ENGINEER ING STANDARDISATION. 
must conform to the standard specifications, and this, of course, has an 
important influence in bringing about the general adoption of thé 
standards. 4 
In contrast with the progress made in certain other countries, prac- 
tically nothing has been done in Australia with respect to engineering 
standardisation. With few exceptions, there is a multiplicity of 
standards in some cases, and an absence of standards in others. The 
existing state of affairs is a burden on ‘both manufacturers and con- 
sumers. It causes loss of time, waste of effort, inconvenience to manu- 
facturers, and increased cost to users, and in some cases seriously 
hampers industrial development. A single example will suffice. In 
the Commonwealth there are at least eight specifications for cement 
used, respectively, by various Railway Departments, Public Works 
Departments, Harbor Trusts, and other public bodies. In the opinion 
of experts there is no reason why a single standard specification should 
not be adopted in Australia, the specification providing, where necessary, 
for certain variations in the tests with which the material must comply 
according to the purpose for which it is to be used, e.g., whether for 
ferro-conerete work, fresh-water or sea-water. 
As regards the work of engineering standardisation in Australia, 
the Institute of Science and Industry does not in any way desire to 
carry out this work itself. It is believed, however, that the organization 
is more likely to be successfully established if the movement is initiated 
by some Commonwealth body which is entirely free from State or 
sectional interests. It is thought, moreover, that the movement is of 
such fundamental importance to the efficient development and organiza- 
tion of our industries, that it should be accorded the moral and financial 
support of the Commonwealth Government, which is, of course, a large 
consumer of many of the engineering materials for which it is proposed 
that standard specifications shall be prepared. ‘The Institute,  there- 
fore, desires to provide the organization, and to otherwise assist the 
engineers of Australia to do the work for themselves through their 
Associations and Societies. 
There is, moreover, another consideration of fundamental importance 
which necessitates that the national Government should actively con- 
cern itself in the standardisation movement. Scientific research work 
upon problems connected with ‘standardisation is a necessity. This 
work is based upon the modern view that quality depends upon definite 
measurable or determinable properties, and it therefore requires access 
to standard measuring apparatus and facilities. Scientific problems 
are, in fact, constantly arising in all lines of standardisation work. For 
example, scarcely a problem can be taken up concerning the specifica- 
tion of standards or properties*of materials that does not involve 
chemical analysis or the co-operation and advice of chemical experts. 
Fortunately, in the work of preparing standard specifications for 
Australia there will already be available the results of the very valuable 
work already completed in other countries, and it may be that in this 
country it will be practicable to adopt, possibly with no or little modi- 
fication, some of the standards devised in other countries. Nevertheless, 
it is probable that in certain classes of engineering materials, such, for 
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