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Otago and Southland. —To facilitate close and regular contact with the manufacturers in these districts, the Committee has recommended the appointment of a capable liaison officer, and necessary steps in this direction are being taken. Details of projects undertaken on behalf of industry are included in the reports of the appropriate laboratories, and were also included in a report submitted to the annual conference of the New Zealand Manufacturers' Federation. During 1946 the Dominion Physical Laboratory dealt with over 1,000 separate jobs for more than 270 individual manufacturers (see page 57). The Dominion Laboratory has now inaugurated a fuel-efficiency service similar to that in the United Kingdom (see page 55), and this service has been actively sponsored by the Manufacturers' Research Committee. Chemical and chemical engineering problems have been solved for various industries using the special knowledge and equipment possessed by the Laboratory (see page 55). Research Associations The Committee has encouraged the formation by industries of co-operative research associations (see page 25). Members of the laundry, dry-cleaning, and dyeing industry have decided to form a research association. The New Zealand Manufacturers' Federation has been recommended to ensure that all its industrial groups explore the possibilities of appropriate research associations and research facilities. Publicity and Information The resources of the Department's Information Bureau and overseas offices have been freely placed at the disposal of manufacturers, and every endeavour has been made to ensure that the information supplied has been adapted to cover specifically the particular details of the inquiry. During most of the year the Secretary-Executive Officer was associate editor of the Industrial Bulletin. Suitable material has been supplied for the official publication of the Manufacturers' Federation, and press publicity for departmental and committee activities has been arranged. As a result of a close association established with the Federation of British Industries Industrial Research Secretariat and the United Kingdom Ministry of Fuel and Power, details of the Conference on Industry and Research arranged in March, 1946, and Fuel Efficiency News, bulletins, and films supplied have been made available to manufacturers. Under the auspices of the Committee, a striking display entitled " Progress through Science," giving some indication of the assistance to industry given by four of the fourteen Divisions of the Department, was included in the Government Court at the New Zealand Industries Fair organized by the Canterbury Manufacturers' Association in August, 1946. Addresses by the Committee's Secretary-Executive Officer or by scientific officers of the Department (especially the Fuel Technologist) have been organized in various centres in collaboration with manufacturers' organizations and the Institution of Engineers. The Committee has given consideration to matters of wider interest, including the problem of corrosion, efficient use of power and heat (especially electric power), postapprenticeship courses for the training of toolmakers, use of waste by-products of industry, problems of food preservation and processing, and industrial design, and it has laid down its policy of avoiding competition with industry and of ensuring the transference of applied scientific work to industry. The Committee is also deeply concerned that the application of science in local industry is being hampered through loss or lack of suitable trained and qualified personnel. Appropriate recommendations have been made to the Hon. Minister and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. Close association with the Industrial Psychology Division has been maintained throughout the year.

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