PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 37 



the eucalyptus and other oils we have a state of affairs 

 analogous to the condition of the coal tar oils before Ger- 

 many began to examine them scientifically and systemati- 

 cally. 



A Khaki Dye. 



In myrticolorin, discovered by H. G. Smith, we have a 

 khaki coloured dye which is easily prepared, and which is 

 absolutely fast. It is obtained by extracting the powdered 

 leaves of the Red Stringy Bark with hot water and allow- 

 ing the dye to separate from the solution on cooling. This 

 is an industry which should be established. As a by-product, 

 we should have either wood or charcoal from the trees 

 which have to be felled to obtaiu the leaves. 



H. G. Smith. 



I should like to say a few words about the work done in 

 the Technological Museum. It was undoubtedly founded 

 as a museum, but thanks to the energy of the staff it has 

 developed and is really a Technological Institute. There 

 is an extensive and excellent collection of industrial appli- 

 ances and natural products, but there are also the labora- 

 tories in which so much pioneering work has been done by 

 Mr. H. G. Smith, in collaboration with Mr. R. T. Baker, 

 largely in their own spare time. It is a sad fact that when 

 the Curator and Assistant Curator retire, as they shortly 

 will, there is no one who has been trained to take either 

 of their places. Their methods, which have taken years 

 of careful and patient study to evolve, will be lost, and a 

 condition of affairs will be reached similar to that which 

 we experienced in the case of Farrer, our noted wheat 

 experimentalist, who, working for a pittance of a salary, 

 bequeathed to the Nation his rust-proof wheats. What is 

 the use of neglecting a man during his life-time and raising 

 a monument to him when he is dead ? When the country 

 finds a research worker like Mr. H. G. Smith it should do all 



