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The matter arose out of a letter written to Mr. Marshall by Dr. de Witz of Metz, who had suggested that, if the Committee published such articles, their bulletin would probably become in time the chief medium in Europe for the publication of original work in entomology Mr. Marshall pointed out that there were advantages and disadvantages connected with the proposal. It was an attractive prospect that the Committee's bulletin should have the first place among the entomological pub lications of all Europe, and the idea had appealed to the Chairman of the Committee when first mooted. But it would involve a complete change in the nature of the bulletin, which at present did not pretend to be a strictly scientific journal, but was used in many cases as a medium for the publication of articles, which would not be of a sufficiently high standard to be included in a journal such as Dr. de Witz sug. gested. Besides there was always the difficulty of publishing in England articles in foreign languages.

Professor Nuttall spoke from personal experience of the troubles with which the editor would be faced if he attempted to carry out the suggestion, e.g., the decypher- ing of manuscripts in foreign hand-writing, the selection and rejection of contribu- tions, the reproduction of illustrations, &c. Dr. Shipley added that he did not believe that people in the Colonies, speaking generally, could or would read articles written in German or Italian. Moreover, Dr. de Witz's letter was the first and only indication of the existence of any such demand on the part of foreign scientists. Considering, too, that the Committee would probably soon find themselves launched on a large scheme of Imperial co-operation in the investigation of insect pests, which would fully occupy Mr. Marshall for some time to come, the Sub-Committee came to the conclusion that it would be premature to adopt Dr. de Witz's suggestion, and they requested Mr. Marshall to inform him accordingly.

27163

No. 56.

REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF A CONFERENCE HELD AT THE COLONIAL OFFICE ON MONDAY, 12TH AUGUST, 1912, TO DISCUSS THE PROPOSED SCHEME FOR IMPERIAL CO-OPERATION IN PREVENTING THE SPREAD AND FURTHERING THE INVESTI- GATION OF NOXIOUS INSECT PESTS.

The Entomological Research Committee were represented by Dr. A. E. Shipley, F.R.S., Professor R. Newstead, F.R.S., Mr. H. J. Read, Mr. G. A. K. Marshall (Scientific Secretary), and Mr. A. C. C. Parkinson (Secretary).

The Government of Canada was represented by Mr. C. Gordon Hewitt, Dominion Entomologist; the Australian Commonwealth by Dr. F. Tidswell, the Director of Microbiology, New South Wales; the Government of New Zealand by Mr. C. Wray Palliser, and the Indian Government by Mr. L. 1. Wakely of the India Office.

Dr. Shipley stated that he had been able to discuss this matter informally with Dr. Gordon Hewitt and others during the International Congress of Entomology at Oxford, and that the main questions brought forward by Dr. Hewitt were:—

(1) Finance;

(2) Representation of the Colonies which contributed;

(3) The position of the Committee in relation to the International Institute

of Agriculture at Rome; and

(4) Whether the Colonial Office itself would make any contribution.

Mr. Marshall explained that all the Australian States, New Zealand, the Union of South Africa and Newfoundland had agreed to co-operate and to contribute sums amounting to £600 in all per annum. Canada and India, however, had decided to await the results of this Conference.

Dr. flewitt was asked to state the position which the Canadian Government were taking up in the matter. He observed that his Government had considered the scheme of sufficient importance to justify them in sending him to England twice within eight months to discuss it with Members of the Committee, and that his Government were anxious, if possible, to co-operate, provided that the scope of the scheme were sufficiently extended. According to the proposals originally put forward, the object was to obtain and supply to all the Colonies definite informa tion regarding the more serious insect pests affecting plant life which occur in the various portions of the Empire, so that each Colony may know the specific dangers

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against which it will have to protect itself and its commerce with any other Colony." He thought, however, that it was essential that information should be collected from every country, and not only from the British Empire. To limit the range of the investigation as proposed would render the scheme practically useless to Canada. When it was remembered that the majority of insect-pests were introduced into the Colonies from countries outside the British Empire, this must be apparent. Canada imported plants from Europe, the United States, and Japan, and it was obvious that, from the Canadian point of view, information respecting pests in those countries must be included. During the season 1910-11 they had inspected and fumigated trees and plants, &c., imported into Canada in the following numbers:- British 172,771; Non-British 3.871.542. Again, the total value of the nursery stock imported into Canada had been 67,982 dollars of which British imports consti- tuted only 53 per cent., while those from the United States constituted as much as 69 5 pc. cent. These figures spoke for themselves.

As an instance of the usefulness of the proposed Bureau if it carried on the work which he suggested it should undertake, he said that when a question arose whether restrictive measures should be taken against the Mediterranean Fruit Fly under the Dominion legislation regulating the importation of plants, it had been necessary for him to communicate with the United States, the State of California, Hawaii, and Australia. If the proposed Bureau had been in existence he could have written direct to the Bureau and obtained the information he required. He remarked that it would be necessary that any information which the Bureau collected should be catalogued under two heads:-

(1) Plants, food or economic. (2) Insects.

in this way it would be possible by consulting the catalogue of the Bureau to obtain reliable information as to the probability of insects becoming pests in one country if they were known to exist in another country where the conditions were

more or less similar.

As regards the question of finance, he stated that the amount originally suggested was insufficient. If the scheme were to be of Imperial value the sum contributed should be sufficient to start the Bureau on a wide basis of general utility. In the estimate of expenditure which had been submitted to the Colonies, two Assistants for the Scientific Secretary were provided for, but no provision was included for clerical assistance; whereas one or two indexing clerks would certainly be required to make the records. In the preliminary stages, he said, the work would be particularly heavy.

Further, his Government would like to know whether the Colonial Office proposed to contribute towards the expenses of the Bureau. In this connexion he observed that, so far as he could see, the scheme which it was proposed to inaugurate was different from the existing arrangement which the Committee had adopted for dealing with tropical Africa, and that any money contributed by the tropical African Colonies or by the Imperial Government towards entomological research in that region could not properly be expended on the proposed Imperial Bureau.

A further point would be the constitution of the governing body of the Bureau and the representation of the contributory Colonies on that body. that the Governments which contributed might be represented by duly appointed He suggested members of the existing Entomological Research Committee, and that the Govern- ment Entomologists might be made er officio members of the Committee. It would also be valuable, he thought, if conferences between the Colonial representatives and the Entomological Committee could be arranged from time to time like the present Imperial Conferences, say, every three years.

Lastly, there was the question of international co-operation. In his opinion the scope of the suggested enquiry must be made international. It would, there- fore, be necessary to consider carefully what the relations of the Bureau would be to the International Institute of Agriculture at Rome, which proposed to set up an International Commission in May next to investigate insect and fungoid diseases. He said that by the time the International Commission had been set up, the scheme for an Imperial Bureau now under discussion would most probably be an accom- plished fact, and that it could not be allowed to drop out of existence. Separate action certainly would not be advisable, as the Bureau would be dependent on other countries for their co-operation; he suggested, therefore, that the Bureau might be