120 



NATURE 



[April 6, 1916 



material has to be purchased abroad the cost of 

 production will rise accordingly. 



This seems a very good opportunity for State 

 assistance, since at present it is to the interest cA 

 no individual manufacturer to assist in the de- 

 velopment of the new type of ware. It is there- 

 fore pleasing- to learn that the Committee of the 

 Privy Council for Scientific and Industrial Re- 

 search has made a substantial grant towards the 

 capital outlay for an experimental factory where 

 the conditions necessary for the successful manu- 

 facture of hard porcelain can be studied on a large 

 enough scale to reproduce manufacturing condi- 

 tions. Once the necessary conditions have been 

 established, the manufacture of hard porcelain 

 will probably interest a great many potters, and 

 this idea has probably led the Pottery Manufac- 

 turers' Association to bear a proportionate part 

 of the estimated cost of maintenance. Instead of 

 working slavishly on Continental lines it will 

 probably be far more rational to introduce as few 

 radical changes as possible, so that the suoreme 

 skill and traditional experience of our craftsmen 

 may be utilised to its maximum. In this way it 

 is quite likely that a new kind of hard porcelain 

 will be evolved, which will unite the good quali- 

 ties of the Continental with those of the British 

 porcelain. B. M. 



J. W. M. 



THE COMMONWEALTH INSTITUTE OF 

 SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



THE scheme for the establishment of a Com- 

 monwealth Institute of Science and Indus- 

 try, of which we gave an account in our issue of 

 March 9, is described by Prof. Orme Masson in an 

 interesting article in the Melbourne Argus of 

 January 22. Prof. Masson points out that, just 

 as Lord Roberts pleaded in vain the military 

 necessities of the nation, so the warnings of men 

 like Sir Henry Roscoe, Sir William Ramsay, and 

 Sir Norman Lockyer, as to the consequences of 

 the neglect of science, were disregarded before 

 the war. After the scheme for the development of 

 scientific and industrial research, under a com- 

 mittee of the Privy Council, had been put forward 

 about a year ago, Mr. Hughes, the Prime Minister 

 of Australia, determined to do as much — and more 

 — for the Commonwealth, with the view of making 

 the country independent of German trade and 

 manufacture when the war is over. Following 

 the example of the British Science Guild ten years 

 ago, he appointed a committee representing State 

 •scientific departments, universities, and indus- 

 trial interests to prepare a scheme ; and w- ithin a 

 ffew days the committee had produced the draft 

 ;already published in our columns. 



The proposed Institute is to be governed by 

 three directors, one of whom will be selected for 

 proved ability in business, finance, and organisa- 

 tion ; while the two others will be scientific men 

 of similar high standing and reputation. This 

 combination, devoted wholly to the work, should 

 he able efficiently to conduct affairs and opera- 



NO. 2423, VOL. 97] 



tions having for their object the union of science 

 with industry. The directors are to be assisted 

 by an advisory council composed of nine repre- 

 sentatives of primary and secondary industries 

 and of science ; and these representatives are to 

 seek information, advice, and assistance from 

 specialists throughout Australia. 



The first function of the Institute will be to 

 ascertain what industrial problems are most press- 

 ing and most likely to yield to scientific experi- 

 mental-investigation ; to seek out the most com- 

 petent men to whom each such research may be 

 entrusted ; and to arrange for their having all 

 necessary appliances and assistance. The Insti- 

 tute is also to build up a bureau of industrial 

 scientific information, which shall be at the service 

 of all concerned in the industries and manufac- 

 tures of the Commonwealth. Its third main func- 

 tion will be to erect, staff, and control special 

 research laboratories, the first of which will prob- 

 ably be a physical laboratory somew^hat on the 

 lines of our National Physical Laboratory. 



The scheme cannot be brought into operation 

 until it receives the sanction of the Commonwealth 

 Parliament, after the return of Mr. Hughes from 

 his visit to England. In the meantime, the 

 Federal Government has appointed a temporary 

 advisory council and provided the money neces- 

 sary to enable it to make a beginning with the 

 organisation of industrial scientific research and 

 the collection and dissemination of scientific in- 

 formation bearing on Australian industries. Ac- 

 cording to Press reports, Mr. Hughes said, before 

 leaving Australia, that the Government is pre- 

 pared to spend up to 500,000!. upon the establish- 

 ment of the scheme ; and if the matter is taken up 

 in this large-minded spirit the Commonwealth will 

 have made the best possible provision for the in- 

 dustrial and commercial struggle which must comCi 

 after the declaration of peace. j 



NOTES. 



Promoters of the proposal to put the hands < 

 timepieces forward by an hour during certain montl 

 of the year are now advocating the adoption of th 

 principle of ''Daylight Saving" by deception on tli 

 grounds of national economy in fuel and light. Tl. 

 scheme has been before the public for many year- 

 and has been rejected by Parliament on more tha; 

 one occasion. It has not received the approval of 

 single scientific society of any importance, and onl 

 one or two scientific men have given it any suppon 

 Yet Lord Salvesen made the astounding assertion 

 in the Times of March 31, that the Daylight Savini 

 Bill '"is supported by substantially the whole intelll 

 gent opinion of the country." He evidently believg 

 that " intelligent opinion " upon time-standards is 

 to be found in the views of experts, but in the res 

 lutions of town councils, district councils, chamber 

 of commerce, and like bodies, who want to preteo' 

 that during a prescribed period every year the hour c 

 seven o'clock is really eight, and so for other hours 

 It is usually understood that people cannot be mad 

 sober by Act of Parliament, yet it is seriously sug 

 gested that they should be made to rise earlier by 

 legalised plan of national deception. We have cof 

 demned this ridiculous measure whenever it has bee 



