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morning may be due to the fact that members were, as I may say, 

 rather " fed up." But at the same time we see that by co-operation 

 with the Grovernment we have got to a certain point, and there is no 

 doubt that the result of this Conference has been that we shall not 

 only stand there but advance. (Applause.) 



If the fact of the Grovernment not having given official recogni- 

 tion to all these meetings be remarked upon, we might at least 

 remember that it has been quite ready to help us up to a point. 

 The Government has supported ns and worked with us in a way that 

 has been of extraordinary value to us as planters. If it was not for 

 the Agricultural Department we would not have been able to 

 undertake this at all. But the only hope that I can express — and I 

 feel that I am also speaking for the planting community — is that I 

 hope this is the first of a series of I'egular annual conferences. We 

 should much like to see an annual Conference established. 



I may also say that there has been a certain amount of criticism 

 of the methods we have adopted. We have heard it said that it 

 was not long enough and that we should have given more time to 

 planters. But we may dismiss that straight away because what we 

 meant to do was to make the inaugural meeting a success, and 

 everything else did not matter so long as we got through that. I 

 think that this is due to the support and the success of the efforts of 

 the Director of Agricultui-e. We are very glad of the success of 

 this Conference. 



The Chairman (Mr. Lewton-Bbain) in conclusion, said : I must 

 thank you Mr, Munro very much for what you have said. It has, I 

 may assure you, been a very great pleasure to inaugurate and help 

 on the work of this Conference. On behalf of the Committee I 

 should like to thank all the planters who have been here and 

 supported us so strongly. The interest they showed was far more 

 than I ventured to hope for. I am exceedingly gratified that the 

 Conference has gone on so well. I think that we may take it for 

 granted that it is wanted by the planters, and I hope to ask my 

 friend, the Chairman of the Planters' Association, to nominate a 

 committee without further delay to aiTange for the next Conference. 



On behalf of myself I wish to thank the Committee and the 

 Hon. Secretary for the amount of assistance they have given me. 

 (Applause.) 



The Conference was then declared closed. 



^Federated Malay States Government Press. \ -^ 



