DEATH OF DR. GELLATLY. 
Plant and animal diseases which annually levy such a huge toll 
upon the primary industries do not restrict their ravages to any one 
State. They devastate the crops and decimate the herds of the whole 
of Australia. The States realized the necessity of co-operative inves- 
tigations, but it was due largely to Dr. Gellatly that many important 
inquiries were co-ordinated, new investigations commenced, and a 
harmonious conjuction of interests established. ©o-operative work in 
investigating the white ant, blow-fly, and numerous other pests has 
been undertaken, and a wider field of industrial research has been 
opened up. Investigation into -tanning processes, viticultural and 
irrigation problems, and the introduction of new economic plants 
represent only a portion of the work upon which the Institute and 
State organizations are concentrating for the.common good. 
Almost every one in Australia is familiar with the story of the 
reckless and wanton waste of our forest wealth. With our natural 
assets so seriously depleted, no endeavour was being made to ascertain 
the best economic uses to which the remnants of our magnificent 
timbers might be applied. Dr. Gellatly placed this work in the fore- 
front of the programme of original investigation which the Institute 
should carry out. He worked hard for the creation of a National 
Forests Products Laboratory, and met with generous support from 
the Western Australian Government, which offered the Institute a sum 
of £5,000 towards the capital cost of the undertaking. Notwithstand- 
ing the fact that the vegetation of the Commonwealth is highly peculiar, 
and that a great number of grasses and the most widely distributed 
plants, including the genus eucalyptus, are quite different from those 
of other countries, Australia still lacks the scientific staff and apparatus 
for enabling research work to be carried out. : 
Investigation into problems affecting primary industries constitutes 
but a portion of the work mapped out for the Institute. Dr. Gellatly 
strove hard for the establishment of a National Physical Laboratory 
for industrial research as distinc: from laboratories designed primarily 
for teaching purposes or for routine testing. His advocacy of this step 
brought upon him, and upon the Institute, a great deal of stupid and 
unscrupulous criticism from a section of the community. The last 
editorial which he wrote for Science and Industry was an effective 
reply to the uninformed criticism levelled against the Institute and 
against himself. The fact that every country of any industrial 
eminence at the present time—Great Britain, the United States, 
France, and Japan—is working along similar lines to those which -it 
is the policy of the Institute to proceed, and that Germany owed her 
pre-war industrial efficiency primarily tv the encouragement given to 
scientific research for the advancement of industry, was studiously 
ignored by the opponents of the scheme. Tt was in his attitude towards 
323 
