55 



an Indian civilian would be the Secretary. The non- 

 official members might well be Indians chosen on 

 account of their interest in the subject. The Director 

 of Agriculture, who would be responsible to this Board, 

 would have full charge of the specialist staff, and would 

 be directly concerned with the technical work of the 

 Department and with the reports which it issues. 



The advantages of this system would be that whilst 

 reserving to the Board the consideration of general 

 questions, including those relating to land tenure, the 

 Agricultural Officer would receive his proper title of 

 Director of the Department and would have the direct 

 charge of the whole of its technical work and be directly 

 responsible to the Board, whose meetings he would 

 attend. 



The Government would still have the advantage of 

 the administrative experience in other than technical 

 questions of the Secretary and the members of the 

 Board, the Secretary being an Indian civilian with a 

 title, Secretary to the Board of Agriculture, more in 

 accordance with his proper duties. 



The inclusion of Indian members in the Board would 

 have the great advantage of securing their interest and 

 co-operation in the agricultural advancement of India, 

 which is so much to be desired. 



It is almost a truism that investigation and research 

 should be vital parts of the work of Government 

 Agricultural Departments. The fact that so little 

 is being done in the tropics makes it, however, 

 necessary to consider the question, which is to be dis- 

 cussed at one of our meetings. By research in this 

 connection is not meant the trials and plot experiments 

 which form part of the regular routine work of an 

 Agricultural Department, but the attack and concen- 

 tration on definite problems by qualified specialists. 

 The reports issued by the various departments of 

 agriculture in the tropics, British and other, show that, 

 in general, scientific investigation is not definitely pro- 

 vided for, and that the energies of the usually small staff 

 are being entirely occupied with routine work. It is 

 not everyone who is inclined or qualified to deal with 

 the larger questions which await solution as the result 

 of systematic experiment in tropical agriculture, but 

 where such men exist, and they should exist in all 



