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these. The various Governments should refer the Convention 

 that has been drafted to their advisers and to their experts 

 in tropical agriculture, I hope, as well as to their experts 

 in European agriculture. The British Colonial Office certainly 

 will have representations to make with regard to the bearing 

 of the Convention on the restriction of disease in tropical 

 countries. Every European country having a delegate 

 at Rome is interested in furnishing the Institute there with 

 information bearing upon its colonies or dependencies. 

 Having got an international organ established, an organ which 

 is really modifying in an important way public opinion in the 

 less forward countries of the world in the direction of establish- 

 ing institutions for the collection and distribution of intelligence 

 with regard to plant diseases, let us do our best to make that 

 organ efficient for its purposes, by instructing our repre- 

 sentatives there as to what the demands of our tropical agri- 

 culture require, just as we instruct them as to what our 

 domestic agriculture requires. That does seem to me the line 

 upon which we can act most effectively. I think any com- 

 mittee set up by us might be useful as an advisory body, but 

 it does seem to me a pity, when an institution has been 

 definitely founded and endowed, as the International Agri- 

 cultural Institute at Rome has been, for certain purposes, to 

 be continually setting up small committees and institutions of 

 no particular international status to deal with problems for 

 which the International Agricultural Institute has endeavoured 

 to find a continuous solution. Whatever we do in this matter, 

 my personal view is that we should endeavour to get our ideas 

 brought into play by making representations through our 

 various Governments to the International Agricultural Institute 

 at Rome, which is dealing with this matter and will continue 

 to deal with it. That is only my personal view, having taken, 

 as I have done, a great interest in the work of the International 

 Agricultural Institute. We are just as fully alive to the 

 necessity of proper regulations as to plant diseases, both in 

 their tropical aspects and otherwise, as any member of this 

 Congress, and we are particularly desirous 'of giving effect to 

 the opinion of this Congress in regard to this matter. 



The PRESIDENT : While I entirely agree with Sir Sydney 

 Olivier in regard to the useful work which the International 

 Agricultural Institute at Rome has done in reference to this 

 question, I must remind him that this Congress is held under 

 the auspices of the International Association for Tropical 

 Agriculture, an Association which was founded long before the 

 International Agricultural Institute at Rome. I mention that 

 because he seemed to think the appointment of a Committee by 

 us would be equivalent to encroaching on the ground of the 



