “We have also to utilise our low-grade coal resources to greater advantage for domestic purposes and industry” the Minister said. “ Here is a great field for chemists’ research.” Our greatest v problem was to translate scientific Knowledge into industrial practice. New Zealand chemists had made, a valuable 'contribution to industrial development as a whole, and it was in the public interest that their work should be encouraged. The Minister advocated greater publicity to inform the public what was being done.