SCIENTIFIC "BOOSTING" OF. INDUSTRIES

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3139, 18 July 1917, Page 5

SCIENTIFIC "BOOSTING" OF. INDUSTRIES

WHAT AUSTRALIA IS DOING.

lhe Commonwealth Advisory Council ol Science and Industry, a temporary body established in April, 1916, says in a report of its work that existing laboratories in Australia are not ordinarily equipped with apparatus for conducting large scale" experiments. Tho executive committee claims to havo ascertained that tho accommodation available and the staff and equipment of existing laboratories, m Australia are insufficient for the carrying out of fundamental work, which must bo dono before many pressing problems can bo solved. It recommends therefore the establishment of a permanent institute to increase tho output of skillod speoialists for tho development of tho primary and secondary industries of Australia. The committee recommends for the improvement of technical education and tho training of nrtisaiis an inter-State conference of experts, but the Government has informed the committeo that it does not think such aotion desirable at present.' After referring to the result of investigation work tho report emphasises that the loss m the agricultural and pastoral industries from attacks of pests, parasites oatl organisms causing disease, amounts to millions of pounds yearly in Australia. Special committees have reported upon the tick pest, and have formulated lines ot action with a viow to their control A report which recommends a scheme for tho control and eradication of tho prickly pear pests has been presented by the committee to tho Federal Government. In the manufacturing industries sptcial attention has been given to the improveil! ??! tannin g methods, paper-making .the utilisation of Posidonia fibre (of which there aro immenso deposits in Spencer's and St. Accent's Gulfs South Australia), pottery and clays, the manufacture of solid-drawn cylinders for holding compressed gases, the design and manufacture of alcohol engines, the sterilisation of milk, and the fermenting power of yeast. In regard to tho lastnamed, tho results already obtained afford hopo that they may have an important bearing on the solution of the daybaking trouble by reducing the timo of the dough in tho trough. In regard to paper-making, tho report states that in view of tho present shortage of shipping, togother with the increasing scarcity of paper-making materials throughout the world, the question of paper-makino- in Australia merits careful consideration. Tests of different materials for this purpose should, the report adds, form u valuable portion of the work of the botanical section of tho. permanent institute, nnd it will probably be necessnry to erect a special plant for the purpose similar to those already established in Germany, England, Canada, and the United States'.