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What is this Association of Scientific Workers?

The Association of Scientific Workers was founded in 1942 to help and coordinate the various scientific bodies throughout the Dominion and indeed the whole world. We feel, therefore, that this article, taken from "The New Zealand Science Review," will be of interest to all students who are following the industrial and scientific development of the country.

Separated from scientists in other parts of the world by natural and artificial barriers which have been reinforced and augmented in the war years, it is in many ways difficult for the scientific worker in this country to keep contact with the development of things scientific in the world at large. The standard journals, in spite of still erratic mail, inform us of the progress in the various fields of science; but few New Zealand workers subscribe or can subscribe to journals other than those of special scientific purpose, and, as a result, the average worker has largely lost the intimate understanding of developments overseas in the broader aspects of science.

As an example, the formation of the New Zealand Association of Scientific Workers appeared to some simply as a development from the enthusiasm of a small group with purely local interests and problems rather than as part of a movement which has commenced spontaneously in the various countries of the free world. The need for an Association of Scientific Workers in this country is not unique nor founded in local or minor problems. The need here arises from conditions which led to the formation of Associations of Scientific Workers in Britain in the closing period of the last war and in Australia, the United States and Canada in more recent times. It would be the sheerest egotism to believe or assume that the factors which have led to the formation and growth of Associations elsewhere are negligible or absent in this country, and fallacy to consider that the formation of an Association in New Zealand has its roots in purely personal interests. The New Zealand Association of Scientific Workers is a natural step in the evolution of science. It is a response from New Zealand scientists to conditions and underlying forces which, from the evidence of the formation of the Associations with parallel aims and objects, are of general distribution and the concern of thinking scientists throughout the free world.

The New Zealand Association has contended since its formation with difficult and hard times. Progress has been slow but steady, with always a gradual strengthening of support as scientists have appreciated the nature of the Association and turned to this organisation as a means to the expression of the scientists' intention to take an active part in the current affairs and attitudes to the present status and the future of science. There have been various criticisms of the Association from time to time. There has been the expressed opinion that the Association merely parallels already existing organisations. If this be the case, then it is remarkable that there has been such successful development of this movement elsewhere where the organisation of scientists has long been far more comprehensive than here and where even after twenty years, as in Britain, the parallelism has not yet been found ineffective or undesirable and a strong Association has contributed significantly to the organisation of science and scientists in a time of major national stress when parallelism and duplication of effort would surely have gone by the board.

On the other hand, among those who recognise the need for an Association in this country, there has been the opinion that the Association should devote itself largely to trade union activities and affiliate fully with the Federation of Labour. In a country organised such as this, such affiliation could have considerable value and might simplify the solution of many of the problems with which the Association must deal. There have been many and lengthy discussions on these lines at general meetings of the Association, and from these it has been made clear that the scientist does not look to such a policy as the primary aim of the Association. Here is an example, along with the formation of the Association, that the scientific worker in this country is in harmony, if not actually in contact, with scientific workers overseas.

There is absolutely no room for any interpretation that the Association is to be aloof from the mundane, but vital, affairs of salaries and conditions of employment for scientific workers. The expression of the scientists on this point is quite clear. Inadequate reward and unsuitable conditions are not to be permitted to bar the way or make difficult the progress of scientific development and the application of science in this country. No doubt can be cast on the fact that the scientist holds the opinion that this is a real part of the activities of the Association, a role within the formula of our constitution, a charge on the Council and recognised as such by the Council, and a task to be undertaken when and where necessary. Salaries and conditions of employment are a recognised part of the business of the Association, but the considered opinion of the scientist is that this business is to be handled by the Association and without loss of purpose, strength or identity through affiliation with non-scientific organisations whose range or alms and objects is far narrower than our own.