28 



recent years. This is a significant development of the 

 times which no one would desire to deprecate on general 

 grounds. Yet from their great number the danger now 

 is that the importance of those which deal with subjects 

 of great public moment is apt to be overlooked. 



There is no subject at the present time in the whole 

 field of human activity which demands greater attention 

 than the organization of those agencies which make for 

 the agricultural productivity of the tropical regions of 

 the world. The subject is of importance to the native 

 races of the tropics who are coming more and more 

 under European control and influence, and who look 

 to European knowledge and experience for guidance in 

 increasing the productivity of the soil. 



It is of no less importance to all Governments of 

 tropical countries, which are principally concerned in 

 securing under good governance their material and 

 commercial advancement. 



Moreover, the temperate world has to depend on the 

 tropics for the supply of numerous materials which have 

 become necessaries of life and the basis of some of the 

 most important manufacturing industries of modern 

 times. 



A Congress which meets to consider and discuss the 

 problems of tropical agriculture in their widest bearings 

 is therefore of the highest importance to all civilized 

 nations. It has been our endeavour to make this, the 

 Third International Congress of Tropical Agriculture, 

 which meets for the first time in the principal city of 

 the British Empire, a thoroughly representative and 

 successful one, of value not only to this country and 

 to the Empire whose tropical interests are so extensive, 

 but also to those other nations whose representatives 

 we welcome here to-day. 



I should like very briefly to indicate the principal 

 objects which the British Committee have kept in view 

 in organizing the present Congress. The topics of 

 first importance to the advancement of tropical agricul- 

 ture have been given a prominent place in the proceed- 

 ings of the Congress. Education, research, legislative 

 enactments relating to plant diseases, tropical sanitation 

 and hygiene, credit banks and co-operative societies, 

 are to be considered at meetings of the Congress, 



