WAR ACHIEVEMENTS OF APPLIED CHEMISTRY. 
nations are shopkeepers too; some of them shrewd, industrious, and 
eager to strengthen their position in every respect, ‘whether it be the 
training of labour, the supply of materials, or the application of sound 
methods in manufacture | and training. "What is Britain’s attitude 
towards such questions? 
I do not think that at any previous period was there such a flood of 
industrial research and investigation as is passing over Britain at this 
time, and if she fails to keep the first place it will not be for want of 
awakening of spirit. The war brought rescarch to every door, for 
restricted supplies of raw material and labour left no room for compla- 
cent people who were using ten things where seven would do. The 
improvement in efficiencies brought about by the close control of labour 
and material, backed up by setentifie advice as to the best way to use 
them, was most extraordinary, and there is no doubt that the house to 
house visiting by research has left its impress. This is one great gain 
from the war, and it promises a permanence to industries that are vital 
to Britain’s safety, for the result of peace-time struggles for industry 
largely determines the course of war. 
I cannot pass from this subject without a reference to the polendid 
services rendered by the Officials Research and Inspection Establish- 
ments. Many persons are dimly conscious of what was done by the 
National Physical Laboratory and the Inspection Department for the 
mechanical arts; but few know of the work done for the chemical 
industries by Robertson and his men of the Research Department at 
Woolwich. The Research Department grew out of the Boer War; it 
was designed to improve the quality of mmiitions and to be informed 
of modern .progress—both these things it did very well—and though 
the war was marked by constant change in the composition of munitions, 
new design of either factories or war material were boldly faced because 
they could be built on a basis of trustworthy research. 
I remember talking this matter over with an officer who had served 
at the War Office with. Lord Kitchener during 1915, the agony of pre- 
paration, and he said, “ Those research men are the greatest fellows in 
England,” and added, “ God bless ’em,” and with that opinion I believe 
the average British manufacturer most cordially agrees. 
I have digressed somewhat from Gretna and other war factories, 
but, after all, these are of the past, and interest lies in their yalue as a 
guide to what has to be done here before Australia should enjoy any 
feeling of security. In the first place Australia is not in the fortunate 
position of those countries that can afford to contemplate “ disarma- 
ment,” for she is not yet a manufacturing country, and her provision 
against attack must take the positive and costly form of adequate stocks 
of finished munitions. Until the industries of the country are in a 
position to maintain a flow of munitions commensurate with the defence 
requirements, we must adhere to this policy of importing and holding 
stocks, despite its cost and attendant dangers. The last few years have 
been marked by great. advances in manufacture, and it is not to be 
denied that most. things can be made here. It is not likely that a people 
derived from the greatest industrial nation in the world should not: be 
able to make anything it is willing te pay for; but there is a world of 
difference between ability to make things. and a " capacity to manufacture 
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