recognized by all political parties as of the greatest value to the State, vet little practical encouragement is given, either to the young men already in or to those about to enter Government engineering departments, to make the effort necessary to benefit from the instruction supplied. The new regulations about to be introduced into the South Australian service by the present Government will improve the present conditions in this State considerably, but a still closer co-operation between the University and the Government engineering departments is desirable. Other things being equal, experience in all countries has amply proved that the trained man is bound to make the best engineer in the long run, and there is every reason why the Government service should have recruits of the highest efficiency.
But besides the training of the young engineer in the foundation principles of his profession, there is another object of a University engineering school that is of even equal importance. Indeed, some of our big University brothers have been telling us that unless we keep this object well to the fore we cannot be regarded as a real University at all. It is that the University School should itself be a centre of inspiration for the engineering profession; that it should be a place where original experimental work is always being carried on, where inventions are tried out, and where engineering firms may come for help in carrying out tests and experiments to advance technical knowledge, and particularly to assist in the solution of engineering problems of special importance to the State.
All the large modern engineering and manufacturing corporations have realized the value of scientific research. In these times they could not hold a foremost position without it. In the U.S.A. more than fifty industrial concerns have established research laboratories oil an extensive scale. The Eastman Kodak, General Electric, American Rolling Mill Co., Detroit Edison Co., and others
