The Institute was established in 1937 as a unit of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, located in Dunedin. It was known originally as the New Zealand Wool Manufacturers' Research Association, but on incorporation in 1945 it assumed the title of the New Zealand Woollen Mills Research Association, and in 1957 the name was again changed to the New Zealand Wool Industries Research Institute, consequent upon the admission of commission wool scourers to membership. The Institute consists of ordinary members in groups (woollen mills group, woolscouring group), the New Zealand Wool Board, and the two members of the executive appointed by the Minister in Charge of Scientific and Industrial Research, together with certain ancillary members and associate members. The work of the Institute is controlled by an executive consisting of four members elected by the woollen mills group, two members elected by the woolscourers' group, two members appointed by the New Zealand Wool Board, two members appointed by the Minister in Charge of Scientific and Industrial Research, the Director-General, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (but without vote), and one member appointed by the Council of the University of Otago. Finance from industry is contributed by the woollen mill members, the woolscourer members, and the Wool Board.

The Association, located at Gracefield, Lower Hutt, and incorporated in 1946, was formed in 1945 to assist in the post-war development of the white-wares section of the clay industry, its activities being extended in 1951 to include also the manufacturers of heavy-clay products. The financial contribution from industry is based on the number of employees, and the control of the Association is vested in a council consisting of five representatives of member firms – two from the white-ware group and two from the heavy-clay group plus the president from either group – and two appointed by the Minister in Charge of Scientific and Industrial Research. There is also a management committee for each of the two groups.

The Association serves the fellmongers, hide processors, tanners, and shoe manufacturers and admits as ancillary members suppliers of materials, chemicals, components, etc. Previously functioning within the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research the Association became incorporated in 1949. Its laboratories are situated at Gracefield, Lower Hutt. Finance from industry is provided by members' subscriptions on either an employee or output basis, with a set subscription for ancillary members. The management committee comprises two representatives of tanners, two of footwear manufacturers, two of fellmongers and hide curers, and two appointed by the Minister in Charge of Scientific and Industrial Research.

The Association, whose laboratories are situated at Otara, Otahuhu, was incorporated in 1947, and the laboratories were established in 1950. Its membership includes the fertiliser companies and certain non-subscribing associate members, and members subscribe to a fixed total yearly contribution according to the tonnage of straight superphosphate each has manufactured in the previous year. The management committee comprises seven representatives of the member companies (totalling seven), two persons appointed by the Minister in Charge of Scientific and Industrial Research, one by the Minister of Agriculture, and, in addition, the Director-General, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, without vote.

The Institute, situated at Ruakura, Hamilton, was incorporated in 1955 and its membership comprises all the meat freezing and exporting companies of New Zealand, the New Zealand Meat Producers' Board, and the New Zealand Association of Bacon Curers. Its affairs are controlled by an executive consisting of three representatives of the North Island Freezing Companies Association, three of the South Island Association, three of the Meat Producers' Board, two appointed by the Minister of Agriculture, and two by the Minister in Charge of Scientific and Industrial Research.

The Institute, situated at Massey Agricultural College, was established in 1927 as a unit of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. It was incorporated in 1947, with the members of the Board of Management being the members comprising the Institute, under the Religious, Educational, and Charitable Trusts Act of 1908. The Board comprises three members nominated by the New Zealand Dairy Board, two by the Minister in Charge of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, one by the Minister of Agriculture, one by the New Zealand Dairy Products Marketing Commission, one by the Council of Massey Agricultural College and one by the New Zealand Dairy Factory Managers' Association (Inc.). The Director-General, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, the Director-General, Department of Agriculture, and the Director of the Institute, are ex officio members.

The deep penetration of science into industry which characterises particularly much of today's technology has provided the small industrial manufacturing units and the somewhat amorphous primary industries with problems which have been solved in a variety of ways. The superficial view that the results of overseas research can simply be translated into New Zealand practice has been disproved so often that the need has long been apparent for independent work both in pure and in applied science, on the one hand to ensure that problems peculiar to New Zealand are tackled and on the other that methods and materials which have proved successful elsewhere may be profitably adapted as required to local conditions.

In the primary industries non-governmental research was most readily undertaken in the various factories operated by dairy companies and in the twenties a number of laboratories were established, such as that of the New Zealand Cooperative Dairy Company. Many of the problems of primary industry, however, are national rather than local and it was logical therefore to seek economy and efficiency of effort by pooling resources or by seeking governmental assistance or collaboration. Today, the pattern which has emerged is that of small laboratories serving the day-to-day needs of those units, such as the major freezing works, which are large enough to warrant the appointment of scientific staff, and larger laboratories supported on a co-operative basis and usually partly financed through Government subsidy. An exception is the well organised scientific service in the forest-products industries.

In the secondary industries, concentration of manufacture in a physical sense, even on the scale possible in New Zealand, has made it common for established organisations to support their own laboratories, and some of these are quite large, well equipped, and staffed with highly qualified scientists. Examples which come to mind are those of the oil companies and paint manufacturers. Nevertheless, here also joint research is common and provides a simple solution to many individual problems.

A general direction is given to the promotion of research in New Zealand's manufacturing industries through the Manufacturers' Research Committee, set up in 1944, whose members are appointed by the Minister in Charge of Scientific and Industrial Research (six nominated by the New Zealand Manufacturers' Federation and four by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, plus a liaison officer from the Department of Industries and Commerce). This organisation has actively fostered the growth of cooperative research groups. As a result of the stimulus of wartime expansion Cabinet gave approval to the formation of incorporated research associations, financed jointly by industry and by annual grants from Government on the basis of £1 for 1 up to a limit specified for each association, plus £1 for every 2 contributed by industry above the limit. The present minimum for establishing a new research association is £4,500 per annum. The general affairs of the associations are handled by management committees comprising elected representatives of the industry concerned and two or more Government nominees. In many cases these autonomous bodies were built around existing units of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, and they have proved well suited to the needs of the country. The following are the several incorporated research associations.

It has been seen that the early university institutions ranked science high in priority and this initial planning has meant that the University of New Zealand, and now its successors, the independent universities, have offered courses leading to degrees in which science has featured as the main component of the structure. Although at first the degree was an arts degree, separate degrees in science were later introduced. Present arrangements provide for the degrees of Bachelor of Science and Master of Science, with various special arrangements for honours at either level according to the, institution concerned. At the same time the several specialised professional courses in such fields as agriculture, home science, medicine, and engineering contain greater or lesser components of pure science in their structures. Again, with the great proliferation of disciplines that has occurred in this century, many new subjects have been added to the curriculum, and although not all of these are available in each institution virtually all of the commonly required sciences may be studied to an advanced level in New Zealand. These include such disciplines as biochemistry, microbiology, and physiology, which are of considerable importance to the primary industries. An important exception is geophysics.

Although much of the teaching of pure science has been restricted in the past to the four general university institutions in the main centres, the two agricultural colleges, Massey and Lincoln, within recent years strengthened their work in this field very considerably and the emergence of Massey as an autonomous Massey University of Manawatu (1964) is evidence that this tendency will continue.

At the research level the universities have always had able staff devoting their attention equally to research and teaching. Viewed as a whole the university's ability to make a systematic contribution to scientific knowledge has in the past been very much circumscribed by the twin confines of finance and lack of full-time research workers. The former position was no doubt partly related to the view that the best return for money invested in scientific research was to be obtained by concentrating it in professional research laboratories, such as those of the State, and also to the lack of organised incentives to promising graduates at the M.Sc. level to encourage them to continue their studies in New Zealand. The present position is a very much more satisfactory one and may be related directly to the setting aside of special funds, earmarked for research, as well as to the institution of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Under the University of New Zealand a system was introduced whereby a centrally administered fund for research equipment and assistance generally could be called upon by individual university teachers. This system has been continued under the University Grants Committee, its Research Committee now receiving £100,000 annually to allocate. A substantial portion of this grant is used to award fellowships for full-time research, particularly to candidates for the Ph.D., and these supplement in a most useful way the scholarship resources of the universities themselves.

The Doctorate in Philosophy is the initial research degree in Commonwealth and United States universities generally, and is now well established in New Zealand. Its adoption has been a potent factor in advancing scientific research in the universities, and recognisable schools of research are now emerging in a way which would have been quite impossible without it. At a higher level the degree of Doctor of Science has long been available to scientists generally, the criterion being excellence in published original work.

Of the other Government Departments involved in scientific work, mention may be made of the Department of Civil Aviation (New Zealand Meteorological Service), the Marine Department (biological research, particularly that associated with commercial fisheries), the Navy Department (Naval Research Laboratory), the New Zealand Forest Service, and the Department of Health (the National Health Institute, the Dominion X-ray and Radium Laboratory, the laboratories of the Chemical Inspectors at Auckland and Wellington and work on medical statistics). Separate consideration is given to mining and engineering in other sections.

Although constituting the Government's major unified contribution to science, the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research is by no means the only one. In particular, with so much of the country's economic welfare tied to farming, the Department of Agriculture maintains extensive scientific services. It was founded in 1893 and, as might have been expected, its chief function was initially the establishment of experimental farms and the giving of extension services to farmers. It did, however, include chemical, biological, and veterinary units which provided scientific services, and this aspect of the work assumed increasing importance as the Department grew. It now has research stations at Ruakura (animal research), Rukuhia (soil fertility), Wallaceville (animal research), Levin (horticulture), Te Kauwhata (viticulture), and Winchmore (irrigation), with a special centre at Taieri.