Abstract
THE debate which took place in the House of Commons on April 19 on Sir Granville Gibson's motion urging "the declaration of a bold and generous Government policy of financial assistance directed to the expansion of teaching and research facilities in our universities and technical colleges, to the extension of pure and applied research in all fields by the State, by industry through private firms and research associations andto the effective and rapid application of the results of research", in connexion with which the White Paper on Scientific Research and Development (Cmd. 6514) had been issued, covered much of the ground of recent reports of the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee and other bodies, aswell as the recent lectures on science and industry arranged by the Manchester Chamber of Commerce. Sir Granville said that in regard to the research associations the Government grant has not increased in proportion with the increase in contributions from industry. An increase in expenditure on research of anything up to £15,000,000 would be a valuable investment for the country's future. Like Mr. Edmund Harvey and others who followed, Sir Granville pointed out that the staffs of the research and scientific departments of the colleges of Great Britain are far too small, and Mr. Salt, who followed him, urged that the number of research workers should be doubled. On particular fields of research, Mr. Salt instanced coal research as specially important; Sir Ernest Shepper-son stressed the need for agricultural research, particularly in relation to nutrition, and was supported by Mr. R. C. Morrison, Dr. Haden Guest and Major York, as well as by Mr. Snadden, who referred especially to veterinary research; Sir John Graham Kerr referred to fisheries research, while Mr. Owen Evans and Mr. James Griffiths directed attention to the neglect of geological research and surveys. Sir George Schuster said that more attention should be given to our failure to make full use of the knowledge gained from the limited research carried out, and urged that, first, a more scientific frame of mind must be created in British industry; secondly, closer contact should be established between those engaged in pure scientific research and those concerned with its practical applications; and thirdly, means should be found to assist the development stage and the practical evolution of new industrial ideas.
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Science and Research in Great Britain. Nature 153, 519 (1944). https://doi.org/10.1038/153519a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/153519a0