SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

Southland Times, Issue 19894, 12 June 1926, Page 12

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

SIR FRANK HEATH’S REPORT CONSIDERED BY NEW ZEALAND INSTITUTE FIRST ISOLATION OF HELIUM GAS IN DOMINION On Wednesday June 2 at a meeting of the Standing Committee of the New Zealand Institute, Sir Frank Heath’s report to the Government on the organisation of scientific and industrial research was discussed. There were present: —Mr B. C. Aston (president), Dr. L. Cockayne, Professor H. B. Kirk, Messrs. G. V. Hudson, M. A. Eliott and J. C. Andersen, actingsecretary. Extracts from Sir Frhnk Heath’s report given below have a very definite bearing on the functions of the Institute. When in Wellington Sir Frank Heath met the Wellington members of the Board of Governors in conference, and it was evident then that he was fully cognisant of the scope and work of the institute. His report reveals the fact that the institute ranks high in his esteem as the leading body of scientific thought, for he recommends that in the new department to be formed there should be “a small advisory council of scientific men and men of affairs responsible for advising the Prime Minister on the programme and cost of work to be undertaken by the several establishments attached to the Departments and on the grants to be made. . . . Officials of the Government should not be members of the council itself, which would be appointed by the Prime Minister after consultation with the National Research Council if and when this body is. established, and until this happens, with the governing body of the New Zealand Institute.” AN UNOFFICIAL BASIS. In connection with his suggestion that a National Research Council be formed, Sir Frank Heath says: ‘‘lf the encouragement of scientific research and the organisation of industrial research is to become a declared function of the Government as recommended in this report, it appears to me to be of great importance that the men of science in the Dominion should be encouraged to organise themselves on a completely unofficial basis. Such an unofficial body of the best scientific opinion, if fully representative of all branches of science (including medicine and engineering), -would be a most valuable support to the Government in influencing public opinion and by offering friendly criticism and suggestions to the Government on its official policy. The best of departments is the healthier and better for instructed outside critcism; while oc-‘ casions may well arise, e.g., the selection of representatives of the Dominion at important international science congresses, when the Government would be glad to seek the advice of an independent body other than itself. The New Zealand Institute has many, but not all, the qualifications needed in a body of this kind. It is specially strong on the biological side, in geology and chemistry, but it is not representative' „of engineering nor of medical science, and I understand that the astronomers have recently formed a society of their own. Moreover, the Board of Governors is in a large part elected on a popular basis by local institutes in a manner that gives no assurance of a suitable balance of the sciences in the governing body, while two are official members and a further four of its members are appointed by the Government. It is an old and distinguished foundation which is obviously doing most valuable work, and it would be doubtfully wise to suggest any change in its constitution. But it might well be invited by the Government to take a leading part in bringing a body into existence which would be truly representative of

the best men the Dominion has in ail branches of science. Such a body if elected by the leading representatives in each freld of work would become the National Research Council for New Zealand. It would become affiliated to the International Research Council like the National Research Council of Australia. The Dominion would take her proper place in the international world of science, and her council would exercise naturally and inevitably the valuable functions referred to at the beginning of this paragraph. On this council the Fellows of the institute would certainly hold an important place.” It was resolved that the institute offer its hearty services to the Government to assist in carrying out the objects detailed in the report. SCIENTIFIC REFERENCE LIBRARY. A further recommendation in the report is that the Department should establish a central lending and reference library of scientific books and publications not found or available in existing libraries. The New Zealand Institute has had prepared a catalogue including all the scientific periodicals contained in the libraries throughout New Zealand, and this catalogue should be very useful in forming this central library. With regard to research grants, Sir Frank Heath recommends that the present grant to the New Zealand Institute should be continued, that assistance should be given towards the printing of the Transactions, and that arrangements should be made between the new department and the institute to prevent overlapping in the award of grants to individuals. HELIUM GAS ISOLATED. At the present time the New Zealand Institute administers grants to some 40 research workers to enable them to prosecute researchers w’hich include fruit tree diseases, cool storage of fruit, soil bacteria, and protozoa, silviculture, low temperature carbonisation of New Zealand brown coals, the possible relation between radium emanation and goitre, essential oils of native plants, upper air, intensity of long wave wireless. New Zealand algae, food value of New Zealand fish, vitamin content of commercial meals, mosquito control, etc. One of the grantees, Dr C. Coleridge Farr, of Canterbury, has reported on his research on helium gas, and has forwarded to the institute the first tube of helium gas prepared in the Dominion. Helium is non-inflam-mable, and is the highest known gas next to hydrogen, and when possible it is used in airships in preference to the more inexpensive hydrogen. This sample was obtained from the Moturoa bore at New Plymouth from outside the easing of the bore, from a depth of about 600 feet. Though the percentage of helium in the sample tested was small, interest attaches to the fact that it is the first actually isolated in the Dominion by apparatus constructed in the Dominion, and from gases collected in the Dominion. This was before the committee at its meeting. Dr Farr hah previously completed a most valuable research on the porosity of porcelain insulators. The results of this were very conclusive, and when published aroused great interest not only in New Zealand, and the practical nature of the research is shown by the fact that the Public Works Department has been co-operating with Dr. Farr in his investigations. TONGARIRO NATIONAL PARK.

It was reported at the meeting that there was a proposal to rescind the motion of a previous meeting of the Tongariro National Park Board regarding the eradication of heather in the Park. It was considered by the Standing Committee that if the Park Board rescinds this motion and allows heather to grow in the Park, it will upset the whole motive for making the National Park.

It is probable that the following gentlemen will represent New Zealand at the forthcoming Pan-Pacific Science Congress in Japan:—Dr. P. Marshall, Professor W. N. Benson, and Professor J. Macmillan Brown.

Taxes for using armorial bearings on motor-care and carriages are paid by about 35,000 persons in Britain. Two young men were recently arrested in Canada on a charge of stealing an aeroplane, this being the first case of its kind in that Dominion. The machine was stolen from a suburban hangar. The engine was found later in the cellar of a private house, while the fuselage and other parts were discovered in a secondhand shop.