i8 president's address. 



do much for the industries, l)ecause their professors have had 

 httle routine work to do in comparison with British standards, 

 the increasing complexity and leng-th of the research necessary 

 for modern scientific manufacture is makino^ it increasingly diffi- 

 cult for the Professor or the University laboratory to take a 

 dominating share in the advance." But the advantages of a 

 close co-operation between the industries and the Universities 

 are fully recognised. " In the first place, it will be easier to 

 attract the support of the trades if provision is made for train- 

 ing their higher stafif as well as for investigating their dil^culties. 

 In the next place, it ensures the continued contact of the research 

 worker with advanced students — an inestimable benefit in the 

 opinion of all the best authorities. Finally, it enables us to use 

 to the utmost advantage the very limited number of original 

 workers, available for either research or for teaching." 



As to w^hether the functions of the Universities can be ex- 

 tended beyond that of providing trained research workers, to in- 

 include the industrial requirements of the research itself, the 

 Council maintains an open mind. " In some cases now^ before 

 us," it states, " it will probably be the best way of proceeding ; 

 in other cases, where a powerful industry and many complicated 

 problems are concerned, it may not." 



Recently the Director of the National Physical Laboratory 

 has complained of the totally inadequate financial support re- 

 ceived from the Government. The present annual grant is 

 £7,000, but during the fifteen years of its existence, it has re- 

 ceived a total of only £59,000, as compared with £70,000 given 

 annually by the Germans to corresponding institutes at Berlin, 

 and the sum of £100,000 received every year by the Bureau of 

 Standards from the United States Government. I mention these 

 facts to show what research work costs ; it would be useless for 

 the Union Government to establish a similar institution, unless 

 it is prepared to supply it with funds on a most liberal .scale. 



In view of the adverse criticism which has been frequently 

 made against British scientists and the comparisons which have 

 been made with the Germans, it is reassuring to find such an 

 important body as the British Advisory Council for Scientific 

 and Industrial Research expressing the opinion that : " Our 

 people have no reason to fear or envy the scientific pioneers 

 of other races. They have had, and will probably continue to 

 have, their 'full share of the outstanding minds to which each 

 century gives birth." 



What has been done in technical education here goes to 

 prove that the South African born — including sons of Stellen- 

 bosch — are capable of occupying the highest technical positions 

 which this country can ofifer. South African trained engineers 

 are welcomed in the works and laboratories of leading European 

 and American firms. For example, the Cicneral Electric Com- 

 pany of Schenectady, U.S.A., spends over £100,000 every year 

 on research, and employs a stafif of 200 trained scientists in their 



