Jiiliiailion 107 



Colonies and our Protectorates and Dependencies with a 

 view to increasing their output of raw materials and food- 

 stuffs), " I would put to my Right Honourable friend (the 

 Colonial Secretary) the necessity of this Royal Commission 

 incjuiry into whether the capacity of our Dependencies to 

 produce could not be enormously increased by f^irther 

 provision for research. I do not for a moment deny that 

 very good work is being done both in East Africa and 

 West Africa, and also in the West Indies by their Agricul- 

 tural Departments, but it would be of enormous benefit to 

 our Colonial Empire if we were to spend more money on 

 research. We want two agricultnyal colleges — one in the West 

 and one in the EasV — first of all for the stimulation of 

 research ; secondly, to train young Englishmen to go out 

 to our Crown Colonies and to settle down as producers 

 themselves; and thirdly, to train a large staff of young 

 Englishmen who could go out and act as agricultural 

 instructors, and who could in turn educate the natives. 

 I do most strongly urge that research is the basis of all 

 progress in agriculture, whether it is at home or in Africa 

 or India. The House will be interested to hear of the 

 enormous progress that has been made, for instance, in 

 India in this respect. In igoi Lord Curzon established a 

 college of research, and it is interesting to note that he 

 was enabled to do so by the aid of Mr. Phipps, a citizen of 

 Chicago, who gave ^30,000 towards it. Already the official 

 report says that the value of the agricultural products of 

 India has been thereby increased by over ;^3,ooo,ooo. A 

 great' scientist, Mr. Howard, and his wife discovered a new 

 wheat which was rust-proof and strong in its strain, with 

 the consequence that the production per acre has increased 

 by Rs. 16, and it is estimated that the agricultural wealth 

 of India will be increased through this by ^5,000,000 a 

 year.^ It is the same with regard to cotton. Wonderful 

 work has been done in fixing seeds of native kinds and 

 producing cotton for the use of the Lancashire market. 

 If we are going to develop our resources properly, the first 

 thing we should do is to spend money upon research. I 

 have given proof of the wonderful increase of production 



' The italics are oiuf;. This i.s, we believe, the first time that a request 

 for these two colleges has been matle in the House of Commons — at any 

 rate, that their foundation has been asked for so plainly and emphatically. 



' And yet we wonder how many people in the United Kingdom have 

 ■even heard of Albert and Gabrielle Howard, and know that Pusa, when 

 we speak of it, is in India. 



