SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 
In dealing with each of these matters, the policy advocated by the Advisory 
Council, adopted by the Minister, has been that laid down by the Government 
when the Department was founded, viz., the delegation of responsibility for 
each kind of service to the expert within the limits imposed by the ultimate 
responsibility of the Minister to Parliament, and of the Accounting Officer to 
the Controller and Auditor-General. 
THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF RESEARCH WORKERS. 
The Advisory Council confirmed at an early stage the fears of a shortage in 
the numbers of trained research workers. The Consultative Committee of the 
Board of Education had reported in 1916 on the need for enlarging the output 
of our Universities; and more recently the Prime Minister’s Committee on the 
Teaching of Science, under the chairmanship of the President of the Royal 
Society, has urged “That a large increase in the number of students passing 
through our Universities is a matter of great national importance.” The 
large plans recommended by the Advisory Council for the extension of research 
work will increase the demand for trained workers, already inadequate for 
existing needs. The Research Department cannot directly insure a larger entry 
to the Universities and technical colleges, or assist young men and women 
during their under-graduate period; but it has already done something to help 
those who have acquired enough knowledge to begin research, or who have 
shown capacity for original investigation. During the academic year 1916-17, 
a sum of over £3,500 was spent in this way, in spite of the continued withdrawal 
of young men for military service. In 1917-18, the expenditure rose to £7,500, 
and during the current year to £10,000. Now that men are returning in large 
numbers from the fighting services to the Colleges and Universities, it is 
anticipated that over £30,000 can usefully be expended on this service during 
next academic year. The method of procedure adopted by the Advisory Council 
is as follows:—In the first place, there are no scholarships or fellowships. 
The grants are not honorific awards carrying titles and encouraging the com- 
petitive instinct. The amount of the grant is determined within wide limits 
by the circumstances of each individual case. In the next place, the applica- 
tions are made upon the personal responsibility of the head of the Department 
in the institution to which the worker is attached; or, if the applicant is a 
private worker, upon the personal responsibility of a man of scientific standing, 
who vouches for the case and speaks as to the circumstances. Careful records 
are kept of the performances of workers recommended by professors and others, 
and the value of their recommendations is assessed accordingly. It has been 
found that this delegation of responsibility has worked well, much better, 
indeed, than the practice of leaving recommendations to Boards of students, or 
to the University in its corporate capacity. And naturally so, for no one 
knows a student or worker so well as the man with whom he has worked. 
Each application comes before a committee of the Advisory Council, and they 
make the award, after consultation in particular cases, with carefully chosen 
referees outside the Department. The grants made are of four kinds :— 
(i) Maintenance grants to students to enable them to be trained in methods of 
research; these grants are made for a year, but may be renewed for a second 
year. (ii) Grants to independent research workers devoting their whole time 
to research, whether in pure or applied science; these grants are also made 
for a year, and may be renewed for a further four years. (iii) Grants to a 
teacher engaged on research to enable him to employ a suitable assistant to. 
help him in his research, but not in his teachine. (iv) Grants in special 
cases to a worker investigating some new branch of science to enable a research 
lectureship to be established in a University, pending the provision of a suitable 
endowment from other sources. The Department has a close working agree- 
ment with the Royal Society, who administer a special Government fund for 
aiding research workers, under which the. two bodies work in concert, keep 
each other fully informed of the cases that come before them, and_refer to the 
other those applications which appear to be more suitable for their consideration. 
(To be continued.) 
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