INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—The Government's decision to continue its aid for indus- trial research and to stimulate the search for oil fields in this country makes welcome news. No one can doubt the future prosperity of either the manufacturing or raw material pro- ducing industries of this country and the Empire, provided our resources are intelligently developed with foresight and prompt adaptability to future changes in market demands.
So far as British manufacturers are concerned, immense progress has been made in this respect during recent years, as successive British Industries Fairs have clearly demon- strated. It remains to concentrate more attention upon the Empire's raw material resources, and in particular to study the markets where we hope to make sales.
In this regard it is especially heartening to notice what is being done by industrial research and intelligent planning for those two vital Empire commodities, coal and rubber. The production of smokeless fuel and oil from coal is giving new life to an industry which many authorities quite recently thought to be on the danger list. The development of a recent product of the Empire's rubber plantations, cellular latex, is apparently revolutionizing modern methods of upholstery, and opening up an immense new field for another Empire industry which, quite recently, was thought to be in a precarious state.
To anyone who questions either the value of industrial research or of the Empire's potential resources, may I be permitted to say : " Keep your eye upon coal and rubber during the next few years I "—I am, Sir, &c.,
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