SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 
established in Sydney, where the new Institution of Engineers of Aus- 
tralia already has its offices at the Royal Society’s House. The Insti- 
tution intends in a few months’ time to appoint a fully qualified engineer 
as permanent Secretary, and it is proposed that this officer shall act 
also as Secretary to the Standards Association. It has therefore been 
provisionally agreed that the head-quarters of the Association shall be 
in Sydney, provided that the Institution of Engineers furnishes the 
necessary secretarial staff and office accommodation. 
_ Until the new Institution of Engineers has completed its arrange- 
ments for carrying on its administrative and executive work, it will not 
be practicable to establish the Standards Association in Sydney. In 
the meantime the Institute of Science and Industry is pushing on with 
arrangements for extending the scope of Australian Engineering Stan- 
dards. The preparation of the Standard Specifications for (a) Struc- 
tural Steel, sections, (b) Railway Rails and Fishplates, and (c) Tram- 
way Rails and Fishpltes respectively is now practically completed, and 
the Specifications will be published at an early date. Several requests 
have been received by the Institute from manufacturers and users to 
convene Standardization Conferences in regard to various materials, 
and at the present time the necessary preliminary information is being 
obtained and data collected with a view to convening conferences to 
agree as to standard specifications for cement and for certain materials 
used ‘by carriage, waggon, and motor-body builders. 
In taking action for establishing an Australian Engineering Stan- 
dards Association, the Institute of Science and Industry is giving effect 
to the principle which it has adopted from the outset in regard to 
standardization work. The Institute does not in any way desire to 
carry out this work itself, but it wishes to provide the organization and 
to otherwise assist the Engineers of Australia to do the work for them- 
selves through their own organizations. 
In a recent issue of the Hngineering News Record, Dr. K. B. Rosa, 
the eminent physicist of the Bureau of Standards at Washington, 
pointed out that one of the lessons which the war has taught us is that 
standardization and simplification of sizes and styles are practicable, and 
go far in the direction of reducing costs and investment in_ stock. 
When one thinks of the immense opportunity for improvement in 
these respects in purchases by the Federal, State, and Municipal 
Governments, it is hard to refrain from extravagant language as to 
the duty of the hour and the obligation resting upon those in authority 
to act promptly in this matter. It is therefore eminently satisfactory 
to know that one of the first steps taken by the Council of the new 
Institution of Engineers of Australia at its first meeting was to affirm 
the scheme proposed by the Institute of Science and Industry, and to 
reach an agreement for the constitution of an Australian Engineering 
Standards Association. 
SEFAF SSNZB. 
Gp ANS 
