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my Government, and certainly of many of the foreign delegates 

 to whom I have spoken, that we wish to congratulate 

 most sincerely Professor Dunstan on the splendid success of 

 this Congress. I noticed that there had been sent in about 

 132 papers, and these came from about fifty different countries. 

 I believe that is an achievement that has not been accomplished 

 before, and we all know it has been due mostly to the great 

 . activity and the good organization that we owe to Professor 

 Dunstan, so that I beg to present him with our congratulations 

 on his great success. Now this Congress shows that tropical 

 agriculture is going forward very rapidly. The first Inter- 

 national Congresses on these matters were very simple. They 

 were what I should call baby congresses with some ten or fifteen 

 papers. There were some in France, some in Belgium, some 

 in Germany, and in other countries, too, but they were as a 

 rule rather restricted. We can now say that our congresses 

 are full grown, and we must see that their organization results 

 in the greatest usefulness. I would propose this for the next 

 Congress first of all that all the papers should be printed 

 before the Congress opens, and that we should all receive, 

 say about a week before the Congress, three, four, five or six 

 volumes containing the papers sent in. I beg to say that that 

 is done by many congresses on the Continent, and it is quite 

 useful and very convenient. Of course, nobody dreams of 

 reading these four or five volumes, but everyone reads those 

 papers which are of special interest to him, and when he goes 

 to the Congress he is able to discuss these matters in a way 

 that we have not been able to do at this Congress. Secondly, 

 I would propose that the reading of papers should be sup- 

 pressed. That does not mean to say that the papers presented 

 here have not been very highly interesting. From the first 

 day to the last even this morning we have heard papers of 

 thi utmost importance for all colonies, and I must say that 

 the papers we heard this morning were even better than many 

 of those we heard on other days. But, unfortunately, if you 

 start reading papers at full length, it is quite impossible to 

 get through the work of a congress where there are 130 

 papers. In order to do so we should have to sit up all night. 

 Then it is very trying to hear an author read a long paper in 

 which one personally has but little interest, especially if it is 

 read in a language one does not understand. Therefore, I 

 would propose that papers should be presented beforehand, 

 and that members should only deliver a short abstract of the 

 principal points in their paper. That is sufficient to start a 

 discussion, and I believe there is as much or more to be learnt 

 by discussion as by reading the paper itself. I would only 

 give one illustration of that. ' Professor Carmody, of 



