1919.\ DEVJ^LOPMENT OF ECONOMIC RESOURCES. 229 



insect pests, etc., which are responsible at the present time for an 

 enormous amount of damage in the Colonies. Such damage can 

 literally be assessed in millions of pounds. Valuable work in this 

 sphere has already been done and continues to be done in many parts 

 of the Empire, but there is undoubtedly great scope for extended 

 research. Such work is likely to prove exceptionally fruitful, since 

 many of these destructive agencies are ^ndely distributed, and scientific 

 discoveries which have been made in one Colony can often be utilised 

 elsewhere. The scale on which this destruction takes place is well 

 illustrated by a recent despatch from the Acting Governor of the East 

 A-irica Protectorate reporting that " more scientific and progressive 

 methods must be adopted in dealing with stock diseases in native 

 reserves if the futui-e welfare of the stock industry is to be secured. It 

 would be dilficult to estimate the annual loss from the ravages of stock 

 diseases in native reserves, but if it were placed at the low estimate of 

 twelve per cent, it would easily represent a sum of approximately one 

 million pounds per annum." 



7. In Colonies and Protectorates whose financial resources are on a 

 smaller scale than in the one under your government, there has hitherto 

 often been great difficulty in finding the means to carry out investiga- 

 tions in themselves very desirable. I am glad to be able to inform you 

 that, for the benefit mainly of such Colonies and Protectorates, I have 

 obtained the consent of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury to 

 the provision of a liberal grant of ^920,000 a year from the Estimates of 

 the United Kingdom for 1919-20 and the four following years, to be 

 expended in stimulating scientific research with a view to developing 

 the economic resources of the Colonies and Protectorates. This grant, 

 if it is duly voted, will be administered by a small Committee, to be 

 known as the Colonial Research Committee, which will work in 

 co-operation with the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, 

 the Imperial Mineral Resources Bureau, the Universities, particularly 

 those of industrial districts, and other existing institutions. In the 

 first instance the members of the Committee will be Mr. H. J. 

 Mackinder. M.P. (Chairman), two Assistant Under Secretaries of State 

 for the Colonies, and Sir Frank Heath, the Secretary of the Depart- 

 ment for Scientific and Industrial Research. The gi-ant, Uberal though 

 it is, is evidently insufficient for a large number of researches, and the 

 Committee will have to content itself with selecting for investigation a 

 few of the most promising of the subjects which may be brought to its 

 notice. It may sometimes be the case that a research may be required 

 which would be chiefly in the collective mterests of the Empire or in the 

 interests of some part of it other than the part in which the reseai-ch 

 would be carried out. If it were convenient that such a research should 

 be undertaken by a Colonial Government, the fact that that Government 

 is prosperous would not debar it from participating in the grant. 



8. To the whole question of research and investigation raised by 

 this despatch I attach the greatest possible importance, and I trast that 

 you will give it your personal consideration, in consultation with your 

 scientific" and economic officers, and with suitable members of the 

 unofficial community, and that you will then furnish me with a brief 



