Abstract
MR. HERBERT MORRISON, Lord President of the Council, opened the British Commonwealth Scientific Conference on July 9. He said that the Royal Society Conference which had just closed was an admirable preparation for the official Conference, in that it provided many opportunities for both formal and informal discussions. Mr. Morrison suggested that a gmding principle in dealing with any problem before tfte official Conference should be, first, what it is desired to achieve, and then how the desired results can be best brought about and what additional machinery, if any, is necessary for the purpose. It is possible, he warned, to pay too much attention to organisation. If there is the will to co-operate (and there is abundant evidence that this exists throughout the Commonwealth), then very frequently the means follow naturally. It is important to remember, he said, that throughout the British Commonwealth we shall be faced for some years to come with an acute shortage of scientific man-power; and there is a risk that too elaborate organisation may result in absorbing into the administrative machine many scientifically trained men who are badly needed in research laboratories. Careful distinction must also be made between subjects on which work can be safely left to develop along its own lines in the individual countries of the Commonwealth and Empire, and subjects in which successful collaboration demands closely similar methods being employed by all engaged in the work. In the former case, full collaboration can be achieved by ensuring that individual investigators, wherever they may be working, know what others are doing and are able to meet at intervals for discussion of results. The other type of work requires the adoption of concerted plans of action. Mr. Morrison pledged the Government to give most careful and sympathetic consideration to recommendations made by the Conference; and he declared that the Government is determined that science shall play its proper part in the formation of policy, and its results applied in improving the standard of life both of the people in Great Britain and of the whole Commonwealth.
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British Commonwealth Scientific Official Conference. Nature 158, 90–91 (1946). https://doi.org/10.1038/158090b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/158090b0