Industrial Research

PARTICULAR attention is given to the work and position of industrial research associations in the annual report of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research issued a few days ago. The reason for this is that the fund of one million pounds granted by Parliament nearly sixteen years ago for the promotion of industrial research in Great Britain, through research associations, has now been exhausted, and the time has come for the whole subject to be surveyed, as well as for the consideration of a policy for the future. When an industry is protected by a tariff, the State should demand in return that the industry is maintained in a condition of progressive efficiency; and this can only be achieved through continued developments of methods and processes. Some large industrial concerns are in the position to maintain extensive research departments themselves; but if the existence of these establishments means that the co-operative work of the industrial research associations is left to smaller firms, and that some of the associations have to close down for lack of adequate financial support, the result, from a national point of view, will be unfortunate—to say the least.