ABSTRACT OF PROCEEDINGS. IX. 



of Mines and Agriculture, Customs, and Explosives, and 

 classes at the Hawkesbury College. Details were then 

 supplied of the work done years ago, by the first Govern- 

 ment Analyst, Mr. James Smith Norrie (1844-1871), then 

 by his successor Mr. Charles Watt (1872 - 1886), and finally 

 by the present occupant of the office, Mr. W. M. Hamlet. 

 Finally there were manufacturing firms like Elliott Bros, 

 and the Colonial Sugar Refining Company. Tq all, there 

 were actually employed as chemists the following : — 96 

 engaged in manufacture, 143 in analytical work, and 50 in 

 metallurgical work, or 289 altogether. This was not a very 

 large number, but it was likely to increase indefinitely. In 

 proportion as existing industries became more robust, and 

 new ones started, the need for scientifically-trained men 

 would increase, and just in proportion as the importance 

 of science was recognised in regard to these industries, so 

 they would flourish. At the present time those who made 

 their livelihood by chemical work laboured under serious 

 disabilities, the principal of which was the absence of any 

 recognised chemical qualification. It should be possible 

 for those who employed chemists to be able to insist upon 

 a certain qualification which would ensure competency, but 

 at present there was no standard in existence here. In 

 Victoria, they had put forward a scheme which contem- 

 plated the granting of certificates either by the Govern- 

 ment or by a private examining body. In Continental 

 countries every chemist was obliged to pass a stringent 

 examination. In England the disadvantages accruing from 

 the absence of qualification were so seriously felt that an 

 Institute of Chemistry was started some years ago. This 

 institute had its branches, and its branch examinations. 

 The suggestion was put forward before the evil assumed 

 greater dimensions here, that the largest employers of 

 chemists, viz., the Government, should agree to regard the 



