Science in Post-War Years.

August 23: Address by Dr. E. Marsden, Secretary of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research.

Dr. Marsden said he thought that this subject, which impressed him very much during his recent visit overseas, must be worrying a great many people at the present time. He was convinced that the success of Russia was due to the freedom of science to come up from below instead of being regimented from above. British science was more free than German and this undoubtedly had saved the situation for us during this war. In post-war development New Zealand must ensure that all scientific activities are in harmony. Frustration of science in the Services had, before the war, brought about a stagnation and this state of affairs must not be allowed to develop again. The British people, he thought, though leading well in scientific achievement had lagged seriously in the application of research to practical needs. The war had broken down the cloistering effect built up by the patent laws and great firms like I.C.I. were now undertaking fundamental research. There is a wonderful freedom amongst research workers in such firms now that did not exist before the war. Coal in future will be the basis for the production of the more expensive chemicals; and the manufacture of medical drugs was now on a highly scientific basis. One finds in these great firms scientists the equal of whom cannot be found in the Universities. Patent law was bound to intrude largely into the application of post war research. In the biological field science was on the threshhold of great advances