XVI THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
21st last. It is thought advisable to reproduce the President’s 
letter and to ask for its subject matter your very earnest attention. 
The public mind is at present much occupied with the question of trade and 
industrial conditions at the close of the war, and perhaps especially with the 
matter of preventing the renewal of importations from Germany. When it is 
remembered how considerable these imports were in many different departments 
of industrial activity, it seems reasonable to assume that the laboratories of the 
Canadian universities could be of material assistance to our manufacturers in 
solving the scientific problems which the manufacture of such articles presents. 
It has thus been suggested that the universities should be ‘‘mobilized” for in- 
dustrial scientific purposes. 
The Royal Society has on several occasions sought to be of service to the 
country and to the Government in practical matters of national concern, e.g., 
the question of continental time with which the name of the late Sir Sandford 
Fleming is connected, the matter of Fishery Stations, the relation of ice 
formation to the navigation of the St. Lawrence to which Professor Barnes has 
given so much attention. The representative character of the Royal Society 
would suggest that it is the proper body to offer its assistance to the Govern- 
ment in the matter to which I have referred. It represents the different 
provinces, the universities, and the scientific branches of the public service. 
It has been suggested therefore that the Society appoint a strong committee 
to wait on the Dominion Government for the purpose of urging the great need of 
encouraging industrial scientific research; and that the Society offer its services 
to the Government in the furtherance of research. The encouragement could 
take the form of grants to competent persons in our universities to carry on in- 
vestigations of value to Canadian industries, on the principle followed by the 
Carnegie Institution of Washington. The National Physical Laboratory of 
Teddington, England, which was “founded . . . _ for research into matters 
of technical and industrial importance, is controlled by a Board representing 
the Royal Society and the great technical institutions.” 
The Royal Society could appoint a permanent Committee to advise the 
Government in the direction and control of research work and in the allotment 
of grants for the furtherance of such work. 
The Council recommends that this most important subject be 
considered by the Sections of the Society with a view to the formula- 
tion by each of a list of scientific problems in which assistance can be 
rendered the Government by the Society, and that each Section shall 
appoint not more than three of its members to represent it in a special 
committee of the Society which shall consider this question with a 
view to bringing the matter to the attention of the Government. 
V.—PERMANENT QUARTERS FOR THE SOCIETY 
This topic is yet a live one and it is noticed with pleasure that 
one of our Fellows, the Hon. Rodolphe Lemieux, mentioned the matter 
in the House of Commons on April 13th. The Hon. the Minister of 
Public Works stated that the value of The Royal Society was appre- 
ciated, ‘‘and when conditions become normal consideration will be 
given at the earliest possible moment to the matter of finding a more 
suitable home for the Society than that which they have at the present 
time.” 
