IMPERIAL INSTITUTE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 22, 20 October 1917, Page 10

IMPERIAL INSTITUTE

ITS WORK FOR EMPIRE-BUILDING

SPHERES OF ACTIVITY DEFINED

„,, ~ London, August 10. J he Jixecutive Council of the Imperial Institute desires to give publicity Ut the operations of tho institute, especially as regards the facilities it now possesses for affording information reporting- raw materials and their value for commercial purposes. , A committee has now been formed for each Dominion, with tho High Commissioner as...chairman. The Hon. .Sir Thomas .. Mackenzie, K.C.M.G., High Commissioner for New Zealand (chairman), Mr. J. Coates, Mr, J. C. N. Grigg, Mr. It. D. D. M'Lean, mid Mr. B. it. Nolan; Lord Islington, chairman of tho Executive. Council, and 'Professor Wyndham E. Dunstan, Director of the Imperial Institute, are ex oifa'cio members of the committee. This committee meets periodically to receive reports and make suggestions regarding the work of the Imperial Institute for Now Zealand.

Tho principal objects of tho Imperial Institute are:

■ (I) To assist producers overseas to find appropriate, openings for rawmaterials and primary manufactures.. (2) To furnish ' manufacturers throughout the Empire with information as to the sources of supply ■within the Empire of raw materials which they need.

The institute in iU several departments possesses an expert staff with special knowledge of the various raw materials and their industrial and commercial uses. Tho staff attached to the information department deals with tho collection and supply of information respecting the sources and modes of utilisation of raw' materials, prepares statements for distribution . and. (publication, and (answers all inquiries received at the institute from this country and from the Dominions, colonies, and India. The staff attached to the laboratories is engaged in investigating the composition and value for commercial purposes of raw materials. The whole of this work is carried on in communication with, manufacturers and Chambers of Commerce, and with the advice of technical committees, which include well-known technical and commercial experts. A special 6taff is devoted to mineral wort which is carried on with the advice of a committee on mineral resources, on which, besides specialists, the Home Government ! Departments concerned are represented. I A valuable adjunct to the, institutes work is provided by the exhibition galleries, in which are included exhibits of the pastoral, agricultural, forest, and mineral resources of New Zealand. This collection, though not yet completely equipped, is of a utility not. only in connection TvTKi tho work referred to, but is also of general and educational importance in providing an object-lesson in the possibilities of the Dominion. It is intended, in addition to bringing up to date and maintaining; the comprehensive ! collections of all the countries of tho Empire now shown in the exhibition galleries in London, to arrange for special exhibitions of raw materials throughout the country in co-operation with the Chambers of Commerce.

New Zealand Questions.

I 4.mong questions of interest to New Zealand now under consideration aro the utilisation of waste in the production of New Zealand flax; possibilities of extension of the use of Kauri pine timber in the United Kingdom; utilisation of waste wood and sawdust in New Zealand and the recovery of potash from wool-cashing liquors. The Executive Council points out that 'the Imperial Institute is not only concorned with scientific research, but is equipped for investigating and supplying information respecting technical and commercial matters. In this respect it performs duties which are additional to those of the Board of Trade, a Department of His Majesty's Government in London with whom it lias been officially arranged that the .Imperial Institute shall in future deal with inquiries respecting the raw materials of the Empire. In this connection it will be seen that a Raw Materials Committee has been nominated by the Association of Chambers of .Commerce of the United Kingdom to take action on the results of work performed and information collected at the Imperial Institute. This committee includes representatives of chambers of commerce throughout the country, and affords an important link for the operations of the Imperial Institute with the commercial community of the United Kingdom and for the development of trade with different parts of the Empire.

The "Bulletin of the Imperial Institute" is the principal medium for the publication of information collected and of the results of the inquiries conducted. Other special publications are issued from time to time. The sphere of the. Imperial Institute is now clearly defined,

and the Executive Council desires that the work should supplement and not overlap with that of other organisations, either for scientific research or for. other purposes, whether established in this country or in the Dominion, and that cordial co-operation with such agencies should be arranged.

The committee for New Zealand has already hold several meetings, and is actively at work. Special attention is being given by the committee to the extension and improvement of the New Zealand Court in the exhibition galleries. The committee interviewed the Prime Minister of New Zealand nnd tho Minister of Finance on this matter during their recent visit to this country, and were promised that the subject should receive the attention of the Government on their return to the Dominion. The 'committee is preparing a full report as to the further exhibits required from New Zealand.

So far as Government inquiries from New_ Zealand are concerned, the institute 'is in communication with Departments of the Dominion Government through the High Commissioner. Suggestions and requests for information are now invited from your organisation and other organisations in New Zealand which are in an.v way concerned with tho operations briefly described in this letter. Inquiries will bo welcomed aboutNew Zealand raw materials and primary manufactures, and as to the provision of possible markets for such articles in the United Kingdom aud in the otlier parts cf the Empire.

Inquiries from New Zealand for raw materials, etc., from otlier countries are cordially invited, and every endeavour will be made in all cases of the. kind to bring producers and users into communication with each other.

At_ the same time, it should be emphasised that the institute is in a position to supply technical reports as to the value of raw materials, etc., submitted for investigation, and to give information as to the best means of exploiting, these when they are found tn be of commercial value aiid likelv to be useful in the development of (Ho industries iind commerce of Hie Empire.