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1943 NEW ZEALAND

NEW ZEALAND STANDARDS COUNCIL (DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIES AND COMMERCE) ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR 1942-43

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by leave

The Hon. D. G. Sullivan,, Minister of Industries and Commerce Sir, — I have the honour to submit herewith the annual report of the New Zealand Standards Council for the year ended 31st March, 1943. I have, &c„, L. J. Schmitt,, Permanent Head, Department of Industries and Commerce. A. R. Galbraith, M.lnst.C.E., F.R.S.E., Chairman, New Zealand Standards Council. L. J. McDonald, Secretary, New Zealand Standards Council.

REPORT

lii view of the continuing necessity for the exorcise of paper economy, this report is presented in a condensed form which does not permit the inclusion of lists of the personnel of the various committees or a full review of their activities. Activities during the Year Activities during the year have been predominantly concerned with work arising out of war conditions. The work of the Standards organization has proceeded under the direction of the Emergency Divisional Council, to which the Standards Council has delegated the necessary authority in order to expedite the formulation and issue of Emergency Standard Specifications urgently required. As stated in last year's report, all major interests affected are represented on the Emergency Divisional Council. The same general principle has been adhered to in connection with the various committees operating under its direction. In this, as in other respects, the procedure and methods that are being followed are in accord with those that have been adopted by the national Standards organizations of other United Nations. The authorities responsible for production, price control, rationing, and stabilization in other countries are placing increasing emphasis on the importance of standardization and simplification as a means of rendering their respective administrations most effective. The Standards organizations of these countries have assisted as the co-ordinating agencies of these wartime administrations. Similar trends are developing in the Dominion. The importance of this aspect of war administration is evidenced by the fact that the Federal Government of the United States of America, in addition to operating the National Bureau of Standards at its fullest capacity, has taken over for the period of the war emergency the independent organizations known as the American Standards Association and the American Society for Testing Materials, with the object of increasing the scope and momentum of standardization and simplification activity. The British Standards Institution has also become an instrument of the Board of Trade, through which this organization is used almost entirely in the service of various war administrative authorities, and the British Government has decreed that only specifications issued under the tegis of the British Standards Institution will be recognized as national specifications. There can be little doubt that the work of the various committees of the Standards organization in this Dominion has made a similarly valuable contribution to the war effort.