1918.] The N.Z. Journal of Science and Technology. 121 
GREAT BRITAIN 
In 1915 a Committee of six members of the Privy Council was appointed 
to direct the application of any sums of money provided by Parliament for 
the organization and development of scientific and industrial research. The 
real work, however, was done by an Advisory Council of eight eminent 
scientific men and by Standing Committees on particular branches of 
industry. The sum voted for the first year was £25,000, and for 1916-17 
was £40,000. 
During 1916, however, the machinery was altered, and a Department 
of Scientific and Industrial Research was established, with an 
endowment of £1,000,000 paid to the Imperial Trust for the Encourage¬ 
ment of Scientific and Industrial Research, which is intended to cover 
expenditure for the next five years. This department has stimulated the 
combination of all firms engaged in a definite industry into trade associ¬ 
ations, and the industrial researches are carried out under the directions 
of these associations and for the benefit of all their members. 
Imperial Scheme. 
The British Government have invited each Overseas Government to 
constitute some body or agency having functions similar to that in Great 
Britain. It is hoped that these bodies will co-operate with one another for 
the mutual benefit of production and manufacture throughout the Empire. 
COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA 
The Prime Minister in 1915 proposed the establishment of an Institute 
of Science and Industry, on which his Government was prepared to spend 
£500,000. In March, 1916, an Advisory Council was set up, which with 
subsequent appointments now numbers thirty-five members representative 
of both science and industry. It was intended to be a temporary body, 
designed to prepare the ground for the permanent Institute. Its work has 
been carried out mainly by an Executive Committee, State Committees, and 
Special Committees for particular investigations. 
One of the first steps of the Advisory Council was to make a register or 
census— 
(a.) Of Australian industries, their distribution and importance ; 
(6.) Of problems connected with them ; 
(c.) Of the equipment and personnel of laboratories available for indus¬ 
trial scientific research ; 
(d.) Of research work in actual progress in laboratories and at Govern¬ 
ment experimental farms ; and 
(e.) Of the facilities available for the proper training of future scientific 
investigators. 
Twenty special committees were appointed up to the 30th June, 1917, 
and already four bulletins dealing with their work, two of wdiich are 
reviewed below, have been published. The total expenditure from April, 
1916, to June, 1917, was only £3,593. 
CANADA. 
The Canadian organization, inaugurated in 1916, closely follows the 
lines of the original British scheme, and consists of a Committee of the 
Privy Council consisting of five Ministers, and of an Honorary Advisory 
