E. J. BUTLER 29 



should not cause more restriction in tlie trade than is likely to he profitable 

 to the trade itself in the long run. All imports of the sort covered by the 

 Convention must have a certificate, whether there are any listed diseases that 

 could be carried or not. This certificate will guarantee that the nurseries 

 from which the plants have come are subject to inspection and that either the 

 crop or the particular consignment (or booh) is in a satisfactory sanitary 

 condition. In addition, the Indian list will show what specific diseases (if any) 

 the consignment must be certified free from. The exporting nursery or 

 nurseries will be inspected and if clean from the specified diseases (if any) and 

 the produce or consignment in a healthy condition, the certificate will be given. 

 All that is necessary is for the Indian list to be prepared in such a way that 

 no disease will figure on it which is likely to be so widely present in the exporting 

 country that there will be a difficulty in getting clean certificates, unless India 

 is prepared to stop the import of the host plant from that country. If we wish 

 to continue to import pears from countries in which pear blight is widely 

 prevalent, this disease should not figure on our list. It must not be forgotten 

 that the Convention is drawn up in the interests of the adhering countries 

 themselves and it would be for the Department of Agriculture to consider 

 whether the country is likely to lose or gain by listing a particular disease. 

 In some cases it may be better to keep a disease outside the Convention and 

 to deal with it in a more elastic manner, if necessary. 



Imports of nursery stoclc, of the sort covered by the Convention, from 

 non-adhering countries must cease, unless the exporting country can and will 

 give certificates signed by " competent official agents " in the same form as 

 those required from adhering countries. The adhering countries undertake 

 not to give non-adhering countries more favourable treatment than those 

 adhering. The effect of this part of the Convention is to enable pressure to be 

 brought on other States by the adhering countries and will presumably result 

 in forcing all that have important export trade of the sort mentioned, with 

 adhering countries, to enter the Convention. In the beginning there will be 

 difficulties but they Avill probably disappear as soon as exporting countries 

 realise where their interests lie. 



For plants which do not come into India from nurseries, the difficulties 

 are much greater. As already pointed out it is not clear whether we must 

 refuse admission to all living plants (with the exception of those specifically 

 excluded from the Convention) unless they have a certificate. If so, then we 

 should refuse entry to orchids, flowering bulbs and the like from many tracts 

 outside the British Indian Customs frontiers, including much of the Himalaya, 



