Type of Research

There seems to be a widespread misapprehension that government research is largely of an applied or practical nature. This however, is not so, as it has ben found that the best results are obtained where a considerable proportion of the time and effort is devoted to basic or fundamental research In the New Zealand D.S.I.R.. as in the United Kingdom, the value and importance of fundamental research is recognised. It provides an incentive for the best scientific brains and produces a flow of new ideas and conclusions, some of which are bound to find practical application, some times in the most unexpected ways.