SCIENTIST AND PRODUCER

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 58, 10 March 1931, Page 10

SCIENTIST AND PRODUCER

conflicting iterests RAW MATERIALS REPLACED. The entry of the scientist into competition with the primary producer, what the scientsts had already accomplished and in what fields further competition could be expected were points advanced by Mr R- O. Page in his presidential address to the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury last week. Starting from the earliest efforts of scientific men, Mr Page traced their work through the years, giving examples of cases in which synthetic articles had usurped the place of primary products and more and more were entering into competition with them. Mr Page stated that historians tool often confined their work to politics and wars, to the exclusion of other interests. Even, when mention was made of such events a distorted view was apt to be given. Modern science had changed conditions in the primary industries and provided competitors in many fields so that some industries looked on as essential no longer held a monopoly and had to enter into com petition with young and vigorous companies. After a brief sketch of early conditions in the primary industries, Mr Page, mentioned the introduction of steam arid spinning, passing on to the collapse of the indigo industry through the introduction of synthetic, methods, which, he said, provided perhaps one of the best, instances of the subject, of his address: 4 ‘Science as a disturbing influence on the primary industry.” Radical Changes. Referring to refrigeration, he said that, this had been a great boon to NewZealand and the Argentine particularly in relation to English markets. At present two new methods of food pre serration were making headway. Quit

freezing had been introduced and had 1 proved eminently satisfactory. Another radical change was the introduction of dry ice. National dye stuffs, per-| fumes and drugs had been challenged or replaced by science. Sodium nitrate appeared to be a substance that would always enjoy a monopoly but just be-1 fore the war the process of procuring nitrates from the air had been discovered. This led to the scrapp of old plants, a reorganisation of the industry in Chili and the lifting of the export duty, until then in force. Artificial Silk. Only recently had .artificial silk entered into competition with the natural article although it had been known for forty years. 'Chat competition was bound to' increase in the future in many directions. Dyes and improvements in the methods of spinning had made for a finer article than that produced from the natural fibre. One of the best examples w r as provided by the improvements in margarine, so that last year in Englanl the consumption was equal to the products of 2,000,000 cows. Natural gums and resins provided another case in point. One would have thougnt that there would, have been a great demand for resins for insulating purposes but fresh resins with new properties were dominating the field just as lacquers ‘ were ousting varnish. The export of kauri gum from New Zealand had dropped considerably and the shellac market had received a set bark. Synthetic Methods. The dearer a raw material was the more likely it was to find competition from synthetic methods. An instance of that was found in the rubber industry. At one time platinum was value less. Then at the end of the war it had risen in value to £3O an ounce. This had engaged the attention of the scientists and substitutes for platinum in many directions had been found. Tn recent years the production of platinum had exceeded the demand, and it had k fallen in > nine by one third in from

five to six years. A chemical substitute for radium had been found by the Carnegie Institute in Washington.

So far there was no indication that the food supply would be encroached on. There would be no competition for cereals, but industries with meat products might find themselves against competition. Yeast was a cheap source of portein material, and means of converting it to meat-like products of a high nutritional value had been found. Such possibilities as these and the use of cotton seed might foreshadow lower prices for meat. Greater changes might, be brought about than in the past, and it was essential that New Zealanders keep an eye on developments so that, they would not feel the pressure of altered demands and avoid a similai dislocation as that of the indigo indir try. Dr. H. G- Denham, in moving a vote of thanks, said that the quality of New Zealand products had gone back in recent years, and the remarks made by Mr Page were well-timed. “If we set our house in order,” he said, “and send only the best materials, we will not have much to fear so far as our most important products are concerned.”