RESEARCH REQUIREMENTS

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 5306, 20 January 1947, Page 4

RESEARCH REQUIREMENTS

— . i TN his address to the Senate of the New Zealand University ' | on Thursday last, the Chan- ; cellor, Mr. Justice Smith, pointed out that the University 'needed to know not merely the numbers, but whether the j methods adopted in training scientists in New Zealand were satisfactory. In the past, some ; frovernment departments, in ; order to secure scientists, had ! made grants to promising stu- . dents on condition that. they ! agreed to work for the department after graduation. ' This : procedure had not proved satisfactory. The bright • young . student took the alluring bait and then found, when he had j renched maturity as a graduate, , that he was hooked to scientific j work which was not in accordI ance with his bent. This involved j a waste of time and of ability 1 which departments would wish ! to avoid. | In the New Zealand Science j Review, JJr. L. Bastings claims j that if no efforts are made to j cncourage the number of scienj tists in New Zealand, the , country will be faced with a j severe deficiency of fully trained ; graduates in physics, chemistry, i biology and in pure mathe- | matics, subjects which are vital ! to the future prosperity of the | coiintry. Sir Charles Hercus, Dean of the Medical School of ; Otago University, was a dele- ; gatc at the scientific conferences : in England in 1946. These were ! attended by some 500 men, of I whom 100 were from the oper- ' seas parts of the British Commonwealth. His report states that there was unanimity at the conferences on the basic importance of the University, both in . the pursuit of new knowledge and in the training of scientific j workers. The expert- committee j considered that Great Britain | had at present 55,000 qualified ; scientists but estimated that by | 1955, the demand would be for ! 90,000. of whom onlv 64,000 I ** • would be available 011 the basis I of plans so far made. This ! shortage is equally manifest in . other industrial countries. 1 j It seems obvious, therefore, | that far from having any expec- | tation of holding the best of our ! science students in New Zealand | after graduation, the -present | drift of our brain-power over1 seas will continue, unless Govi ernment departments and pri*j vate employers awalce to a fuller j realisation of the losses being ; j incurred in our economy through I ; this exodus. "The remedy - Iies ■ firstly in encouragement of stuj : dents showing special aptitude, j ! in projects of their own selection ' and in the free .provision of I : facilities for undertaking probi ' lems requiring large-scale atj J tack, under the auspices of the ! j appropriate Government departI I ment. Thus, the field for investiI j gatio'n will be open on all sides. | ! It goes without sayin^ that I I adequate salaries will have .to be I ! granted all appointees and that ! will mean a far mnre liberal j scale than has been laid down I hitherto. It is noted that of late I the salaries offered for appointments to the Department of Scientific and Industrial Re- ! search have not been quoted when vacancies have been I advertised.

One department that-is.taking the long view in this matter is j the State Forestry Service, which undoubtedly will have th,e approval and assistance of the University Senate in the setting up of the Schodl of Forestry in Rotorua, now that the position of the University as the controlling authority in the granting of degrees has been conceded by a contemplated revision of. the constitution of the board of managers. Regarding the statement published earlier in -the

j "Morning Post" that the Uni- • versity would recognise the degrees of the school, we can only reiterate that the statement was made and confirmed cn this specifie point by an olficer who presumably, was in a position to express the intention of the department at that time. That this was indeed the plan of the Director of the Forest Service and his associates is given colour by the searching questions posed to him by Senator J. H. E. Schrodeiy and the answers made by Mr. Entrican, published elsewhere in this issue. .. _