SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

Taranaki Daily News, 24 November 1926, Page 9

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

CO-ORDINATION NECESSARY

INTER-STATE CONFERENCE

GOVERNMENTS TO SUPPORT

By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright. Received Nov. 23, 5.5 p.m. London, Nov. 22.

The report of the Research Sub-Com-mittee of the Imperial Conference emphasises the value of consultation and co-operation among the various portions of the Empire, and recommends further bureaux on the lines of flip existing Bureaux of Entomology and Tropical Medicine.

The need for establishing such would be best considered by the special interEmpire conferences as already arranged to be held in 1927 for the study of Imperial agricultural research. A similar bureau might be established in other particular arts, for example, horticulture, mining, or a manufacturing industry. These would be strictly specialised bureaux, but it would also be necessary to have an organisation which would act as a clearing house for the dissemination of scientific technical information somewhat analogous to the present Imperial Institute. Received Nov. 23, 8.30 p.m. London, Nov. 22.

The experience of the three British research departments, namely, agriculture, medicine and science, show the urgent need of direct communication between them and between corresponding organisations elsewhere in the Empire. There have been many instances proving that work done on parallel lines in different parte of the Empire, dealing with different local conditions, has led to important results. While it is true that much valuable information has thus been interchanged, the present machinery ie imperfect. Every official representative of each organisation in one part of the Empire should have an opposite number in each of the other parts of the Empire for the direct exchange of information.

The report draws attention to the serious shortage of suitable candidates for the scientific services supported by the Governments. Scientific officers must be of the highest class, and given the beet training, while salaries and other inducements must be adequate to attract the best men. If it is urged that financial stringency renders such a policy unwise, the report points out that the poorer any country is, the greater its need to develop its scientific resources. The British Empire’s enormous potential resources cannot be fully developed without the aid of science. Germany in the nineteenth century-provided a classic instance of the ‘ way in which a comparatively poor country can, by organised scientific research, immensely increase its wealth and overhaul neighbours possessing greater natural advantages.

The committee states that the importance of having upon the staffs of research institutions men with experience in different parts of the Empire can hardly be exaggerated. It is of opinion that the Press could play a great part in bringing home to the public the im. portance of science to the Empire and the career it offers.

The report applauds the proposal to hold an agricultural research conference in London in 1927, and urges that the various governments should give it the fullest possible support. The report embodies a resolution noting with satisfaction the encouragement of scientific research into the problems, of Empire agriculture, and particularly approves the board’s project of a chain of research stations in the tropical and sub-tropySl portions of the Empire. It pointy out that the Empire Marketing Board has made considerable grants for research work in connection with the problems of production and transport, and has also extended assistance beyond foodstuffs. The board has made it elear that it conceives its task to be to bring scientific problems before appropriate authorities. The committee suggests that when the board recommends a grant or the refusal of a grant, it should attach fully qualified reports thereon. The committee approves the steps taken to reorganise the Imperial Institute in accordance with the recommendations of the Economic Conference of 1923.

Earl Balfour contributes an introduction to the report, in winch he trusts the outcome of the conference will be to encourage the Empire's States to view sympathetically these suggestions.