4IO 



NATURE 



[July 25,1918 



India, and appears to have been a great success. 

 At the present time, what is under consideration 

 is the form of reorganisation which would be best ; 

 but it would appear that it is possible that 

 economic research departrnents may be recognised 

 under a director-general of chemistry with deputy 

 directors for various special branches of economic 

 science, and that all chemists in Govern- 

 ment employ should be included in the service, 

 the reorganisation being intended, of course, 

 to increase the output of work and to pre- 

 vent overlapping. Thus, if there were a 

 director-general of chemistry in India, the deputy 

 directors working under him would include a deputy 

 director for agriculture and a deputy director for 

 forest products, while the provincial agricultural 

 and forest men of science would work in 

 co-ordination with their brethren in other pro- 

 vinces under instruction from, and in general con- 

 sultation with, their particular deputy director. 

 Apparently, there would also have to be separate 

 directors, say, for organic chemistry and also in 

 charge of mineral chemistry, etc. If this were 

 carried out properly India might make extremely 

 rapid progress in industry and commerce, and in 

 such a way that its future may. be revolutionised. 



NOTES. 



From a White Paper published on July lo we learn 

 that among the Supplementary Estimates for the year 

 ending March 31, 1919, is the sum of i,ooo,oooZ. which 

 is to be devoted through the Board of Trade to the 

 purpose of assisting the dye-making industry. This 

 is the first instalment of a total svim of 2,ooo,oooZ. to 

 be provided in the shape of loans and grants to be 

 spread over three years, and divided as follows : — 

 1,250,000^. in loans at not less than i per cent, above 

 the Bank rate, with a minimum of 5 per cent., repay- 

 able in twenty years or earlier if the profits of the 

 manufacturer are more than 9 per cent. ; 6oo,oooL in 

 aid of extensions of plant and buildings ; and 150,000?. 

 in grants in aid of research. It will be remembered 

 that early in 1915 a grant of i,ooo,oooL was made to 

 one firm at Huddersfield, out of which was created 

 the company known as British Dyes, Ltd. This, not 

 unnaturally, created a feeling of dissatisfaction on the 

 part of those dye-making firms which received nothing. 

 The sum mentioned is to be distributed among these 

 firms, besides the substantial amount allocated to the 

 purposes of research. Presumably the ioo,oooL given 

 for this purpose in 19 15 has been spent, but it would 

 be interesting to know how and by whom the money 

 has been used and with what results, in view of the 

 fact that the central research laboratory originally 

 contemplated has never been erected, nor the Technical 

 Committee announced in July; 1915, called into 

 existence. 



We publish this week an article dealing with recent 

 advances in scientific plant-breeding, in which the 

 remarkable progress made in recent years, especially 

 in India, is described. As a pendant to this article 

 we may invite attention to the announcement made in 

 Parliament by the President of the Board of Agricul- 

 ture on July 18 that active steps have been taken with 

 a view to the establishment at Cambridge of an 

 Institute of Agricultural Botany, the primary function 

 of which will be the breeding and distributing of im- 

 pioved varieties of agricultural crops. The. scheme 

 in question was very fully described by Mr. Lawrence 

 NO. 2543, VOL. lOl] 



Weaver, of the Board of Agriculture, at a meeting of 

 the Agricultural Seed Association held on July 15. 

 It appears that the new institute will be modelled on 

 the famous Swedish plant-breeding station at Svalof, 

 and that its activities will be to follow two distinct 

 lines, one of which will be purely scientific, while the 

 other will have a commercial outlook. More pre- 

 cisely, the scientific wing will be concerned with the 

 producing of pure cultures of new varieties on the 

 field-plot scale; the economic wing will deal with the 

 growing and distribution on a large scale of these 

 varieties. Presumably, on the Svalof model, the 

 scientific side will oversee the operations of the com- 

 mercial to the extent of guaranteeing the purity of the 

 stocks distributed by the latter. It has been an- 

 nounced that subscriptions towards the establishment 

 of the new institute amounting in the aggregate to 

 upwards of 30,000?., have already been received, in- 

 cluding a sum of io,oooL down and 2000Z. a year for 

 five years from the firm of Sir Robert McAlpine and 

 Sons. It has also been announced that the Board of 

 Agriculture will provide the necessary buildings and 

 equipment. It is most gratifying to have this evi- 

 dence of the growing appreciation by the public of 

 the value of scientific work in economic directions. 

 The new institute may be confidently expected to 

 have a profound influence on the future development 

 of British agriculture. 



The question of the payment for the services of 

 scientific men working in connection with the indus- 

 trial research associations being formed on the lines 

 suggested by the Department of Scientific and Indus- 

 trial Research has been raised in the House of 

 Commons by Sir William Beale. Though the asso- 

 ciations could make remuneration to scientific men 

 appointed to serve on advisory committees, or to 

 specific posts constituted by them, they were not 

 authorised to pay them for services as members of 

 councils or boards of management. It has now been 

 decided by the Board of Trade that this condition may 

 be abrogated, and payment can be .. made . after ap- 

 proval by the Department of Scientific and Industrial 

 Research. Sir William Beale's question, asked on 

 July 18, and Sir Albert Stanley's answer, are as 

 follows -.-^Sir William Beale : To ask the President 

 of the Board of Trade whether he is aware of the 

 conditions under which scientific men are asked U> 

 serve on the councils or boards- of management of 

 industrial research associations formed under the 

 direction or with the approval of the Board to carry 

 out or promote scientific and industrial research, in 

 cdnsequence of the rules and practice prescribed bv 

 the Board of Trade to discourage payment for such 

 services rendered by sciantific men other than reim- 

 bursement for out-of-pocket expenses ; and whether 

 the Board has taken or will take steps to enable such 

 further reasonable remuneration to be paid as will at- 

 tract to or at least make possible for such research com- 

 mittees as are being formed in connection with the 

 Department of Scientific and Industrial Research the 

 co-operation, advice, and assistance of scientific men of 

 undoubted capacity to render valuable services whose 

 position and means do not enable them to do so on 

 mere compensation for out-of-pocket expenses. Sir 

 Albert Stanley : In dealing with applications for 

 licences under the provisions of section 20 of the 

 Companies Consolidation Act, 1908, due provision is 

 made for the payment of reasonable remuneration to 

 members of the council of management of such indus- 

 trial research associations with the approval of the 

 Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. 



There is a strongly expressed opinion among those 

 engaged in the fisheries industries that the time has 



