Abstract :
It may appear a somewhat tactless proceeding on the part of one elected to the office of President of an Institution to raise the question of the utility of that Institution, but the existing tangle and the uncertain future of industry raise questions with which its work is intimately associated. Most things have within them the germ of the opposite effect to that for which they primarily exist. I trust, therefore, that I may be forgiven for putting forward some reflections on the question as to whether the production engineer has proved an unmitigated blessing. There appear to be three aspects of his work, first the furthering of British industry and commerce, second the flooding of the world´s market by over production, third and perhaps the most important of all, how to combat the looming danger of competition from the cheap labour of the East.
