A FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW 



OF THE 



IMPERIAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR THE WEST INDIES. 



LIBRAI 

 NEW VC 



BOTANK 

 UaKDE 



Vol. VIII. No. 175 



BARBADOS, JANUARY 9, 1909. 



Pkice Id. 



CO 



Sir Daniel Morris. K CM G. 



IK Daniel Morris, K.C.M.O., retired from 

 the office of Commissioner of the Imperial 

 Department of Agriculture for the West 

 Indies on November 30 of last year, after occupying 

 that post for a period of ten years. Thi' announcement 

 of his resignation has been received with the greatest 

 regret both by the entire agricultural popidation of the 

 West Indies, and by the , staff which have had the 

 privilege of working under his direction. 



After a distinguished career as Assistant Director 

 of the Royal Botanic (Jardens, Ceylon, from 1877 to 



1879 ; as Director of Public Gardens at Jamaica from 

 1879 to 1886, Dr. Morris was appointed, in the latter 

 year, Assistant Director of the Royal Gardens, Kew. 

 Amongst the many important official missions under- 

 taken by him in various parts of the empire during 

 that period, there is none more important than that 

 which he filled in relation to the West Indian Royal 

 Commission of 1897, to which he was appointed Scien- 

 tific Adviser : and of the many important publications 

 crjntriliuted by him, to which we are here unable even to 

 allude, there is none of greater importance than Appendix 

 A of the Royal Commission Report, which deals at con- 

 siderable length with the agricultural resources and re- 

 quirements of British Guiana and the West India islands. 

 That contribution was one of the most valuable 

 parts of the report, and was recognized at once as the 

 most authoritative synopsis of the subject with which 

 it dealt. 



One of the recommendations of the Royal Com- 

 mission was the establishment of the West Indian 

 Imperial Department of Agriculture for the Windward 

 and Leeward Islands, and Barbados. This recommenda- 

 tion was carried into effect in 1898, and in September 

 of that year Dr. Mori is returned to the West Indies as 

 Commissioner of the Department. With characteristic 

 energy he proceeded at once, in consultation with the 

 (iovernments of the Windward and Leeward Islands, 

 and Barbados, to organize the new department, and in 

 the short apace of a single year it was found possible to 

 summon the first Conference of the officers of the Depart- 

 ment at Barbados, and to secure the attendance, not only 

 of scientific rei)resentatives from Jamaica, British 

 Guiana, and Trinidad, but also representatives from 

 the Agricultural Societies and Education Departments 

 of all the West Indian Colonies. From that time on- 

 wards, the record of the Department has been one of 



