PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 23 



The existence of these various Committees and Boards 

 is a sign that we feel that we are passing through a 

 critical time, and are about to enter a still more strenuous 

 time, when the local industries will require all the help they 

 can get, to be so established that they will not be vitally 

 affected by the unfavourable conditions that will follow the 

 war. We expect an extended wave of commercial depress- 

 ion to follow the war, and each industry must be capable 

 of utilising every available resource to remain solvent. 



They are also a sign that we are waking up to the fact 

 that we ought to be a self-supporting community, and 

 although this may be an impossibility for a continent with 

 five and a half millions of people, still we should be able to 

 supply all the necessities for our maintenance and for our 

 defence. The Committees are doing work which will be of 

 material assistance in this direction. 



The Function of the Bureau of Science and Industry. 



The fact of their inception has shown the necessity for a 

 combined effort, and the establishment of the Institute of 

 Science and Industry is the embodiment of our views. The 

 Institute is intended to give a stimulus to scientific indus- 

 trial research, which in turn will react upon our educational 

 institutions, and bring them and our industrial community 

 to realise the commercial value of science more fully. The 

 manufacturer has hitherto looked askance at science, and 

 has devoted his attention to the commercial side of his 

 business, believing that by advertising and business tactics, 

 he could do more for himself than by invoking the aid of 

 science to help him to cheapen and improve his products. 



This was emphasised by the Commercial Intelligence 

 Committee of the Board of Trade, which has recently 

 recommended the British Government — 



"To give assistance for scientific research in industry. Although 

 British manufacturers and workmen have not always appreciated 



