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assistance in the working up of the African insects, which would be seriously in arrear by the end of the autumn. The Committee approved of this arrangement.
3. Lord Cromer observed that the proceedings at the departmental conference of the 14th of June and the draft scheme for Imperial co-operation for furthering the practical investigation of noxious insects throughout the Empire had already been circulated. Dr. Shipley expressed the hope that the scheme would go through. No member of the Committee having any criticisms to make, the scheme was adopted without amendment. Lord Cromer explained that the next step would be for the Secretary of State to send out the scheme to the various Dominions and States interested and to ask them to contribute towards the expense which it would involve. If the replies received by the time that the next General Meeting was held should all be favourable, he thought that a start might be made with the work, even though one or two replies were still outstanding.
4. It was decided, on Mr. Read's suggestion, that the whole series of the replies to the Secretary of State's despatch to the West Indian and Eastern Colonies, dated the 22nd of March,* should be referred to Sub-Committee B, which should have power to add to its numbers for any special subject outside the domain of plants. Mr. Read pointed out that the various replies would have to be carefully examined, answers suggested, and a definite plan of campaign worked out.
Dr. Shipley suggested that the two Carnegie scholars already in the United States of America should be given leave to attend the Agricultural Conference to be held in Trinidad this winter. Sir. Daniel Morris gave further details as to the Conference. It was decided that Mr. Strickland and Mr. Rutherford should be authorised to visit Trinidad to attend the Conference; that the Committee should pay the cost of the journey; and that Mr. Marshall should communicate as to the details of their visit with Dr. Watts, Commissioner of Agriculture for the West Indies, who would shortly arrive in England.
5. The reportt of the Government Entomologist, Uganda, was received. The opinion was expressed that it would be useful if all the Colonial Government Entomo- logists would issue such reports for circulation.
6. The next General Meeting was fixed for Thursday, 26th of October, at 12 noon.
Annexure to No. 94.
REPORT OF THE SCIENTIFIC SECRETARY.
The most important event in connection with the Committee's work that has taken place during the past quarter, has been the Conference with the Ministers representing the self-governing Colonies, for the purpose of discussing the possibility of a scheme of Imperial co-operation for collecting and disseminating information respecting injurious insects. A full account of this Conference has been circulated with the minutes. The suggestion put forward by Lord Cromer, on behalf of this Committee, were most favourably received, and as a result of the discussion, pro- posals for a somewhat larger scheme have been drafted by Mr. Read and the Scientific Secretary, and are now submitted for the approval of the Committee. The memorandum will then be forwarded by the Colonial Office to the various Dominions and States concerned for their fuller consideration.
The collection of African material is being steadily maintained by our corres- pondents. During the quarter ending the 30th June, contributions were sent in by 24 different collectors, the total number of specimens received being 14,500, among which were about 4,000 blood-sucking flies and 2,000 ticks. It may be mentioned that among the biting flies received up to date there is quite a considerable number of new or hitherto rare species; while among the non-economic material there has been a very satisfactory percentage of insects which are of special scientific interest. It is computed that since the inception of the Committee no less than 17,000 non-economic insects have been presented to the National Collection; and there are still 5,000 or 6,000 to be handed over as soon as we can find time to sort them out.
As the Committee has now come into direct touch with a number of residents in Africa who are interested in its work, it seems desirable to make some attempt to
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• No. 78.
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advance beyond the mere collecting stage and to utilise, at least, some of these men for carrying out special investigations. Such work must necessarily be simple in character and must not require too much continuous attention. A suitable kind of enquiry might be found in the periodic examinations of the salivary glands of all the anopheline mosquitoes occurring in a given neighbourhood, in order to ascertain which species are really responsible for the distribution of malaria; a point upon which we have as yet no adequate information from Tropical Africa. For this purpose Dr. J. W. W. Stephens, of Liverpool, was asked to publish in a recent part of the Bulletin a paper giving simple instructions for the dissection of these glands, with suggestions as to various useful lines of research. A number of separate copies of this paper have been printed off, and some have already been distributed to medical officers who have promised to interest themselves the subject. If done on
a sufficiently wide scale, the results will certainly be of considerable practical value. Any suggestions from members of the Committee for similar investigations in other directions would be very welcome.
With the consent of the Finance Sub-Committee, an arrangement has been made with a firm of publishers, Messrs. Dulau & Co., to take over all the business and accounts in connection with the Bulletin.
Their charges for doing this work will be:-
(1) 15 per cent. commission on the net subscriptions received;
(2) 33 per cent, commission on sales of separate parts; and
(3) a small charge for warehouse room and insurance, depending upon the
amount of stock in hand.
The commission on subscriptions will not apply to the 85 copies supplied to the African Colonies through the Colonial Office, so that on our present subscription list the charges would not amount to more than £18 or £19 per annum. On the other hand the arrangement will relieve the officer of a considerable amount of clerical work.
It is not possible to give at the moment an exact statement of the financial position in regard to the Bulletin. This is partly due to the fact that the new system is not yet in full working order, and also to the fact that we are not yet certain how many subscribers intend definitely to discontinue their subscription. Messrs. Dulau & Co. have been instructed to issue invoices with the next part, where sub- scriptions are still unpaid.
The cost of printing the first part for this year does not show nearly so large a reduction on previous prices as was anticipated; but it is not possible to analyse the charges, as no details of the account have yet been received."
A statement has been circulated which shows the general financial position of the Committee as on the 30th of June last, and the account current with the Crown Agents for the last quarter is submitted herewith. From these it will be seen that the actual cash in hand on that date was £1,719, of which £1,500 has been placed by the Crown Agents on deposit at call with the London County and West- minster Bank. During the present month this amount has been increased by the receipt of Mr. Andrew Carnegie's cheque of £1,000.
A statement has also been drawn up to show the probable expenditure during 1910 in connection with the Carnegie scholarships, and at the end of this year there will be an unexpended balance of about £380. Mr. G. H. Grosvenor is sailing for Washington on the 22nd July for the purpose of studying for six months under Dr. L. O. Howard. No news has been received from the other two scholars since the last meetings.
Mr. J. J. Simpson has recently returned from West Africa on leave, and has spent some time at the Museum helping in the working out of his blood-sucking insects, for the purpose of the report which he is preparing. The whole of this material has now been identified and recorded, with the exception of the new species which have yet to be described. Mr. Simpson's leave terminates on the 23rd October, and the Committee is asked to consider the desirability of permitting him to remain in this country for about another two months, in order that he may assist in clearing off some of the arrears of work which are accumulating in the office.
Mr. Neave reports that he is making satisfactory progress in the East Africa Protectorate, and he expected to pass on to Uganda about the beginning of July. He has succeeded in making large and valuable collections in most parts of the Protectorate.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
TLC.O. 885
20 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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