INVENTIVE NEW ZEALANDERS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12083, 11 August 1917, Page 9

INVENTIVE NEW ZEALANDERS.

! A BUSY PATENT OFFICE. (Special to the " Star-") WELLINGTON. August 11. The Patoiii. Ouijo report- presented to Parliament this session fn iLs to .show any tremendous rush of inventions from Now who huvo any yarn for destructive devices, hut the figures show* that i'iicy arc an jnven&ivo raco and well ahead of e.ven the Americans in the number of applications tlu-y provide in proportion to population. Last year's apphcaLiotis for patents, 882 in number, was harcllv moro than onethird of the previous year's total, bub in s-pito of this rapid falling oif, tho figures, when compared with those of oLjipi- countries, show this interesting resultApplications Per lOt'w) Fop. Great Britain . . . .''.7 l-niti!(i Siiitos . . . .5." Austraiiu .... *i.l New Zealand . . . .8.0 It will ho seen, says the report of the Patents Registrar, that t]l o number is still very h;.;-zii, unduly so when our 'limited inehnienl instruction and ivmwifact'ira* are considered. There is nothing of spocial interest to record in legard to the- subject matter of inventions. The, greatest number of applications were in respect to milking machines. and it. is satisfactory to note the continued interest of inventor.** towards the progress of an industry they havo token no small part in building up. An increase is also ;hown in the number df applications for patents relating to arms and munitions of war, but the opinion ot the Resist rai is that nh:s couni.iv i> nor, sufficiently to the fore in manufactures of that description to bo likelv to evolve anything of special value. Onp application was granted durini: the /ear for tho suspension of the registration of iin enemy trademark in favimr of a New Zealand applicant, but no claim? have been mado for the granting of licenses of enemy patents under the law alter the declaration of war. One t-hine' winch prevents Nr.v Zealanders from taking full advantage of the demand for destructive inventions is the secrecy which has to prevail in regard to developments elsewhere. The trade-mark registration figure s ! show how tho patent medicine and patent, food purveyor iloui Idies, for this kind of trademark completely overshadl-ws all others, there b-injr no fewer than 132 new trade-marks for substances used as food.