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search and Education in the Geddes 

 Report. 



HE first and second sections of the interim 



Report of the Committee on National Ex- 



diture, presided over by Sir Eric Geddes, were 



lished on February lo (Cmd. 1581, 4^. net; 



d'.isSa, 35. net), and the particulars of expendi- 



l:e and proposed economies in the various supply 



Tvices are receiving much public attention. 



roughout the Report reductions are recommended 



expenditure on education and research, on the 



neral principle that the reduced resources of the 



iation at the present time make all possible econo- 



ies essential. Thus we have such sweeps of the 



e as : — Research for Army purposes to be reduced 



rom 625,000/. to 312,000/. ; Naval scientific ser- 



rs (400,000/.) to one-half ; aviation research from 



^00,000/. to 500,000/. 



The attitude of the Committee towards education 

 :in(l research, which is disclosed in the supercut of 

 .000,000/. in the Board of Education Vote, is 

 nominated by the narrow commercial view of 

 fcods to be delivered for money expended. The 

 ■)ntemptible sum doled out to agricultural educa- 

 pon and research before the war, when compared 

 %ith the amounts spent in foreign countries — notably 

 in the United States — was notorious. During the 

 post-war reconstruction, as we noticed at the time, 

 important administrative reforms were introduced, 

 directed mainly to the future recruitment of the 

 best scientific talent, which justified the hope that 

 NO. 2729, VOL. 109] 



this country would regain the pre-eminence in agri- 

 cultural science which it once enjoyeo. In England 

 and Wales the cut proposed involves a drop from 

 365,000/. to 250,000/.; in Scotland from 112,000/. 

 to 62,000/. In the former case the provision for 

 research is reduced from 109,000/. to 75,000/., and 

 if carried out literally will involve the dismissal of 

 staff holding pensionable posts, and, possibly, the 

 abandonment of land and buildings 'specially 

 equipped for scientific purposes. 



In some respects these recommendations are as 

 astonishing as any contained in the report ; for under 

 the provisions of the Corn Production (Repeal) Act 

 of 192 1 — passed, be it noted, after the economy 

 campaign was begun — a sum of 1,000,000/. was 

 voted for additional expenditure on agricultural 

 education and research. It would almost seem that 

 the Committee, which professes to exclude this sum 

 from consideration, has deliberately aimed at open- 

 ing an abyss into which this million shall disappear. 

 For it should be noted that, in terms, the cut 

 includes the Development Fund, and as that fund is 

 almost on its last legs (the balance now in hand will 

 little more than suffice for one year's normal require- 

 ments), the operation suggested is one which, in the 

 vernacular of some members of the Committee, is 

 known as " taking the breeks off a Highland man." 

 Even if the Development Commissioners, in the 

 exercise of the discretion which the Committee leaves 

 them, use the Corn Production Fund to fill the gap 

 created in the old fund, the remedy would be tem- 

 porary only, and, in any event, would create the 

 anomaly of giving preferential treatment to agricul- 

 tural education and research. What does business 

 acumen think of adding a top story to a building 

 and at the same time destroying the ground floor ? 



The activities of the Forestry Commission are 

 threatened with extinction by the Report, which 

 recommends that the scheme of afforestation by the 

 State shall be discontinued, that the vote of 

 275,000/. for the ensuing financial year shall not 

 be allowed, and that steps should be taken to cancel 

 the remaining 2,822,000/. of the 3,500,000/. author- 

 ised for the decade following 191 9, the date of the 

 Forestry Act. In the Report no complaint is made 

 about the work or the administration of the Forestry 

 Commission. It simply says : " We recognise the 

 enthusiasm and public spirit of the Commissioners, 

 but in the present state of the country's finance we 

 cannot recommend that this expenditure — which will 

 always show a heavy loss, and which cannot reach 

 full fruition for something like eighty years — should 

 be continued." 



Foresters believe that afforestation will show a 



