SIR GEORGE JULIUS

Taranaki Daily News, 18 January 1930, Page 16

SIR GEORGE JULIUS

VISIT 'TO NEW ZEALAND. RESEARCH IN AUSTRALIA Although his scientific attainments have achieved fame for him among the world’s foremost engineers and physicists, it is as the inventor of the automatic tctalisator that Sir George Julius, who arrived in Wellington on the Maunganui from Sydney this week is more widely known. Sir George is chairman of the Commonwealth Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, and is on a visit to his father, Archbishop Julius, of Christchurch. Developments in connection with scientific research in Australia were referred to by Sir George in an interview. He said that the last grant to the Commonwealth Research Department amounted to £256,000. Such a generous grant had been stimulated by the assistance research had received from industry. One Australian pastoralist had' given £20,000 to establish an animal husbandry laboratory in Sydney, and another pastoralist had. given a large sum to establish a soil, laboratory in Adelaide. The tobacco industry had also invested £90,000 and was practically in partnership with the Government in research work connected with the industry. Contact was thus established between industry and the Research Department. The department’s research workers liked to keep on the track of problems of economic importance.

‘Tn Australia wo cannot afford to take on fundamental research for the sake of research, but we have to tackle problems of primary importance to the primary industries/' Sir George said. “Ninety-six per cent, of our research work is in connection with the primary industries. Our work outside that is relatively small because tlio backbone of Australia is primary production.”