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A very promising development in research on performance appraisal has been the increased emphasis on the cognitive processes that underlie raters' performance judgements. This shift in research emphasis was brought about by disillusionment with classical psychometric research that focused primarily on the rating instrument. For example, research has consistently shown that rating accuracy does not vary significantly, irrespective of the type of instrument used.

THE ART OR PRINTING was first introduced into Cumberland in 1735 when Thomas Cotton came to Whitehaven at the invitation of Sir James Lowther. Whitehaven was at that time an expanding town with a growing trade with Ireland and the colonies of Maryland and Virginia.

It is generally admitted that the professions are much over‐crowded. While the condition of affairs which exists in professions of older standing such as medicine or the law is fairly well known, even to the unprofessional man, and the qualifications requisite for advancement and success are generally appreciated to a certain extent, the same degree of knowledge does not obtain in the case of chemistry, about which, as a means of livelihood, the profoundest ignorance prevails—even among the better‐educated classes. The opportunities which are apparently held out to aspirants and the greatly increased facilities for chemical study have given rise to an absolutely false idea in the mind of the public at large as to the positions obtainable and the prospects offered. Chemistry is, perhaps, the most over‐crowded of all professional careers, for, although the science has gained enormously in importance and in technical application within a comparatively recent period of time, the supply of highly‐trained chemists greatly exceeds the number of positions available, while the remuneration to be obtained is, from a professional point of view, extremely low, and is quite out of proportion to the scientific qualifications possessed and to the nature of the work exacted. The causes of the over‐crowding are too many and too complex to be considered in detail here, but there may be cited as among the principal factors in this respect the greatly increased popularity of the science as a specialised study, the entrance into the profession of individuals who are in reality personally unsuited for a professional career, and the failure of the educationalists to grasp what the exact meaning and aim of the education of a community should be. While, however, the ultimate prospects of advancement and success are influenced greatly by the growing tendency of crowding out, there are, in this respect, other factors to be considered which are liable to be overlooked, namely, the actions of the members of the profession themselves, and, following from this, the degree of respect accorded and the value attached to that profession by the general public. A profession retains its status before the world, or loses it, according to the nature of the individual and concerted actions of its members, both in their relations with each other and in their intercourse with the public. The particular type of person who enters a profession might appear at first sight to be a factor of comparatively minor importance, provided that a thorough training had been undergone and good qualifications obtained. Such, however, is far from being the case. If it is to maintain an honourable position before the world and a recognised place among other intellectual callings, a profession must endeavour to attract the best type of man—the man who, apart from his scientific qualifications, possesses the true professional instinct and ideals, and the ambition to raise his calling and himself to as high a level as possible. “Qualifications” alone are not sufficient. To attract the man of higher type it is necessary to offer a reasonable prospect of adequate reward. It is open to question whether the chemical profession can, at present, offer the necessary inducement, from this point of view, to enter its ranks. It cannot be pretended that chemistry can present ultimate prospects compared to those offered by the other professions. The reward of the man of science is fixed unless his discoveries have a commercial value, and he himself possess the commercial instinct necessary to profit by them. It will be admitted that this is not the case with the specialist in medicine or with the leader at the Bar. The common objections put forward against such considerations as these are that a man devotes his life to the pursuit of a science purely out of love for that science and with little consideration for remuneration or for social status, and that questions of reward or remuneration being purely mercenary considerations should not be brought into the discussion. While such objections may appear reasonable at first sight, a little reflection will show that the matter lies somewhat deeper than this. The future of the chemical profession itself, and not only the pecuniary profit of the individual, is involved. To offer low remuneration for scientific positions is to ensure these positions being ultimately filled by men of mediocre capacities, and it must be understood that this applies as much to a junior assistantship in a technical laboratory as to a chair in a university or to a public position of trust. The prospects which there are at present in the chemical profession can be regarded only as being more likely to attract the mediocre person than the man of superior capabilities, and mediocrity cannot be considered as conducive to the advancement of a science. In these days of excessive competition it is imperative to consider many facts before choosing a particular professional career. Men of attainments superior to the ordinary will not voluntarily enter a profession in which the reward for their labours is to be in no way proportionate to their abilities, and that particular profession will necessarily suffer by their absence. It is a common fallacy to suppose that a man's intellectual capacity is measured by the number of examinations he has passed or by the number of degrees and diplomas which he may possess. Under our present Chinese system of examination it is possible for anyone, even if he be of really very modest attainments, to make a collection of degrees and diplomas. Originality in thought and the power to apply the knowledge obtained during training are not asked for. There is a type of man extremely common to‐day whose capacity for absorbing existent scientific facts (i.e., the ideas of other people) is as great as his incapacity for originating ideas of his own. To this particular type of person the obtaining of qualifications is a comparatively easy matter, especially in the case of chemistry, which is, strictly speaking, a non‐mathematical science. Whereas originality and individualism in thought makes for advancement in science, the mere repetition of the ideas of other persons can only result in stagnation. These facts are generally lost sight of by those persons who assert that the interest of his particular subject should prove an ample compensation for a low remuneration provided that that remuneration be sufficient in order to live. It is not recognised that if such a prospect of affairs becomes general those persons whose ideas are bounded by a narrow horizon (and such form the majority in any community) are attracted in preference to those whose ambitions take a wider scope, and who will naturally turn to another field of operations where their abilities will be more amply rewarded. The competition to‐day in the chemical profession has become even keener than that among the quill‐drivers; the early prospects are about the same as, or are little superior to, those of the latter calling, while ultimately there is the reward of a position at a remuneration very little better than that obtained by a head bookkeeper, and generally very much inferior to that of a small merchant or fairly successful tradesman—the supposed intellectual inferiors of the man of science. Again, with respect to public chemical appointments, there is the growing tendency to create “whole‐time” appointments at a fixed and insufficient remuneration, with no prospect of advancement or certainty of superannuation, and, in many cases, no security of tenure. In the purely technical world the position of affairs is even worse, while the prospect of making a living by practising privately as a technical and consulting chemist is limited, since the demand from the public is not large, and much of the work formerly obtained by the private practitioner is now done much more cheaply by a “tester” of some kind at a works. The consultant is certainly needed in certain cases, but these are of such comparative rarity as to have but little influence upon the general position. There is no doubt that much harm has been done by the nonsense emitted from time to time by unthinking persons and by those who describe themselves as “pure” chemists, to the effect that much of the work carried out in a technical or analytical laboratory can be performed quite as satisfactorily by the untrained person as by the skilled chemist. These opinions, which may perhaps find excuse in the ignorance of the persons holding them, are based upon the supposition that, as the work in such laboratories may tend to be of a routine nature, unskilled labour is quite as valuable as scientific training. The harm done by the promulgation of such statements is to be found in the fact that untrained persons conceive the idea that employment may be obtained in a chemical laboratory without any previous scientific education, and hence there is introduced a further tendency to lower the status of the chemical profession by the admission of unqualified persons. Whatever the condition of chemistry may be at present from an intellectual standpoint, it is manifestly unfair to give the preference to unskilled persons over those who have at least studied their subject, simply on the ground that such labour is cheaper, and it is suicidal that such a preference should be encouraged by the members of the chemical profession themselves. It is necessary to admit that much of the unsatisfactory condition of affairs in the chemical profession is due directly to the behaviour of the members themselves. They have never really appreciated the necessity of acting together for the benefit of all and for the profession as a whole; they have never recognised that, whatever the specialised branch of each may be, all are linked together by a common training and by common interests, that that which adversely affects an individual member adversely affects the whole profession, and that their actions and the value they themselves put upon their services determine the degree of respect accorded to their profession and to themselves by the outside public. The chemist who is engaged in teaching cares little if his technical colleague is underpaid, because he himself is not a technical chemist, and the latter, on the other hand, does not concern himself with the condition of affairs in the teaching branch of the profession. This policy of “sauve qui peut” is disastrous. Combination among its members is absolutely necessary if a profession is to “live.” A number of individuals having a general common training in a particular branch of knowledge, each one working for his own special interest and without regard for that of his fellows, no more constitutes a profession than a people possessed of no laws or constitution and bound by no social obligations constitutes a nation. That the necessity of efficient combination is not understood may be seen from a statement made by the President of the Institute of Chemistry at the last annual general meeting of that body. In the course of his address, the President said: “If the Institute were … . to become, as some critics have suggested it might become, a professional trade union for the regulation of fees and the suppression of competition, I feel sure that the larger proportion of its members would rightly lose all interest in its affairs.” If the Institute of Chemistry is to be regarded solely as an examining body, this particular statement of the President may be held to be excusable, if not justifiable, but if the Institute be considered as a professional body for controlling the interests of its members and acting for the advancement of the whole chemical profession, two possibilities are presented. Either a condition of affairs exists in the Institute of Chemistry which is lamentable, and which it would, perhaps, have been kinder to the Institute to have kept secret, or the statement of the President is not justified by the facts. The word “rightly” has, logically and morally, no place in the sentence in which it occurs. It would appear from a passing reference by the President to the Institute as “a great professional organisation” that the body in question does desire to be considered a professional institution. Under these circumstances, the statement above quoted amounts to this: as the Institute of Chemistry is not to concern itself with the fees paid to its members, or with the fees which those members choose to accept, it becomes open to any member (although a member of a “professional” body) to accept any fee, however low, for any work, and by a slight extension of this free and easy principle, any member may undercut any other member by performing the same work for a lower fee, and, given a sufficient scope for such “competition” without any restriction (and the only restriction possible is the veto of a firm professional authority), an impossible state of things would soon be reached. It will be noted that no account has been taken of length of service, years of experience, and professional position. A man with these extra qualifications is not to expect his own professional organisation to recognise them or to aid him in making others recognise them. Those for whom the regulation of fees has an interest are, for the most part, men in responsible public positions, or in private practice, who are endeavouring to maintain their profession and themselves in as high esteem as possible—in spite of the ignorant opposition offered to them by the public who do not appreciate their services and by their “professional” brethren who cannot understand what a professional man should be. It is these men who represent the Institute of Chemistry before the public, and without whom that Institute would be practically unknown. It is only to be expected that such men would be in the minority. The initiation of all wise things comes from individuals—generally from some one individual—and never from the mass. The general tendency of things throughout the world is to render mediocrity the ascendant power among mankind, and this applies as much to small bodies of men as to society at large. In questions of policy and future action the opinion of the majority of the mass may be discounted, for while the reasoned opinion of an individual may be biassed, it is an opinion (and, therefore, right or wrong, worth consideration); but, in the case of majorities, the opinions expressed by them do not represent the sum of individual ideas, but are simply the expressed preference of one or a few of the same type as those who constitute the majority, followed unthinkingly by the remainder—a state of things best comparable to a flock of sheep running round a tree. There is no reason for supposing that the majority in the Institute of Chemistry is any more capable of giving a wise and reasoned answer to a question of policy than are other majorities. In the present instance the reasons which can be brought forward against the assumption by a professional body of an indifference to the question of the remuneration of its members far outnumber any which may be advanced in defence of such a policy. We have drawn attention to the necessity of attracting the man of superior attainments to a profession, we have indicated what the ultimate effects of inadequate remuneration for scientific work will be, and we have urged the vital necessity of combination in calling attention to the policy of segregation which is having such disastrous results. Some of these points are referred to in the address of the president of the Institute of Chemistry, but from a different standpoint. “A large number of our Fellows are engaged in practice as analytical and consulting chemists, and questions of professional interest naturally appeal to this section of our membership, but an equally important section feel only a more remote interest in these questions, though they appreciate the wide influence of the Institute as a great professional organisation.” Again: “It must never be forgotten that an important part of the work of the Institute is the consolidation of the profession.” Nothing but unqualified approval can be accorded to this last statement. It is difficult to see, however, how the consolidation of the profession is to be effected by the Institute if one section of its members feel only a more remote interest in the questions which concern the advancement and success of the other, and if the majority of the members would view with disfavour an attempt on the part of the Institute to place the recognition of professional service upon a proper and a dignified basis. The problem of the regulation of fees is one of the most important questions with which a professional body has to deal, and it is not easy to comprehend how a body which deliberately ignores or avoids this point can, properly speaking, be called a professional organisation. There is now more than at any other time the crying need for a strong controlling authority in the chemical profession—an authority which would enforce professional conduct upon those under its control, and, passing the bounds of mere protestation, take a definite and severe line of action in all cases of infringement of its rules. Before joining a given professional organisation a man has a perfect right to inquire what benefits he is likely to gain from his membership. It is not sufficient to merely hold examinations and to grant diplomas—any examining institution can do that. In a body intended to deal with professional interests examinations are of secondary importance; the advancement of the profession and the welfare of the members demand the first consideration. If not, it becomes reasonable and perfectly justifiable for any member of the profession to refrain from allying himself with that body, and to refuse to recognise it professionally—a course of action which, although necessary in such a case, would not be beneficial to the profession; the fault, however, would lie with the controlling authority and not with the individual.

The “greening” of preserved vegetables by addition of sulphate of copper can only be regarded as an abominable form of adulteration, and it is passing strange that in this year of grace 1904 it should still be necessary to endeavour to impress the fact, not only upon the public generally, but upon the Government authorities and upon those who are concerned in the administration of the Food Acts and in adjudicating under their provisions. It ought surely not to be necessary to insist upon the tolerably obvious fact that the admixture of poisons with food is a most reprehensible and dangerous practice, and that the deliberate preparation and sale of food thus treated should be visited with condign punishment. The salts of copper are highly poisonous, and articles of food to which sulphate of copper has been added are not only thereby rendered injurious to health, but may be extremely dangerous when swallowed by persons who happen to be specially susceptible to the effects of this poison. After a lengthy investigation, the Departmental Committee appointed by the Local Government Board to report on the treatment of food with preservatives and colouring matters condemned the practice of adding salts of copper to food and recommended that the use of these poisons for such purposes should be absolutely prohibited. Without any such investigation as that which was conducted by the Departmental Committee—and a most thorough and painstaking investigation it was—it should have been sufficiently plain that to allow or to excuse the practice in question are proceedings utterly at variance with common sense.

In a volume of the Cornhill Magazine published in the year 1860 we have discovered an article entitled “Adulteration and its Remedy” which well deserves the attention of those persons who imagine that we have made “wonderful progress” during the past half century and that the trade morality of to‐day is infinitely superior to the trade morality of the past. The unknown author of this article must have had a very clear appreciation of the nature of the gigantic evil upon which he wrote and of the character and probable effectiveness of the remedies to be applied. The adulteration of the period is described by him as a “strange, disgusting and poisonous demon” and while it is true that at the time, as shown by the revelations of the “Lancet Sanitary Commission,” there existed many forms of gross, disgusting and poisonous adulteration which are but rarely detected nowadays, our author's somewhat hyperbolic definition may still be regarded as applicable. For many of the grosser forms of adulteration prevalent fifty years ago were largely due to the ignorance of the adulterator. His prototype of the present day is no more troubled with moral scruples than he was. The dissemination and absorption of knowledge has not been accompanied, as some rabid “educationalists’ would have us believe, by any improvements in morality and virtue. The “faker ” of to‐day is merely a more skilful “faker” than his predecessor. He knows the value and makes full use of “expert” assistance, both scientific and legal, for the purpose of facilitating his escape—easy enough in any case—from what grip there is in that cranky and lumbering legislative machinery which is innocently supposed by the majority of people in this country to act as a sufficiently effective deterrent and repressant.

Messrs. W. and G. Clark have invented a milling machine which, it is claimed, for the first time enables a meal containing the whole of the wheat berry in assimilable form to be produced. The cells of the berry, containing the protein, starch grains and wheat germ, are exploded by intense air pressure. The process is wholly dry, whereas wheat which is roller milled is first soaked in water for many hours; and meal produced by the new method contains 8·2 per cent. natural moisture, compared with 17 per cent. in ordinary flour. Already much bread made from the new meal is being sold. It can be obtained from a well‐known London store. Three depôts of the Royal Navy and a London hospital are among regular consumers of bread and biscuits made from the new meal, which is to be subjected to a biological feeding test at the Lister Institute to test its vitamins B1 and B2 complex content.

The great difficulties which attach to the fixing of legal standards of composition for food products have now to be grappled with by the Departmental Committee appointed by the Board of Agriculture to consider and determine what regulations should be made by the Board, under Section 4 of the Sale of Food and Drugs Act, 1899, with respect to the composition of butter. As we predicted in regard to the labours of the Milk and Cream Standards Committee, so we predict now that the Butter Committee will be unable to do more than to recommend standards and limits, which, while they will make for the protection of the public against the sale of grossly adulterated articles, will certainly not in any way insure the sale of butter of really satisfactory, or even of fair, composition. Standards and limits established by law for the purposes of the administration of criminal Acts of Parliament must of necessity be such as to legalise the sale of products of a most inferior character, to which the term “genuine” may still by law be applied as well as to legalise the sale of adulterated and sophisticated products so prepared as to come within the four corners of the law. It is, of course, an obvious necessity that official standards and limits should be established, and the Board of Agriculture are to be congratulated upon the manner in which they are endeavouring to deal with these extremely knotty problems; but it is important that misconception on the part of the public and the trade with respect to the effect of the regulations to be made should be as far as possible prevented. All that can be hoped for is that the conclusions at which the Committee may find themselves compelled to arrive will not be such as to place too high and too obvious a premium upon the sale of those inferior and scientifically‐adulterated products which are placed in such enormous quantities on the food market.

The general quality of milk supplied by the cows will also affect the question, and in this connection it may be noted that Mr. Lehmann stated to the Departmental Committee that Dutch cows do not produce a milk so rich in fat as these of Switzerland; an examination of the figures given tends to corroborate this view. Dutch milks appear to require concentration to a higher degree in order to provide as large a proportion of fat as Swiss or Norwegian made milk.

The Dominion of New Zealand is not, at present, an exporter of canned fruits. The canned fruits which are made are made for home consumption. So far as the export trade of fruit is concerned the New Zealand growers have mainly concerned themselves with raw apples and to a smaller extent with pears. Everyone knows that the Dominion extends over a small range of low southern latitude; that it has a sunny and equable climate; a rainfall well distributed over the year; a variety of excellent soils. It will, in a word, grow almost anything, a fact that has not altogether proved to be an unmixed blessing. Up to 1876 its hundred thousand square miles of area was divided into nine provinces; after that date by the Provinces Act, 1876, the country was divided for administrative purposes into counties with powers of local self‐government. The central government, at Wellington, is responsible for the Acts referred to in this article, these Acts being applicable to the whole of the Dominion. Such legislative measures as have been passed in relation to the fruit industry have for their main object the development of fruit orchards, chiefly those of apples at present. In the year 1930–1, 3,539 tons of fruit were used in the making of jams, jellies, canned or bottled fruits and “other products.” The value of the fruit canned or bottled was £45,763, as against £165,655 for jams and jellies, and £119,104 for “other products” in the same period. This works out roughly to about 14 per cent. The Orchard Tax Act† (No. 25, 1927) provides for special taxation for the development of the fruit‐growing industry and the protection of orchards from fireblight.‡ Under Section 3 of the Act any fruit grower with 120 or more trees in his orchard shall pay one shilling for every acre or part of an acre. The minimum yearly tax under this section shall be five shillings. The term “fruit” includes apples, pears, quinces, oranges, lemons, peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums and cherries, and any other kind of fruit which may subsequently be declared by the Governor‐General in the Gazette. This is a good list of fruits and illustrates as well as anything of the kind can the great possibilities of New Zealand as a fruit‐growing country. Lemons are an important crop in North Island. Much of the lemons consumed in New Zealand are home grown, but it is desired to make the Dominion self‐supporting in this respect. The Poorman Orange, according to the New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, is becoming popular as a substitute for imported grape fruit. Oranges it seems have been cultivated with success since about 1875, as well as citron, lime and lemon in the neighbourhood of Auckland. Thompson (Naturalisation of Animals and Plants in New Zealand, 1922) quotes a remark by an officer of the brig “Hawes” in December, 1928, that he saw a few orange trees that had been introduced with success. The same author remarks that apples, pears, and, according to Major Cruise (1820), peaches had been introduced by the missionaries. It was about this time that missionary enterprise, which would appear to have been somewhat badly needed, made its appearance.