BEWARE BUREAUCRACY

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 123, 25 May 1926, Page 8

BEWARE BUREAUCRACY

(By A.M.F.)

SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY

is a Red-tape move afoot?

DANGER OF TOP-HAMPER,

Much has been_. written of Government organisation and co-ordi-nation fof research. The scheme advanced by tho National Efficiency Board in 1917 is typical of most. It is an elaborate scheme of a central, board and local advisory committees for the centralised control and direction of research. Industrialists and scientists alike view such proposals . with little favour. The fear of bureaucratic control is ever present. Industrialists and scientists see already in other countries too much tophamper (most advisory .boards must bo classed as such), too many administrators, and not even technical administrators at that. Both stifle initiative and destroy individuality, two important attributes of the best industrial research worker. Is New Zealand—which is awaiting a long-promised document on application of scieni^ to industry, etc. —about to run the gauntlet of a propaganda pointing to a policy more bureaucratic than resultfulf Admittedly a central agency to mould public opinion, stimulate research, and promote co-operation between various research bodies is a desirable institution, but it should be, strictly non-of-ficial in character, should be created' voluntarily, and supported financially by such organisations as the New Zealand Institute, the Industrial Corpora tion of New Zealand, the New Zealand Farmers' Union, and thei New Zealand Society of Civil Engineers. LESS GOVERNMENT IN BUSINESS. A central agency modelled upon the National Research Council of the .United States is in line with the modern trend of "less Government in business." It is> thoroughly representative of Government, educational, privately endowed, and industrial research agencies, but has no official character, and strongly opposes centralised control and direction of research. Great practical value attaches to its deliberations. Many of its members are not only scientists and technicians,, but are at the same time prominent in the manufacturing world. So much for the central agency, which should bo non-official. What then is the Government 's sphere? "What is the Government already doing? TyrO LABORATORY TYPES. Most of the research laboratories of the Now Zealand Government j are of the "uni-purpose" or "convergent" type, in which all investigations"' are directed towards the elucidation of as-, soeiated problems related to one subject. Thus the. research staffs of the Department of Agriculture and of the State Forest Service are engaged primarily on studies into the economic utilisation of farm and forest lands. The only notable exception is tho Do-.j minion Laboratory. This institution is largely a chemical laboratory maintained by the Department of Internal Affairs as a consulting laboratory for Government Departments, local bodies, and private interests. It is therefore of the '' multi-purpose" or " divergent" iype, attacking any problem that seems to promise progress in the chemical field. . \ A,proper organisation of these. Go-" vernment efforts, in scientific industrial research' would include: (1) The rapid expansion of the Government departmental research efforts where they are of the uni-purpose type such as, those of the Department of Agriculture and of the State Forest Service. ■ ' j (2) The creation of a Branch of Research of the Department of Industries and Commerce (not Internal Affairs) for the purpose of maintaining a central research laboratory of the multi-purp'se type, adapted to deal with the highly diversified requirements of the engineering interests and secondary industries generally! NO HAMPERING ADVISORY BOARDS. This proposal is in accordance with established and proven practice in other countries. Thuß the U.S.A. possesses a number of uni-purpose laboratories attached to the Department of Agriculture, the Forest Service, tho Bureau of Mines, and other Government Departments; also a multi-pur-pose laboratory known as the Bureau of Standards of tho Department of Commerce. It is a tried and proven plan worthy of duplication in New Zealand; no new Departments of State are required; neither are hampering advisory boards, etc., needed; instead, favourable conditions are created for the effective prosecution of research in both the primary and the secondaryfields. , ■ ' ■ . ; The danger just now is that the New Zealand Government may become committed to a course that will create red-tape and circumlocution. Government aid for , scientific industrial research should be regarded as a temporary measure. It should aim to put industries on their feet in the same sense as the Government, by action in another sphere, aims to put apple growers on their feet. It is not a permanent policy. It is heeded because the feet of industry in New Zealand are at present weak. Of the whole of the Dominion's factories reporting to the Government, Statistician for the year ended 31st March, 1924, almost 50 per cent, engaged less than six employees, and 81 per cent, engaged less than 21 employees. But their salvation lies ultimately in self-help, not in bureaucracy. Public service administrators are too often the result of a watertight compartment system of training. Officers are either clerks or technicians, and remain so for the whole period of their service. None of them makes the best administrator, 'though the technical officer is obviously preferable to the clerical for the prosecution of research.