SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH.

Otago Witness, Issue 4066, 16 February 1932, Page 17

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH.

WIDE FIELD COVERED. At a recent meeting of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research it was pointed out that the net total of £51,463 approved by Parliament for the Research Department has to provide, in addition to grants for research investigations, for the whole of the operations of the Dominion Laboratory, Dominion Observatory, Geological Survey, Meteorological Observatory, Magnetic Observatory, Christchurch, etc., and that the net amount available for research investigations is of the order of only £18,299. The curtailment in the finance available for the various branches of research work has involved the working out of amended programmes and the cessation of work in some of the less promising activities. The amendment to the Scientific and Industrial Research Act, recently passed by Parliament, is in general agreement with the suggestion made by the council. It is hoped that the new organisation will assist in general co-ordination between research and application of results, and a more intensive effort in the direction of development of industries, both primary and secondary. A review of the work done and in hand mentions that in the realm of noxious Weeds control concentration is being made ©n piri piri, ragwort, and gorse with a view to bringing experiments to a conclusion. The work of the Dairy Research Institute is progressing favourably, interesting results being obtained in connection with maturity experiments, and pressure in relation to openness in cheese. Considerable progress has been made with briquetting problems, and, thanks to the assistance from the Unemployment Board, the erection of a quarter-scale briquetting plant for West Coast slack is proceeding at the State coal yards, Wellington. This will test out the laboratory findings; and it is hoped to provide more exact data for the development on a large scale. The tests ©n the use of certain run-of-nine coals on the railway have been completed, and are under consideration by the Railways Department. With the limited funds available, the work on phormium research is considered to be as satisfactory as expected. Research work on kuari gum has been begun at the Dominion laboratory and already there has evolved valuable information as to the possibilities of purification and production of the standard product. The Unemployment Board has assisted by a small grant so that sufficiently large experimental lots may be prepared for shipment to actual users. Fruit research and _ wheat research problems are being actively investigated and much good work is being done with respect to the mineral content of pastures, and investigations on the volcanic soils at present are being continued in order to confirm, or otherwise, the efficacy of treating stock with iron compounds so as to avoid severe attacks of bush sickness. Arrangements have been made to extend the area of the present soil reconnaissance survey to those portions of the North Island not dealt with last season. In addition, greater detailed surveys are being made of those areas, the use of which for closer settlement is under contemplation. Pelt research is receiving much attention, but the work hag been curtailed on account of lack of finance. It is interesting to note that in consequence of the association of this work with the British Tanners’ Research Association, there have been numerous purchases by British tanners of large experimental lots of New Zealand pelts. LORD BLEDISLOE’S WORK.

A leading article on “ Science and Agriculture in New Zealand,” with an enthusiastic tribute to the -work of Lord Bledisloe, appears in Nature, the wellknown British journal of science. It says: “ Since Lord Bledisloe s appointment as Governor-general of New Zealand, he has taken every opportunity of emphasising the need for scientific work as the basis of development of the country’s resources. He had the unusual advantage of combining administrative ability with agricultural knowledge and a high appreciaton of the possibilities presented by scientific research, and he has the courage to express his convictions clearly and without ambiguity. Before leaving Great Britain he had, as chairman of the Lawes Agricultural Trust, the committee which manages the Rothameted Experimental Station, the opportunity of familiarising himself with the detailed working of a great agricultural experiment station, and as chairman of the Long Ashton Research Station Committee he had had similar experience of a fruit research station. He was therefore well equipped for his work. He has, of course, been fortunate in his field of action. In no part of the Empire is there a higher standard of intelligence and ability among agriculturists, pastoralists, and fruitgrowers than in New Zealand. Right from the outset, universities were founded and agricultural education fostered. Nowhere ie a worker in agricultural science better received than in New Zealand.” The article gives details of the growth of New Zealand's agricultural industries and refers to the development of the dairy industry as a triumph for the bacteriologist, who has reduced to an exact science the art of producing clean milk, good butter and cheese true to type. Than this no better illustration of the advantage of science to a community could be desired. .

“But,” proceeds the article, “New Zealand does not rest satisfied with past achievements; it is perpetually improving its scientific equipment. The Cawthron Research Institute at Nelson in the South Island, founded by Thomas Cawthron, a Camberwell man; the Canterbury Agricultural College, also in the South Island; and the Massey Agricultural College, in the North Island, are all vigorous institutions, the first two well established and already held in high esteem among the agricultural institutes of the world, the last-named new, well equipped, and with possibilities of a great career of usefulness. On the opening of this institution, Lord Bledisloe gave an address in which he summarised in a masterly way the economic and technical problems facing the New Zealand farmer, indicating also the lines on which they could be solved. * Even the most impoverished countries of the world/ he said, ‘ have found publie

expenditure upon scientific research and the scientific guidance of their farming population to be a sound and remunerative investment.’ ”