228 TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO BULLETIN. [XVIIL 4, 



departments of the Government, and financed out of the ordinary 

 revenue and out of taxes on particular industries, while a subsidiary but 

 important method is that of contribution to institutions for research 

 and the like, usually situated for convenience in this country, some 

 official, such as the Bureau of Entomology and the new Bureau of 

 Mycology, and some unofficial, such as the research associations referred 

 to above which are organised under the auspices of the Department of 

 Scientific and Industrial Research. 



4. Broadly, I would ask you to consider the position of any important 

 industries in the Colony, on whose behalf no research work is at present 

 carried on, and whether this state of affairs does not call for action on 

 the part of the Colonial Government. I would particularly direct your 

 attention to those raw materials required for Imperial trade or 

 defence which are produced within the Empire either in inadequate 

 quantities or not at all, such as tlax, hemp, medium stapled cotton, the 

 lighter timbers, ores of aluminium and copper, phosphate rock, potash 

 and mineral oil. The question of the possible establishment or 

 extension of fishing industries for export is also worth attention. 



6. The Committee on Commercial and Industrial Policy after the 

 War drew sjDecial attention to this question of raw materials in 

 paragraph 122 of their final report [Cd. 9035j . Much of the existing 

 deficiency can be supplied by the tropical Colonies and Protectorates if 

 their great potential resources are adequately developed, and one of tlie 

 most sure and speedy agents in such development is undoubtedly 

 scientific investigation. The war has furnished a striking instance of 

 the correctness of this view. One of the conspicuous examples of 

 material produced to an insufficient extent within the Empire, to which 

 the Committee called attention, was bauxite, the ore of aluminium. At 

 the present time this country is almost entirely dependent on foreign 

 sources of supply, and there is reason to apprehend that these will 

 remain both costly and insufficient. Aluminium is essential to a 

 number of British industries, and the position would be serious if 

 alternative sources of supply had not been found within the Empire. 

 The scientific investigations of the Director of the Geological durvey of 

 the Gold Coast have recently resulted in the discovery of a very large 

 deposit of the mineral in that Colony, and it is hoped that arrangements 

 can be made which will enable it to be worked on a paying basis. 

 Valuable deposits of bauxite have also been found in British Guiana, 

 and are now being developed. Other deposits in the same Colony are 

 now under investigation. If these enterprises are successful, the 

 position of the British industries in question will be greatly 

 strengthened. 



This is a solitary instance, but it is typical, and could, if necessary, 

 be supported by others drawn from different parts of the Empire. 

 There can indeed be no doubt that a sound and adequate scheme of 

 scientific investigation would be of the utmost value in developing the 

 resources of the Colonies. 



6. Another example of the need of research is furnished by the 

 destructive agencies of various kinds, such as animal and plant diseases,. 



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