127 



Director of Agriculture Kuala Lumpur, 



Kuala Lumpur, 17th Januarj', 1912. 



Sir, — I have the honour to acknowledge receipt of your letter 

 7/1021 dated the l6th instant. 



I am unable to reply to y)ur query without submitting same to 

 the Annual Meeting (to he held this year on April 28th) which passes 

 the budget of our financial year (April 1st to March 31st). 



Perhaps you could make it convenient to be present at this. 

 Meeting and place personally your views before the members. 



I have etc., 

 (Sd.) H. C. E. ZACHARIAS, 

 Secretary. 

 Mr. Cruickshank proposes, Mr. Gibson seconds and it is carried 

 unanimously that the sum of $1,000 appear again under this heading 

 in the estimates for the ensuing year. 



17. Imperial College of Technology. 



The Secretary places the following letters on the Table: 



The Secretary, 



Planters' Association of Malaya, Muar, 



Kuala Lumpur. i8th January, 1912. 



Dear Sir, — I enclose copy of a circular received from the Rector 

 -of the Lnperial College of Science and Technology, South Kensing- 

 ton, which I think should be brought to the notice of your members 

 and I should be much obliged if you could further the objects of the 

 scheme outlined in the circular. 



For some years past the Botanical Division of the College has 

 endeavoured to meet the demands for men, who, by special training, 

 are fitted to deal with the problems involved in agriculture both at 

 Home and more particularly in the Tropics. With the rapid growth 

 of tropical agriculture, and the increasing complexity of the many 

 problems associated with the cultivation and the sanitation of plants 

 (rubber, cocoa, colfee, cotton, etc.), an extension of the Department 

 has become a matter of necessity. 



The College has been impressed by the magnitude of the issues 

 at stake in connection with the modern developments of Agriculture 

 in the Tropics and it has resolved to meet the need for a thorough 

 training of those who are to undertake the duties of advisors and 

 sanitation officers, by founding a new Department of Plant Physio- 

 logy and Pathology, under the immediate charge of a man specially 

 selected for his eminence in the branches of science more directly 

 •concerned. 



Trusting you will give this matter attention. 



I remain, 



Yours faithfully, 



(Sd.) J. MITCHELL. 



