“SCIENCE “AND TNDUSTRY. 
— co ne 
the other hand, they will as fully realize as most the onerous responsi- 
bility that rests upon them of getting full value for whatever money 
they lay out, and they will themsélves be judged by results. For their 
own reputations’ sake they will be more, careful with. the taxpayers’ 
money than with their own. To take a more lax view of their responsi- 
bilities would write them down as’ incompetent for the positions 
intrusted to them by the Government. te 
At the same time the Directors should be judged, not by individual 
cases, but-in the mass. When a scientific investigation is entered upon 
no one can say at the beginning what the result will be, or whether . 
there will be any valuable result at all. If ten researches are entered 
upon and one is successful, the value of that one discovery may easily 
recoup the country for the cost of ten times the original ten. 
In his inaugural speech, in which he outlined the proposals of the 
Government to harness Science to Industry, the Prime Minister said | 
that, even if £500,000 were necessary,-that sum would be forthcoming. 
This statement has since been magnified by some critics of the’ 
_Government into £500,000 “a year.” As a matter of fact, what the 
Prime Minister clearly meant, as shown by the context, was that such 
a sum would be found as was deemed iiecessary. WHEs that sum may 
be no one at this juncture can foresee. . 
»'This much is clear, howeyer, that a certain capital Benen tire will 
be essential. National laboratories mean bricks and mortar and up-to-date 
appliances, and these mean money. ‘The term national laboratories) 
has an indefinite meaning. It certainly does not mean a chemical: 
laboratory only, as some seem to suppose. Chemical work is of para-' 
mount importance in connexion with the development of our secondary 
industries; but as far as the primary industries are concerned, the’ 
biological laboratory dealing with both the botanical and zoological sides. 
—that is, plant industry (agriculture), animal industry (stock-raising), 
is of still greater importance. In the present state of our own deye-. 
lopment the difficulties that confront the primary producer offer the: 
greatest rewards to the Scientist. He who solves the Prickly Pear problem 
alone will save this country millions sterling. He who adds a fraction to: 
the average gluten content of our wheat will be a public benefactor for all! 
time. In saying this we have no desire to belittle the difficulties that. 
confront manufacturers. They are great, too, but they are not quite 
so far-reaching as those indicated. -Then, again, there is the laboratory: 
of the Bureau of Standards. There is no use our standardising steel ; 
rails and the rest unless we provide a Court of Appeal to which con+» 
tractors can go and settle their differences should there be a dispute as’ 
to quality. This is peculiarly the function of the Bureau of Standards. : 
Then there is the Forest Products Laboratory which has been a crying) 
258 
