countries that the certificates which you issue are of any value 

 at all. That is the only point I should like to bring out now, Sir. 

 The CHAIRMAN: I do not know whether Dr. Warburg, or 

 any other member, wishes to make a motion for the appoint- 

 ment of a Committee. Mr. Rogers has suggested some lines 

 upon which such a Committee might proceed. For myself, if 

 I may be permitted to do so, I should like to express the 

 opinion that I do not think such a Committee is necessary for 

 this purpose, or that it would be likely to be more efficient 

 than the agencies which we have already established for dealing 

 with these matters. The International Institute at Rome has 

 taken a great interest in this matter of plant diseases from the 

 first, and, as Sir James Wilson has stated, it maintains a Bureau 

 for recording the progress of legislation and the work of insti- 

 tutions for dealing with the diseases of plants. All the Govern- 

 ments of Europe are represented in that Institute. The Govern- 

 ment of Germany is represented by Dr. Muller, a most efficient 

 and active member of the Bureau, who takes a great interest 'n 

 this matter; and the Government of France is represented by 

 M. Louis Dop, who is one of the principal movers on this 

 subject. The Government of France, I may add, has been 

 the Government which has taken special interest in promoting 

 international action in regard to plant disease legislation. Now 

 this Institute at Rome exists, and is in working order. It 

 publishes month by month a Bulletin in which it is now seek- 

 ing to record absolutely the stage which has been arrived at 

 by any country, both in regard to its institutions for dealing 

 with plant diseases, and with regard to. the extent to which 

 disease prevails. For that purpose the public reports of every 

 country are carefully scrutinized and abstracted, and I do not 

 think any Committee would be able to get more full details 

 than are already furnished by the countries which are turning 

 their serious attention to this matter, and publishing annual 

 reports. We must rely upon honesty in this matter, and upon 

 public spirit; and as in human diseases, so also in plant 

 diseases, all States are beginning to recognize more and more 

 that what is to the interest of all is the immediate notification 

 of any disease which exists, the public recognition of it, and, 

 having got notification and public recognition of the disease, 

 that steps should be taken to eradicate it. You have there- 

 fore in the Institute at Rome a permanent Committee whose 

 members are specially interested in the work which this 

 specially appointed Committee of yours would undertake; and 

 I think a permanent Committee is much more likely to do 

 useful and continuous work than a new Committee started by 

 this Congress. The lines upon which the International Agri- 

 cultural Institute at Rome should be permitted to work are 



