PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 41 



As an instance of the set-back a manufacturer may get 

 in attempting to utilise a by-product, I may quote the 

 following case. The plant was designed by a French 

 engineer, who was supposed to know all about the industry. 

 He was told the quantity of waste which would have to be 

 dealt with, but when the plant was put up it was found 

 that it could deal with only a third of the desired quantity. 

 Small as the plant was, however, it just managed to clear 

 the expense of labour; the cost of the plant was not met. 

 In a year the plant collapsed, but the experience gained 

 was invaluable, as it showed the manufacturer what the 

 size of the plant should be and how to work the process, so 

 that when a new and efficient plant is put down, the utilisa- 

 tion of the waste will be a commercial success. 



In the utilisation of by-products, each factory may have 

 a different waste to deal with, and the plant for its utilisa- 

 tion has to be designed and tested, so that frequent modifi- 

 cations of the original method may have to be made. As 

 in a new industry, there is rarely a royal road to success, 

 so in the working up of the by-products the manufacturer 

 has to feel his way carefully, or the expense will be greater 

 than the income. 



The instances that I have given of the possible utilisation 

 of trade waste and of our natural products, show that there 

 is a real need of something being done to save what are 

 really national losses. They are instances which go to 

 show how necessary it is for us to do something to stop the 

 loss, and it was doubtless with this idea that the preliminary 

 meetings of the Institute of Science and Industry were 

 held. It was felt that these two departments have been 

 separate for too long, and that the time had come for their 

 amalgamation. It needed the war to quicken our percep- 

 tions and enable us to see that they can help one another. 

 It is now up to Industry to greet Science as a helpmate. 



