SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

Southland Times, Issue 18839, 4 June 1920, Page 2

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

BRITAIN IS ACTIVF. The \v:ir taught the manufacturers of Great Britain that they could not afford to neglect scientific research. The British Board of Trade took up the matter and today the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research is active in the United Kingdom. The results that are being obtained are stated to be very important indeed. Fifteen important British industries now have research associations, which have been approved by the Department. They arc as follow : —Footwear, etc., cotton, wool and worsted, linen, iron, non-ferrous metals, motor cars etc., rubber and tyres, glass, Portland cement, photography, scientific instruments, refractory materials, sugar and cocoa, chocolate, sugar confectionery noil jam. Schemes for the establishment of research associations for the musical industries and the Scottish shale oil industry have reached an advanced stage of development, as have also schemes for the following industries:—Aircraft, electrical and allied goods, leather, silk laundering, master bakers and confectioners. In addition to these schemes are being proposed for the industries engaged upon marine engineering and shipbuilding, agricultural machinery, cycles and motor cycles and china clay. A vast amount of the time and thought of many of Britain’s ablest scientific men is being devotee! to improving the technique of production in these industries. A largo amount of money is being spent. The Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, in addition to rendering assistance in many other ways, makes grants to approved associations out of a fund of a million sterling, which the Imperial Government has allocated for the purpose. These grants are supplementary and the main resources of the associations are obtained from the firms engaged in the industries.