16
24163
No. 11.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE to THE GOVERNORS AND HIGH COMMIS- SIONERS OF CROWN COLONIES AND PROTECTORATES.*
(Circular.)
Downing Street, July 31, 1906.
SIR,.
It will be remembered that, on the 24th of January, 1903, the Earl of Onslow, acting for Mr. Chamberlain, enclosed in a Circular despatch† a memorandum drawn up by the Board of Trade with regard to the future management of the Imperial Institute, the control of the Institute having been vested in the Board by the Imperial Institute Transfer Act of 1902. The despatch concluded with words commending the Institute to the continued support of the Colonial Governments.
The amount of financial support which is being given at the present time is shown by a "statement of the present contributions to the Imperial Institute made by the Government of India and by the British Colonies and Protectorates" which was laid before Parliament in March last,† and which is now reprinted for conve- nience of reference.
2. In their memorandum the Board of Trade stated that it was their intention, so far as the funds at their disposal permitted, "to pay special attention to the development and extension of the important work carried on by the Scientific and Technical Department." This work, which had been entrusted to Professor Dunstan, F.R.S., who is now in charge of the Institute as a whole, was commended to the Colonial Governments by Mr. Chamberlain in his Circular despatch of 27th July, 1901; and in a later Circular despatch, dated 4th July, 1905, my immediate predecessor, Mr. Lyttelton, wrote: "This work has since largely increased, and it is possible that I shall be asked to communicate with you further hereafter with regard to its extension.”
3. In the 1901 despatch Mr. Chamberlain referred to the fact that an annual sum of £2,000 was contributed towards the maintenance of the Scientific and Technical Department by the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851. This contribution, which had been made provisionally by the Commissioners in order to initiate scientific and technical work in connection with Colonial development, ceased at the end of 1905; and, pending a final settlement, the deficit has been made good out of the general funds of the Institute. The Board of Trade have informed me that this cannot be continued beyond the 1st of October next; the problem, therefore, with which I am faced, is how to provide that this department, whose work has, in the meantime, grown in amount and variety and, I feel justified in adding, in the confidence of the Colonies, shall not be seriously crippled, and its sphere of action permanently curtailed.
4. A reference to the Treasury has produced a promise that for three or five years, as may be determined, the Lords Commissioners will be willing to provide one-half of any sum which may be contributed for the purpose by the Colonies and Protectorates which are not in receipt of a Grant-in-Aid from the Votes of Parlia- ment, up to a maximum Imperial contribution of £1,500. Accordingly, I now wish to place the whole matter before the Crown Colonies and Protectorates as I placed it before the Treasury, noting at the outset that I have been reminded by the Lords of the Treasury, in answer to my appeal for assistance, that a grant of £500 is already made from Imperial funds in aid of research carried on at the Imperial Institute, for the promotion of cotton growing in the Empire, and also that many or most of the Protectorates which avail themselves of the services of the Scientific and Technical department receive from the Imperial Exchequer large grants in aid of their general expenditure-which also includes in many cases provision for special enquiries into scientific and technical questions.
5. The Imperial Institute as a whole, and especially the Scientific and Technical department which more and more tends to become the practical embodi- ment of the work of the Institute, is, or ought to be, of value to all parts of the Empire, and I hope that it will continue to receive, in growing measure, support from all the British possessions; but it is to the Crown Colonies and Protectorates, little developed as they are, in many cases, at present, and often ill supplied locally
* A copy of this circular wis sent on July 31, 1936, to the Governors of Self-governing Colonies.
† 2189: not printed.
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