UNIVERSITY RESEARCH

New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 789, 3 September 1954, Page 5

UNIVERSITY RESEARCH

Sir,-In your issue of August 13 you print some extracts from remarks made by Dr. C. P. McMeekan in a recent broadcast discussion on "Are We Spending Enough on Research?" It is a pity that Dr, McMeekan is in error in at least one of his factstand has made unwarranted deductions from this incorrect observation.'The grant to the University of New Zealand for research purposes is, and has been for some years, £15,000 and not £10,000; Reference to the Estimates of the Department of Education would have revealed this. More important, however, is the erroneous deduction (or at least suggestion) that this is the only amount that the University and the colleges have to: spend on research. The Government provides today something like five times the amount provided for the University and its affiliated colleges eight years ago. The better staffing and equipment made possible out of the £1,.2M now available from the Government must surely allow a little time and energy for research, Indeed, Professor Slater’s excellent article takes this clear. Many years ago, when as a wintles I had to review geography textbooks, I

used a crude but useful method of checking for accuracy. If I found a book that stated, for example, that Dunedin was easily the largest city in New Zealand, and that the greater part of the North Island was volcanic desert, I concluded that the book was probably inaccurate in other matters. Dr. McMeekan will forgive me, therefore, if I am a little sceptical about some of his statements about research,

E.H.

O.

(Wellington),