CO-OPERATION WITH THE STATES. 
Conference in May, 1918, Mr. Holman, the New South Wales Premier, 
was critical, and brought before the Conference a motion to the follow- 
ing effect :— q 
That the Commonwealth Government be requested to cease the procedure 
at present being carried out whereby unnecessary expenditure is being incurred 
in the assumption of functions by the Commonwealth Bureau of Science and 
Industry, which are at present being efficiently performed by the States. 
Mr. Watt, the Acting Prime Minister, then presented to the Conference 
a report showing the policy and scheme of organization of the proposed 
permanent Institute. He fully explained the position, and, generally 
speaking, the Premiers of the other States cordially supported the 
Commonwealth proposals. For example, the Premier of South Aus- 
tralia, Mr. Peake, said as follows :— 
' “In my view, this is one of the big questions which we might very well feel 
satisfied belong rather to the Commonwealth than to the States, because no 
scientific discovery will be purely a State affair. It is simply a question of 
whether the Commonwealth can show us that we are going to have increased 
efficiency without duplication of the cost of the State Departments. If it can 
show us, then T, for one, will heartily support the Commonwealth taking over 
the whole of the departments of scientific research, because I think they would 
do the work much better. i 
“T would like to put another view from the stand-point of the States. I do 
not think any State stands more strongly for State rights than does South 
Australia, but we regard science as on an entirely different footing from prac- 
tical administrative work. Science has no boundaries, and the operations of a 
scientific bureau could very well be spread over the whole of Australia, both from 
the point of view of more effective work and from the stand-point of economy. 
What is the use of five or six different State Departments pursuing inquiries on 
different lines when possibly one body could’ much more effectively perfornt 
the work of investigation and research? y / 
“J think that there must necessarily be greater strength in the scientific 
methods of the Commonwealth than in those of the States. The greater scientific 
knowledge which money will enable the Commonwealth to obtain will strengthen 
every department, and I think that in this case the Commonwealth can very 
well take over all scientific investigation on behalf of the gencral community.” 
Mr. Lee, the Premier of Tasmania, then spoke, and he, too, was 
Sympathetic to the Institute. He said— - 
“TI think no very great harm can come of this departure, provided the Com- 
monwealth Bureau exercises a reasonable amount of discretion, that is to say, 
that any matters which are being investigated by a State Bureau should not 
be undertaken by the Commonwealth, matters peculiar to the State in which 
the Bureau exists. If those are left to the States, I can quite imagine there 
are many questions that can be well investigated by the Commonwealth. In 
matters that are common to all States, it appears to me the Commonwealth 
Bureau can effect very essential service to the wholé Commonwealth.” 
Mr. Lefroy, the Premier of Western Australia, also supported the pro- 
posal to establish the Institute. He expressed the following views:— 
“No doubt, the question of scientific research is more important at the 
present moment than, perhaps, at any previous time in Australia. ‘There are 
many diseases in stock that are common to the whole of Australia, and I am of 
3 
