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1 feel sure that the reasonableness of this view will commend itself to you, and I would, therefore, suggest that the Government of Mauritius should contribute fifty pounds annually towards the Bureau. In the first instance, it has been proposed that the contributions from the various Governments should be promised for three years, at the end of which period the matter can, if necessary, be reconsidered. I should be glad if you would inform me as soon as possible whether your Government will undertake to contribute the sum proposed above for three years, the first contribution to be made in respect of the financial year 1913-14.

4. It will be convenient if you would arrange for the contribution of your Government to be paid annually to the Crown Agents for the Colonies for the account of the Committee.

I have, &c.,

2060

No. 112. AUSTRALIA.

L. HARCOURT.

THE GOVERNOR GENERAL to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.

(Received 8 a.m.. 18th January, 1913.)

TELEGRAM.

[Answered by No. 132.]

Your telegram of 14th January.* Government will support Entomology Bureau to extent of £200 per annum for three years.-DENMAN.

2182

(No. 454.) SIR,

No. 113. JAMAICA.

THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 20 January, 1913.)

King's House, Jamaica, 31st December, 1912.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch "Miscel laneous of the 19th November, 1912, expressing your satisfaction that this Government has decided to support the scheme for co-operation between the Ento- mological Research Committee and the West Indian Colonies, and your desire that arangements may be made for the payment of this Colony's contribution of £50 in respect of the current financial year.

2. I have given this matter my careful consideration, and I regret to inform you that I do not feel able to direct that a payment should be made in the current financial year, as there is no provision on the Estimates at my disposal for the pur- pose, and I fear that the vote may prove a matter of controversy. I shall, however, ask you to instruct the Crown Agents to pay the contribution immediately on the passing of the vote, which will be placed on the Estimates of the ensuing financial

I have, &c.,

SYDNEY OLIVIER,

year.

2292

(No. 8.) SIR,

No. 114.

LEEWARD ISLANDS.

THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 21 January, 1913.)

Governor.

Government House, Antigua, 3rd January, 1913.

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch "Mis- cellaneous of 19th November last, concerning the scheme for co-operation between the Entomological Research Committee and the West Indian Colonies.

• Reininder of No. 67.

† No. 81.

99

2. I laid your communication before the Executive Council and it was decided that the contribution from this Colony should be paid in respect of the current year. The amount will be paid to the Crown Agents accordingly.

31753

SIR, -

No. 115.

I have, &c.,

H. HESKETH BELL,

Governor.

COLONIAL OFFICE to TREASURY.

[Answered by No. 117.]

Downing Street, 21 January, 1913. I AM directed by Mr. Secretary Harcourt to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 7th of October last,* to which no answer has been sent pending the receipt of replies from the various Governments which have been invited to co-operate in the scheme for the formation of an Imperial Bureau of Entomology.

2. Mr. Harcourt is glad to be able to state that the scheme has met with universal approval from the Colonial Governments to the notice of which it has been brought. The Dominion of Canada, the Commonwealth of Australia, the Union of South Africa, the Australian States, New Zealand, and Newfoundland have all expressed their agreement in the proposals submitted to them, and have promised to contribute towards the upkeep of the Bureau sums amounting to £1,600 per annum, the contributions being guaranteed for three years in the first instance. Mr. Harcourt is now in communication with the Eastern Colonies "-Ceylon, the Federated Malay States, Hong Kong, Mauritius, and Seychelles-the Governments of which have all expressed a desire to avail themselves of the facilities which will be afforded by the new organisation, and he expects that further contributions will be obtained from these Colonies amounting to £300 or £400 per annum. Further assistance will probably be given by the Egyptian and Soudan Governments, and it is proposed to enter into communication with certain institutions in India which are likely to be interested in the scheme. It is, however, very desirable that the Bureau should be started without delay, and if the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury will consent to a contribution of £500 per annum being made by the Imperial Government, the funds available will be sufficient for an immediate beginning of the work to be made. 3. With regard to the enquiry in your letter under acknowledgment as to the relationship between the Bureau and the scheme of investigation which has now been carried out for more than three years by the Entomological Research Committee, I am to explain that the work which the Committee has undertaken, and which it will continue to pursue, is entirely different from that which will be carried on by the Bureau, and that the formation of the Bureau will not be partly or wholly in substi- tution for the existing organisation. The present Committee will, however, act as the honorary Managing Committee of the Bureau, and Mr. G. A. K. Marshall, Scientific Secretary to the Committee, will be the Director of the Bureau. In this connection I am to invite attention to the letter from this Department of the 17th of April, 1909,† which outlined the work of investigation which is now being carried out in the tropical African Colonies and Protectorates, and for which their Lordships agreed to make the annual grant of £1,000 for five years, on behalf of the Exchequer- aided Protectorates in tropical Africa, provided that an equal sum was found by the self-supporting Colonies. The progress which is being made with that work, and the excellent results so far achieved by the Committee, will be seen from the enclosed copy of

Correspondence relating to the Development of Entomological Research in the British Colonies and Protectorates " which was recently laid before Parlia- ment. In his letter to the Earl of Cromer, dated the 7th of November last, § Mr. Harcourt expressed the opinion that the Committee had well fulfilled the purpose for which it was established, and that it deserved every support in its efforts to increase its public usefulness. It is not necessary to add anything to Lord Cromer's Report and the correspondence generally, except to say that Mr. Andrew Carnegie has been so satisfied with the way in which the sum placed by him at the disposal of

• No. 74.

30949

No. 7 in Miscellaneous No. 231.

§ No. 2 in [Cd, 6429).

‡ [Cd, 6429], November, 1912.

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the Committee has been expended that he has promised to renew his donation of £1,000 per annum for three more years, to enable them to select more young students in this country and have them trained in the methods employed in the United States of America for dealing with noxious insects.

4. The work of the Bureau, on the other hand, will be of quite a different order; for, as explained in the fourth paragraph of the letter from this Department of the 3rd of October last,* it will confine itself to the organisation of a system of prompt identification of all injurious insects, the publication of a monthly review of current literature on noxious insects, the compilation of a card-index to entomological literature, and the giving of advice or assistance generally on any point which may be referred to it. It would be difficult to overstate the value of such an organisa- tion. The American Government have long recognised the importance of entomology, and have established the Bureau at Washington, which co-ordinates entomological work in the United States and its Dependencies, but unfortunately there is at the present moment no such institution in this country. Apart from the very serious disadvantage under which officials and students at home and in the Colonies labour in having no central British organisation for the identification of insects, and for the compilation of references to the literature of entomology, the Bureau would fully justify its existence if it did no more than produce a monthly summary of the current literature on this subject. It is no exaggeration to say that there are many hundreds of periodicals published in Europe, America and elsewhere containing valuable information as to original entomological research which is not available either to the official or the scientific world generally, because time does not permit of the individual examining all these periodicals, even if he had a sufficiently extensive acquaintance with foreign languages to read the various papers.

5. Mr. Harcourt trusts that enough has been said to convince their Lordships not only of his keen interest in the scheme from the point of view of the Colonies, but also of the usefulness of such a Bureau to those who are taking up the study of entomology in this country, and that they will approve of the Imperial Government contributing the sum of £500 annually as proposed. As stated above, the self- governing Dominions have all undertaken to contribute their respective shares of the total sum for three years in the first instance, and it is suggested that the same undertaking should be given as regards the contribution from Imperial funds; the position can then be reconsidered towards the end of the financial year 1915-16.

6. The Entomological Research Committee will be holding a General Meeting at the Colonial Office on the 29th of January, and I am to request that a reply may be sent to this letter before that date, as Mr. Harcourt is anxious to be able to inform the Committee exactly what financial support for the Bureau has been assured.

101

2. The Principal Medical Officer is very anxious to retain Dr. Strickland's services for a further term, and it is hoped that this may be allowed for another year from 22nd March, 1913, on the same conditions as those on which he was engaged, but with a salary of £390 instead of £360. I have ascertained that Dr. Strickland would be willing to accept these terms.

I have, &c.,

2970

SIR,

No. 117.

ARTHUR YOUNG.

TREASURY to COLONIAL OFFICE.

(Received 27 January, 1913.)

Treasury Chambers, 25th January, 1913. I HAVE laid before the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury Sir H. Just's letter of the 21st instant,* relative to the scheme for the formation of an Imperial Bureau of Entomology.

In reply I am to state that, in view of the financial support already accorded to the scheme by the Colonies named in the letter under reply, and of Mr. Secretary Harcourt's expectations of further assistance, my Lords sanction, in deference to the representations of the Secretary of State, a contribution from Imperial funds towards the expenses of the proposed Bureau of £500 for 1913-14, and the two succeeding They note that the work which will be carried on by the Bureau will be entirely different from the work which is undertaken by the Entomological Research Committee.

years.

3113

No. 118.

FIJI.

I am, &c.,

ROBERT CHALMERS.

2832

SIR,

No. 116.

MALAY STATES.

I am, &c.,

H. W JUST.

THE HIGH COMMISSIONER to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 25 January, 1913.)

(No. 657.)

[Answered by No. 125.]

Government House, Singapore, 31st December, 1912. WITH reference to your despatch, No. 73, of 23rd February, 1912, on the subject of the temporary appointment of Dr. C. Strickland as Travelling Medical Entomologist, I have the honour to inform you that the Principal Medical Officer has formed a very high opinion of Dr. Strickland's ability, and is particularly pleased with the way in which he has carried out his instructions. He is convinced

that Dr. Strickland is working on a system which must eventually be productive of good results, and that there is every prospect that he will be successful in obtaining information which will be of practical use not only for the Federated Malay States but for other countries similarly situated.

• No. 73.

+ 4560: not printed.

(No. 338.)

SIR,

THE GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 27 January, 1913.)

[Answered by No. 124.]

Government House, Suva, Fiji,

5th December, 1912.

of

I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch, No. 269, the 3rd October last,† on the subject of a scheme for the formation in London of an Imperial Bureau of Entomology.

2. I laid your despatch before the Executive Council at a meeting held on the 22nd ultimo, when the Council advised, and I concurred, that this Colony should participate in the facilities for entomological research which will be afforded by the proposed organisation, and that the Legislative Council should be invited, at the proper time, to provide a contribution from public revenue to the funds of the Bureau.

3. You will, no doubt, inform me in due course of the amount which you consider should be included in the annual Estimates under the sub-head Con- tribution to Imperial Bureau of Entomology."

• No. 115.

I have, &c.,.

BICKHAM ESCOTT,

Governor.

↑ No. 71,