The Wanganui Chronicle. “NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 1924. A LEAD WORTH FOLLOWING

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXI, Issue 19034, 11 June 1924, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. “NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 1924. A LEAD WORTH FOLLOWING

“Science conquers—whether it be on the field of battle, on the waves of the ocean, amid the din and smoke of the workshop, or in the broad acres of the light of heaven, and assuredly in the future, even more than in the past, not only the prosperity, but even the existence of the Empire, will be found to depend upon the improvement of National Knowledge, that is, upon the more complete application of scientific knowledge and methods to every department of national and industrial activity. 9 ’

These are the sentiments of Sir William Huggins, astronomer. Perhaps no wiser sentence was ever written for our practical guidance to-day. The British Empire is an association of great and free peoples, and men who realise what invention has done for the world are to-day urging, as a matter of Imperial policy, that Britain and her Dominions should co-opcrate to encourage inventors. “Were they to do this in common,” says one writer, “it would be the greatest 1 preference’ of all.” In this connection it is interesting to learn that there will be registered in Australia shortly an association for the Encouragement of Invention. This is no mere local event. It is an event of world-wide importance, for this association will seek, and almost certainly obtain, affiliation with the British Science Guild. It is a policy of “hands across the sea,” and its promoters see no reason why it should not yet be “hands across the sea” in the case of the Atlantic also, and a union, in the cause of science and invention, of the whole English-speaking world, which should lift humanity above the strife that stifles the rise to better things. There is at present in England Captain George A. Taylor, one of the bestknown citizens of Sydney. He carries credentials from the Government

and various most important scientific institutes and engineering associations, and is the bearer of a letter from Sir George Fuller, Premier of N.S.W., introducing him as an advocate for the encouragement of invention in connection with world peace. Indeed, it is said of Capt. Taylor that he is a missioner who thinks that the real road to permanent and abiding peace is through the betterment of man and the coming achievements of science and invention. And there is undoubtedly wisdom in this view. As one of Captain Taylor’s admirers has written, the human race has to fight against more formidable enemies than those caused by any national boundaries, and that this is not confined to diseases of the human body and germs. Insects and parasites may be small, but the mischief done by them is not small. For instance, in a single year, America lost over £480,000,000, expressed in British coinage, through pests affecting crops and animals only. Coming nearer home, we have only to look across to Australia to sec what “a plant out of place” can do. The prickly pear is in “effective occupation” of 24,000,000 acres of that continent, and is said to be spreading at the rate of 1,000,000 acres a year. Moreover, the world’s waste (however necessary under present conditions each nation may consider its own particular expenditure to be) must also be taken to include armaments, upon which 20 per cent, of the revenue of the nations of the world is spent, with every prospect, if continued, of the suicide of civilisation. And so Capt. Taylor, who is no pacifist, as that term is commonly understood, has gone to England via America to talk of invention and inventors, and as an advocate for a union of the English-speaking world, for the best purposes to which human effort was ever devoted. Though, through his agency, Australia is taking the lead in this matter, Captain Taylor will not be able to boast of what that country has done in the past to encourage colonial invention. Though Wilbur Wright, for instance, acknowledged that the first principles of the aeroplane had been discovered and applied in Sydney whilst he was still in knickers, Captain Taylor must confess, wherever he speaks, that Australia has not bothered about any of her own inventions. In proof of this, E. Dwyer Gray, in a recently published article, gives many instances of lamentable neglect. He says: William Fairer bred a rust-proof wheat, which, put many millions into the pockets of Australian farmers, yet he died without adequate recognition. Dr. W. A. Hargreaves, of South Australia, a director of agricultural chemistry, solved the weevil problem, and saved other millions without recognition. T. S. Mort’s statue looks down coldly on Sydney to-day, but when T. S. Mort and Nicolle endeavoured to get Australia to support their ideas about refrigeration they were snubbed, and their names are not even mentioned in books on the subject, written after others got credit for their work. Brennan invented his great torpedo, and had to take it overseas for encouragement. Mitchell, an Australian, invented the thrust-bearing used in all the battleships of the world, and had to leave Australia to get any help. M‘Kay’s harvester had to be taken to South America, before Australia would condescend to look at it. When the motorless aeroplane was flown in Europe, in 1922, many Australians hailed it as a wonderful invention, but

“did not bother” when it was dope in Sydney over a dozen years before. Australia “did not bother” when Lawrence Hargrave invented the cellular box-kite, the flying machine (1884), and the rotary engine (1889). Australia did not even bother when France was credited with the rotary engine 20 years later, under the name of the Gnome. So with the transmission of drawings by wireless, and other wireless marvels, which have been calmly credited to America and Germany, though they had been discovered in Australia a decade earlier.

But apparently, judging by the enterprise Captain Taylor represents, Australia intends to do better in the future, and to encourage, and no ignore, Australian inventions, and particularly to help the poor man with a great idea, not merely to get a patent, but to get a market, without which the patent is worth nothing—except for a pirate perhaps to copy and exploit by importations. The Australian Inventions Board is intended for the most practical purposes, and it is claimed that the association now about to be registered and other bodies concerned have both the power and the capacity to serve. The association does not seek profits. It seeks the practical and direct encouragement of the worth while. The inaugural conference was held in Sydney on March 14, 1922, and was attended by representatives of the University of Sydney, the United Service Institution, the Institution of Engineers, the Department of Technical Education, the Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber of Manufactures, and the Australian Aero Club. It was decided to make the board itself “worth while’’ by extending its influence overseas, if possible, and Captain Taylor made a preliminary visit to England last year. The objective is (1) Australia, (2) the Empire, (3) the English-speaking world. The first two are certainly attainable, the third may be, and certainly will be—in time. Captain Taylor was warmly received in London in 1922. He was invited to join the British Science Guild, and did. This body was then being reorganised after the disruption caused by the Great War and the subsequent chaotic conditions of “peaceless Europe.” The British ‘Science Guild is to-day one of the most powerful and representative institutions in Great Britain. It was initiated in 1909 by the late Sir Norman Lackyer, K.C.8., F.R.S., “to promote the application of scientific methods to social problems and public affairs, ’ ’ and includes in its membership scientists and statesmen. The

motto is “science discovers, invention constructs, industry produces.” Is this not a movement in which New Zealand also might participate with advantage to herself and the Empire?