PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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Reference :-
CO. 885
24 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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30.
The experiment to which reference has so frequently been made ought not to be hastily undertaken nor carried out at all if the outcome is in too much doubt. If it seems foredoomed to failure and is not undertaken, or, if attempted, it fails, the one alternative yet considered is that briefly mentioned in paragraph 11. At one time this seemed the only promising solution to the problem, but the Buddu fly survey has resulted in a much more optimistic attitude. If an experiment such as is sug- gested by the conditions along the Buddu shore can be carried to a successful con- clusion it is firmly believed that the experience gained will be applicable in con- nexion with fly suppression elsewhere-whether Glossina palpalis or another species is involved. If it fails, and if no other alternative than that above mentioned sug- gests itself, it will be earnestly recommended that this be given serious considera- tion. It would be only logical, in view of the expressed conviction that the "ultimate and only satisfactory solution of the tsetse problem " lies in this direction, to give it first place, but the writer frankly is equally convinced of his inability to discuss the situation intelligently from this point of view.
17606
No. 41.
COLONIAL OFFICE to TREASURY."
[Answered by No. 44.]
Downing Street, 14th October, 1915.
SIR,
I AM directed by Mr. Secretary Bonar Law to request you to invite the atten- tion of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury to the fact that the grant of £500 a year from Imperial funds to the Imperial Bureau of Entomology expires with the current financial year. This grant was recommended in the letters from this Department of the 3rd of October, 1912, and the 21st of January, 1913,* and sanctioned for a period of three years by your letter of the 25th of January, 1913.†
2. It had been hoped that the question of placing the Bureau on a permanent basis might have been discussed at the Conference of Official Entomologists of the Empire, which was to have been held in London in the summer of this year, but circumstances rendered it impracticable to hold such a conference. Pending an opportunity for such a discussion, the Managing Committee of the Bureau suggested that the grants which had been made by the Imperial Treasury, and the Indian, Dominion, and Colonial Governments should be renewed for a further period of three years. Mr. Harcourt was entirely in accord with this suggestion, and the Indian, Dominion, and Colonial Governments were accordingly approached on the subject in March last.
3. The result has been most satisfactory, and bears high testimony to the usefulness of the Bureau. When the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury were first invited to make a grant to the Bureau it was estimated that the upkeep of the Bureau would involve an expenditure of about £2,000 a year, of which £2,100 would be contributed by Dominion and Colonial Governments and the Govern- ment of India and £500 by Imperial funds. At the present moment the Bureau actually receives £2,445 a year from the Dominions and Colonies, £500 a year from India, and £100 a year from Egypt and the Sudan, as well as £500 a year from Imperial funds. It has thus been able markedly to add to its usefulness, and, if additional funds were available, it could doubtless do so to an increased extent. The above amounts do not, of course, include the grants by the Imperial and Colonial Governments for entomological research, or that by Mr. Andrew Carnegie for studentships, to which reference is made in the third paragraph of the letter from this Department of the 21st of January, 1913.
4. Mr. Bonar Law has satisfied himself that the Bureau has more than justi- fied itself by its excellent work, and there is little doubt that when the Conference of Official Entomologists is held it will recommend that the Bureau should be In these circumstances Mr. Bonar Law is confident made a permanent institution.
that the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury will agree to renew the Imperial grant for a period of three years, i.e., to the end of the financial year 1918-19. The Dominion and Colonial Government contributions are for the most part promised
No. 117 in Miscellaneous No. 271.
Nos. 73 and 115 in Miscellaneous No. 271.
51
to the end of the year 1918 (or 1918-19, as the case may be), and with two possible trifling exceptions (not exceeding together £100 a year) it is expected that they will all be continued for that period. The Indian Government contribution is also promised for the three years, subject to the condition that this Imperial contribution shall be continued for a like period.
5. It is, perhaps, hardly necessary to add much in support of this applica- tion. As regards the normal work of the Bureau, however, Mr. Bonar Law desires me to draw attention as briefly as possible to the important economic aspects of the study of entomology. There is no doubt that the work of the Bureau, which co-ordinates and makes known the work of investigators all over the Empire, pro- duces economic results out of all proportion to its cost. These results are especially important in tropical Colonies and Protectorates, including those which receive grants-in-aid or may be obliged to apply for them as a result of the War.
6. The desirability of continuing the grant to the Bureau is, moreover, enhanced by the value of the work which it is able to render in connexion with the present hostilities. In the first place the work of the Bureau will be of increased importance to this country in the event of additional territory in the tropics, initially not self-supporting, being added to the Empire. I am, however, instructed to refer more particularly to the part, of which their lordships are no doubt aware, which the application of entomology has played in the European, as well as the African, theatres if war. It may be mentioned that two members of the Managing Committee of the Bureau have been employed by the Army Council in giving advice and instruction in entomology in connexion with the operations in France and Flanders, and one of them has now been sent to the Dardanelles.
I am, &c..
52829
No. 42.
HENRY LAMBERT,
for the Under-Secretary of State.
IMPERIAL
MINUTES OF THE TWENTY-SECOND GENERAL MEETING OF THE
MANAGING COMMITTEE OF THE
BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY, HELD AT The Colonial Office at 3.0 p.M. ON WEDNESDAY, THE 10TH OF NOVEMBER, 1915.
Present:
MR. L. HARCOURT.
DR. BAGSHAWE.
SIR DAVID BRUCE.
MR. FRYER,
DR. HARMER.
PROFESSOR LEFROY.
PROFESSOR MACDOUGALL.
PROFESSOR NEWSTEAD.
PROFESSOR NUTTALL.
PROFESSOR POULTON.
SIR DAVID PRAIN.
MR. READ.
DR. SHIPLEY.
MR. THEOBALD.
MR. MARSHALL.
MR. NEAVE.
MR. FIDDIAN (Acting Secretary).
MR. HARCOURT, on taking the chair, stated that it had given him great pleasure to be able to accede to Mr. Bonar Law's invitation to preside over the Committee, and so to follow up to some extent a work, begun while he was Secretary of State, in which he took a great interest.
The minutes of the twenty-first general meeting were approved, subject to one correction,
As regards the last paragraph, Mr. Marshall explained that the matter had been overlooked owing to the change of Secretaries at the Colonial Office.
* No. 17.
The