246 



NATURE 



[May 24, 1917 



its inception in 1887, partly as the result of a 

 suggestion made in the House of Commons, are 

 manifold and far-reaching. Not only does it 

 serve as the official organ in which the results of 

 scientific activity at Kew are largely given to the 

 world ; it also serves the very important function 

 of placing at the disposal of the economic and 

 scientific gardens in India and the Colonies the 

 latest facts in economic botany that may be of 

 importance to them. . 



It must be remembered that Kew is the central 

 institution of a great system of smaller institutes 

 established in every region of the Empire, and 

 that these institutes exist to further the material 

 prosperity of the countries in which they are 

 situated. The principal sources of wealth in 

 most of our foreign possessions consist for the 

 most part of vegetable products, and it is difficult 

 to overrate the importance of keeping the botani- 

 cal stations, remote as they mostly are from the 

 main channels of current scientific work, con- 

 tinually informed on relevant matters which from 

 time to time reach the great clearing-house at 

 Kew. It must be evident to everyone that any 

 action which tends to lower the efficiency of these 

 institutes of economic botany must operate in a 

 manner detrimental to the material interests of 

 the country or countries thus affected. It is 

 difficult to bp.lieve that either the India Office or 

 the Colonial Office, which are both concerned 

 with the functions that only Kew is in a position 

 effectively to discharge, can have been consulted / 

 in the matter, or, if they had been so consulted, 

 that they could have approved of a step so un- 

 sound alike on economic and financial grounds. 



Furthermore, it should not be forgotten that 

 Kew receives a good deal from other countries 

 by way of exchange for the Bulletin, which it is 

 now proposed to suspend. We understand that 

 enemy countries, although their colonial interests 

 are as nothing compared with our own, have, 

 nevertheless, not seen fit to interfere with the 

 continued publication of their own corresponding 

 journals. 



In fact, the same oflficial lack of appreciation 

 of the importancfe'of scientific inquiry and research 

 which was a matter of common knowledge 

 amongst our competitors before the war still 

 continues to sap the foundations of our recognised 

 claims to our foreign possessions, which should 

 largely rest on the encouragement of their 

 material development on sound economic, and 

 therefore, on scientific, lines. 



It is earnestly to be hoped that the action 

 apparently taken may be reconsidered before we 

 allow ourselves, as a colonial Power, to be made 

 ridiculous, and as a business people to stand com- 

 mitted to the policy of penny wise and pound 

 foolish. 



Unless we learn in time the lessons which this 

 war is enforcing on every side, namely, that the 

 way of prosperity in the future lies in promoting 

 scientific knowledge and in utilising the results 

 of scientific investigation, it will make but little 

 difference in the long run whether we win the war 

 NO. 2482, VOL. 99] 



or not. For we should assuredly lose in the far 

 more serious conflict that is certain to follow it, a 

 conflict in which the claim for. superiority will be 

 inexorably decided against any nation which re- 

 fuses to take full advantage of that knowledge 

 which is power in a sense far more real than, 

 ever before, _ J. B. F. 



CONSERVATION OF WILD LIFE IN 

 CANADA. 



TN spite of the energy with which the Canadians 

 ■*• are devoting themselves to the prosecution 

 of the war and its successful conclusion, the neces- 

 sity of conserving our natural resources is not 

 being forgotten. Not the least important of these 

 resources is the wild life of the Dominion. The 

 economic value of the wild life to the country is 

 fully realised by the Canadian Government. Oa 

 this account it is taking steps to conserve, while it 

 is still able to do so, the wild life upon which many 

 of its economic interests depend. The necessity of 

 greater protection for the species of migratory 

 birds which are important to agriculture as insect 

 destroyers was mainly responsible for the conclu- 

 sion of the recent international treaty with the 

 United States for the protection of migratory 

 birds in Canada and the United States. This 

 treaty is undoubtedly the most Important and far- 

 reaching measure ever taken in the history of bird 

 protection. The full text of the treaty and the 

 circumstances responsible for Its consummationi 

 are given in an article by the present writer In. 

 the Agricultural Gazette of Canada for December 

 last. In addition to the protection of Insectivorous 

 birds, the treaty provides that no species of migra- 

 tory wild-fowl, such as ducks, geese, or shore- 

 birds (plovers, sandpipers, etc.), shall have a longer 

 open season than three and a half months, and 

 the open seasons are so restricted as to prevent 

 the killing of the birds in the breeding season. 

 Close seasons for periods of several years are 

 provided for certain species of birds the continued 

 existence of which has l>ecome seriously menaced. 

 In the north-west- territories the fur-bearing 

 animals and such larger animals as the barren- 

 ground caribou and musk-ox constitute the only 

 available natural resources, and the existence of 

 the present and future populations of large por- 

 tions of that unorganised territory largely depends 

 on the presence of such wild life. Steps are there- 

 fore being taken to ensure the conservation of the 

 northern wild life by improved legislation. In 

 order that this problem may be carefully studied 

 with a view to the adoption of an adequate policy 

 for the protection and use of the wild-life resources 

 of the country, the Canadian Government has 

 recently appointed an inter-departmental Advisory 

 Board on Wild Life Protection, consisting of the 

 following : — Mr. James White, Assistant to the 

 Chairman of the Commission of Conservation 

 (chairman) ; Mr. D. C. Scott, Deputy-Superin- 

 tendent of Indian Affairs ; Mr. J. " B. Harkin, 

 Commissioner of Dominion Parks ; Dr. R. M. 

 Anderson, in charge of mammals in the National 



