ESSENTIAL WORK OF DOMINION LABORATORY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 58, 2 November 1949, Page 7

ESSENTIAL WORK OF DOMINION LABORATORY

Chemical research and services today play a nationally important part in the development of New Zealand’s economy. Recognition of the importance of the chemist wkas made nearly 85 years ago with the establishment of the first scientific laboratory in New Zealand.

In 1865 a one-man institution was formed in New' Zealand with the main object of assisting the geological survey in the analysis of minerals. It was called the Colonial Laboratory, and the staff was increased to two (one chemist and one assistant) in 1090. In 1907 when New Zealand became a Dominion—it became the Dominion Laboratory, and in 1926 it came under the administration of the then newly-formed Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. Today—under the Dominion Analyst at Wellington, the Dominion Laboratory has a staff of 135, of whom nearly half are professional chemists. During 1948 alone over 30,000 separate samples were examined, and in research and development work the services of the Laboratory are demanded in many fields, amongst which are food and drugs, coal and mineral resources, building and road-making, tobacco and hops, metals and wood, and poisons and insecticides.

Divided Into Sections The Dominion Laboratory is divided into sections each working under a specialist officer, but many of the research and development projects call for a common effort between two or more sections, often working with other branches of the Department or with other organisations.

In many large schemes the services of the Laboratory are called on for preliminary investigations—very often of vital importance—which are likely to go unnoticed in the appreciation of the major project. The utilisation of New Zealand metals, rocks, clays and other resources continue to be largely guided by the work of the chemists in the laboratories, and steps have now been taken to increase the research work at the Dominion Laboratory in food technology, in the use of radioactive elements, and in the chemistry of concrete.