January 17, 19 18] 



NATURE 



389 



The activities of the cx>mmittee have been far- 

 reaching. Attention has been given to the en- 

 couragement of researches already in progress, 

 and it has initiated many fresh inquiries. It has 

 got into touch with colleges and technical insti- 

 tutes, and collected information as to the facili- 

 ties for research and the supply of research 

 workers. But the main work of the com- 

 mittee has consisted in a most exhaustive 

 survey of the problems retarding the develop- 

 ment of existing industries, and of the research 

 work necessary for the establishment of new 

 industries. It would be almost tedious to enu- 

 merate the subjects which have received attention ; 

 no industry has been neglected, but perhaps 

 special attention has been devoted to the agri- 

 cultural and pastoral industries. 



Some very sound principles are again and again 

 emphasised in the course of the report. The 

 necessity of securing a greater supply of skilled 

 research workers is frequently referred to, and 

 the committee has made a beginning in the way 

 of encouraging promising students to take up 

 such work by finding remunerative employment 

 for some of the men at present available. 



A second point which is regarded as of great 

 importance is the improved training of artisans 

 in technical schools. If research methods are to 

 be more generally applied to industries, it is clear 

 that greater skill and accuracy will be required 

 from the general body of workers, so that it is 

 not merely the duty of the universities and col- 

 leges to supply highly trained research workers, 

 but the technical schools have also the important 

 duty of educating the artisan for the new type 

 of work required under the new conditions. 



We detect here and there in the report a ten- 

 dency on the part of the committee not to wait 

 for an industry to come to them, and, indeed, not 

 even to delay in order to secure the co-operation 

 of the industry, but to get research work going 

 when convinced of the necessity for it. For 

 example, the Executive Committee decided to 

 appoint a special committee to investigate the 

 processes of extraction of tannin from wattle bark, 

 and feeling that negotiations with the tanners in 

 all the States would take too long, the investiga- 

 tions have been commenced without waiting for 

 financial assistance from the industry. This 

 method of procedure is interesting, and one would 

 like to get further information as to whether the 

 committee intends to publish freely the results of 

 such investigations, or whether it is going to 

 communicate them to firms on certain conditions. 



The present report is in the main confined to 

 a survey of the promising fields for research work, 

 and docs not deal with questions connected with 

 the administration of public funds. Most people 

 will probably regard it as of good omen for the 

 success of the scheme in Australia that research, 

 and not administration, is being given the premier 

 place, although no doubt the authorities of the 

 institute will find it very necessary to formulate 

 some guiding principles. In the attempt to apply 

 science to industry it is, however, quite clear that 

 NO. 2516, VOL. 100] 



the result will be fatal if we take too great care 

 to avoid a few mistakes and thus set up a system 

 with a tendency to damp the enthusiast. 



There is one respect in which the present report 

 is rather peculiar. As we have stated, it is in the 

 main a survey of the field for future work, but in 

 describing the proceedings of several of the sub- 

 committees there is included an account of the 

 experimental results obtained in some of the 

 researches that have been started. The effect 

 produced is scarcely satisfactory, as the researches 

 are only in their initial stages, and it is not pos- 

 sible to give definite conclusions. The public 

 should not be encouraged to expect results of im- 

 portance to industry too soon, and when given 

 they should be stated as definitely as possible. 

 The Executive Committee has evidently carried 

 ' out its duties with great thoroughness, and has 

 I made a very complete survey of Australian indus- 

 I tries. In matters relating to agriculture and 

 j stock breeding the work of the Australian Insti- 

 j tute promises to be of special interest to the 

 mother country if we are really determined to 

 I apply science to agriculture in a systematic way 

 in the future. 



NOTES. 



We are very glad that the Government has been 

 induced to abandon the intention to use the British 

 Museum at Bloomsbury for the purposes of the Air 

 Board and the Natural History Museum at South 

 Kensington for other Government departments. Lord 

 Sudeley directed attention to the proposed appropriation 

 of these buildings in a question asked in the House 

 of Lords on January 9, and, in reply, Earl Curzon 

 said that, as regards the British Museum, he was glad 

 to state that for the accommodation of the Air Minis- 

 try it was no longer necessary to appropriate that 

 building. As to the Natural History Museum, it had 

 been found, after detailed examination, that any 

 attempt to convert the galleries into public offices would 

 involve the closing of the building to the public, exten- 

 sive internal rearrangements, and the consumption of 

 an enormous amount of labour and material and very 

 considerable delay. In these circumstances it had been 

 decided that there was no necessitv sufficientlv urgent 

 to warrant the use of the museum as had been con- 

 templated. — ^This decision has given much satisfaction 

 to all who cherish regard for national prestige and 

 understand the intellectual stimulus or practical value 

 of the collections in our national museums. What 

 astonishes us, however, is that Sir Alfred Mond, the 

 First Commissioner of Works, and a son of the late Dr. 

 Ludwig Mond, should have placed himself in such an in- 

 defensible position by putting tho scheme before the 

 Government. It is diflficult to comprehend also whv, 

 before deciding to requisition .the building, the Govern- 

 ment did not inquire as to whether such action was im- 

 peratively needed, and consult the trustees and other re- 

 sponsible authorities as to what its consequences "would 

 be. If that had been done, a storm of protest would 

 have been saved, and Earl Curzon would not have 

 had to confess in the House of Lords that there was 

 no real necessity for the proposed occupation, which 

 would, indeed, have been more like the act of an 

 invader than of a Government entrusted with the care 

 of national interests in every direction. The trustees 

 of the museum, at their meeting on January 12, ex- 



