"8 rROCEEDIXGS OF THE THIRD ENIOMOLOGICAL MEETING 



V 



connection I may draw your attention to Appendix H to the Report of 

 ttie Indian Industrial Commission in wliich they say : — 



" We desire to attract attention to the ahiiost complete absence of 

 scientific and technical societies in India. So long as the majority of 

 the men in this country from whom such societies would naturally draw 

 their members belonged to Government executive services, the subordi- 

 nation essential to discipline was unfavourable to their inception and 

 growth ; but this phase is gradually passing away, owing to the much 

 wider difiusion of scientific knowledge, to the rapid expansion of organized 

 industries, and to the greatly increased number of scientific and technical 

 experts in private employment." 



" It is unnecessary for us to dwell at any length upon the advantages 

 which arise from a free interchange of ideas betw^een men working in the 

 same field of scientific investigation, and the stimulating effect of 

 instructed criticism on men engaged in technical pursuits. 



" We are of opinion that the interests of India demand the establish- 

 ment of Indian institutes, societies and associations analogous to the 

 Institution of Civil Engineers, the Chemical Society, and the British 

 Association for the Advancement of Science. Action in this direction 

 is urgently required to provide for the growing needs of Indians. It is 

 true that they have free access to the Enghsh societies on the same terms 

 as any other subjects of the Empire, and they are also freely admitted 

 to American societies ; but beyond the prestige attaching to membership 

 and the periodic receipt of copies of pubUcations, they derive little or no 

 benefit from such distant associations, and they are altogether deprived 

 of the advantages which arise from personal intercourse between the 

 members. In matters connected with administration, the value of 

 personal discussion has been recognized by Government, and every year 

 an increasing number of conferences and committees meet to discuss 

 specific problems. Men are convoked from all parts of India to exchange 

 views, and experience shows that such meetings are well worth the 

 time devoted to them and the expense incurred in bringing the officers 

 together. But something more than this is necessary, and the movement 

 in favour of it has found expression in the estabhshment of the Indian 

 Science Congress, which was started' four years ago and holds annual 

 meetings in the month of January in one or other of the capital cities of 

 India." 



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