Scientific Research In N.Z.

Wanganui Chronicle, 17 January 1948, Page 5

Scientific Research In N.Z.

WORKERS HAVE FEELING OF FRUSTRATION

SHOULD BE OUTSIDE THE CIVIL SERVICE

One of the most serious problems eh had met in his tour of New Zealand was a feeling of frustration and general dissatisfaction shown by the scientific worker in the Government service, states Sir Reginald Stradling, chief scientific adviser to the British Ministry of Works, in a report to the New Zealand Government on building and civil engineering research in New Zealand. He adds that this was really not peculiar to this country, for to varying degrees it existed elsewhere. Sir Reginald suggested the establishment of a National Research Council consisting of universities, industry and Government. All moneys which could be made available for research could be allocated to such a body on the advice of specialist research councils. This, he believed, would produce much greater efficiency and co-operation in the higher intellectual fields in New Zealand. The biggest change would be in the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, which would cease to be a Government department and its employees cease to be civil servants, all hough as an interim measure it might have tc be arranged for secondment of civil servants Io Research Council employment. The main advantage of such a scheme as this would be the giving of greater freedom to the research worker, and a far greater safeguard to the Government that money was being efficiently spent. At the same time, by linking

universities into the same scheme, advantage could be taken of research expenditure to increase the research atmosphere in universities. “The fact is, as far as my experience goes that organisation of the civil service primarily, as it must be, for administrative work is not of a kind in which the scientific worker can really give of his best," said Sir Reginald. “My sincere criticism is that New Zealand is not getting value for the money for her scientific workers because t hey are worrying, for a large proportion of their time, about conditions of service and pay. The whole scale of pay of the scientific staff, both in the service and the universities, is completely inadequate to enable the country to keep a sufficiently large proportion of her best younger men. There is a keen world market for scientific workers and New Zealand la not really in the running for the men she needs.” Sir Reginald said it seemed to him that New Zealand would do well to consider the type of organisation in use in Australia and Canada and in England with medical and agricultural research. This was the establishment of a council for research instead of a Government department. By this device the staff were not employed by the Government direct and were not civil servants. They were employees of the council. If, as the result of good work, salaries did increase appreciably, then New Zealand might be able to hold many rising men she was now losing. It could not be too strongly emphasised how much was being lost by the present system. The country was too small In numbers to be able to afford antagonisms in the research and. education fields.