450 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION G. 



a Government grant of 140,000?., or twenty times ours. In the Civil Service 

 Estimates there is an allowance of 40,000^. for research, an increase of 15,000;. 

 over that allotted last year. The total estimates are over 20,000,000^., so that 

 lees than one-fifth per cent, is allotted to research. 



It is difficult to realise what benefits might be gained by investigations 

 which could be carried on by the N.P.L. if only sufficient funds were available, 

 and of what importance they might be to industry at large. One example may 

 suffice. Some time ago the Reichsanstalt carried out a most complete set of 

 tests on a certain class of machine, an investigation which must have cost 

 several thousands of pounds sterling, apart from the time it occupied. The 

 results of this investigation are available to German manufacturers of this 

 machine, and just before the war preparations were being made to take 

 advantage of this, and from figures stated a large extra economy was expected. 

 This, of course, would enable them, provided the cost of manufacture was not 

 too high, to have an enormous advantage over such machines manufactui'ed 

 without this special knowledge. The Institution of Mechanical Engineers saw 

 the importance of this problem and appointed a Research Committee to deal 

 with the question, but the first question met with is that of finance. Should 

 this be the case in a wealthy country such as this that depends on its manu- 

 factures for its very existence ? And that such an investigation is required is 

 obvious from the fact that the designs of no two independent manufacturers 

 uf this machine in this country agree among themselves. Of course, each claims 

 his is the best, but^ this caimot be so. 



Investigations in engineering shops do not meet such a case. The question 

 of finance has to be carefully watched, and as soon as results sufficiently good 

 are obtained they are generally accepted, and in any case the problem is rarely 

 thrashed out to the bottom, an almost universal defect in conmiercial research 

 work. Without the help of the National Physical Laboratory the position of 

 the aeroplane in this country would be very different from what it is, and 

 what has been done for the aeroplane requires to be done in many other 

 directions. 



But what firm here would do what has been done in the commercial synthesis 

 of indigo, on which it is said that seventeen years' work and over 1,000,000?. 

 Jias been spent by one firm alone abroad ? Here, in chemical investigations and 

 manufactures, the Government refuse to even give the help of allowing cheap 

 alcohol to be obtainable, and much of such work is impossible in this country 

 on this account, as in many cases methylated and denatured alcohol are not 

 suitable. Recently under pressure the restrictions have been somewhat relaxed 

 by the Government, but many manufacturers have found that the privileges 

 granted are so tied up in rod tape that the concessions are practically useless. 



And it is not only on the scientific side that there is so much to be done 

 in the way of putting our house in order; there is much to be done in the 

 way of putting the management and commercial sides of engineering and other 

 allied works in a position to compete. 



The great growth of engineering works and their being formed into limited 

 liability companies have not been without their drawbacks. 



In the old days engineering works were comparatively small, and, as a 

 rule, one man, generally a clever engineer, was at the head. After his death, 

 and often before, the place was turned into a limited liability company, and 

 gradually fell into the hands of a body of men, many of them not technical, who 

 had no further interest in the firm than to draw their salaries as directors and 

 managers, and who had no financial stake in the concern beyond the 500?. or 

 1,000?. in shares necessary to qualify them as directors. The result is that the 

 place gradually degenerates, initiative ceases, and it finally gets to a stage of not 

 paying any dividends, and really being kept going, not for the sake of the 

 shareholders, but of the directors and other officials. 



Such a firm as a rule does not put enough aside for depreciation, and thus its 

 machinery and buildings degenerate and become obsolete, which makes it still 

 less able to compete with more modern firms. At the same time it is not 

 able to afford the money necessary to carry on the experimental and research 

 work which is a necessity for any progressive firm, and thus its manufacturers 

 cease to progress with the times. As Sir Charles Parsons truly said, a man or 

 firm in the face of financial difficulties cannot carry on research work, and. 



