156 The N.Z. Journal op Science and Technology. [Mar. 
in his opening address, out of the recognition “ that the primary industries, 
especially the pastoral and agricultural industries, offer more pressing 
problems, problems that offer a bigger and perhaps more speedy promise 
of returns of value to Australia, than the secondary industries ” ; and its 
functions included (1) a survey of the past and present state of knowledge 
of the subjects on the programme ; (2) the drawing-up of a scheme of future 
work, and the suggestion of a method to ensure the sharing of that work ; 
(3) the giving to the Executive Committee some advice as to the ways in 
which the Federal Government, operating through the Advisory Council, 
can help the progress of scientific agricultural research in Australia without 
producing harmful results by interference. 
The conference seems to have achieved the first of these objects with 
moderate success, as it listened to and criticized a large number of papers. 
One notices, however, that all of these except one related to plants and 
plant-breeding. If these papers accurately represent the work that is being 
done in the island continent, then one must be excused for thinking that 
there is plenty of work for the Advisory Council in restoring a balance and 
seeing that soil and animal studies, which we had thought of no little import¬ 
ance in Australia, receive some attention. 
The second and third objects as outlined by Professor Masson seem to 
have received little attention, these matters being left till the last session, 
when Mr. Perkins, Director of Agriculture in South Australia, addressed the 
conference on “ Some Suggestions as to the Commonwealth Endowment 
of Agricultural Research,” and Professor Watt, of Sydney, on “ Agricultural 
Research and the Prevention of Overlapping.” The former confined his 
remarks almost entirely to the organization of research work, and sum¬ 
marized his suggestions as follows : (1) Official financial assistance not¬ 
withstanding, effective research must be free research ; (2) exit research 
scholarships opening the way to the universities should be established at 
all our agricultural colleges ; (3) university research scholars should devote 
their time unhampered to the sciences, and, if inclined thereto, to agricul¬ 
tural economics ; (4) financial assistance should be given to one or more 
universities for the complete equipment and maintenance of one or more 
agricultural research stations ; (5) post-graduate bursaries or fellowships 
should be established at the university research stations ; (6) university 
research workers should be available to the Departments of Agriculture 
whenever special questions calling for close expert investigation arise; 
(7) financial assistance should be offered towards any approved investigation 
work by competent private persons. 
Professor Watt made specific mention of many subjects requiring investi¬ 
gation—namely, a soil survey of the continent, dairy-cattle improvement, 
factors influencing the market value of wool and the mode of their 
inheritance, the inheritance of egg-production in poultry, the economic 
raising of new plants such as tobacco and flax, the general improvement 
of farm crops, the insect and other pests of the farm, and the question of 
weeds. As regards the manner of carrying out this research, Professor 
Watt, while allowing the State Agricultural Departments full scope, looked 
forward to the University Departments of Agriculture becoming the centre 
of such work, more especially because of the facilities in the universities for 
training research workers in the proper atmosphere. He also hoped for a 
Commonwealth Institute of Science and Industry acting in the. direction 
of co-ordinating and controlling research wherever carried out, in order 
both to secure a fair distribution of energies and to avoid overlapping. 
