Aucust 17, 1899] 
reserve rooms for members of the Association, and have 
only partially succeeded. Dover being a sea-side resort, 
there has been a natural dislike ‘on the part of owners of 
hotels and lodgings to offer to disturb those visitors who 
may possibly have come for a longer stay for the sake of 
members of the Association who may only wish to spend 
a week or so. There will, however, be accommodation 
available in Deal, Canterbury and Folkestone for those 
who cannot find rooms in Dover. It will be well, how- 
ever, that intending visitors to the Dover Meeting should 
inform the local secretaries (E. Wollaston Knocker, C.B., 
and W. H. Pendlebury, M.A., Castle Hill House, Dover) 
of their intention, so that approximately the amount of 
extra accommodation may be known. 
It has been usually the case that the secretaries of the 
various sections are accommodated at the same hotel to 
facilitate sectional arrangements. This year the Hos- 
pitality Committee has been able to arrange with the 
Head Masters and House Masters of Dover College to 
entertain the secretaries in the various boarding houses. 
Unfortunately, the accommodation is limited to the rooms 
usually occupied by the boys (each of whom has a 
separate bedroom to himself), so that it is impossible to 
take in secretaries accompanied by their wives. There 
will be a few other guests entertained by the Local Com- 
mittee under the same conditions. The Masters of the 
various houses will act as hosts on behalf of the Hos- 
pitality Committee, and will look after the comfort of their 
guests. The College Masters will also give the first of 
the larger garden parties on Thursday, September 14. 
The Rey. J. N. Bacon has kindly undertaken to make a 
balloon ascent with objects similar to those which induced 
him to make an ascent at the Clifton College garden 
party. The situation of Dover with regard to the sea 
will doubtless add to the interest of such an ascent. 
Lord Northbourne and Lord George Hamilton have 
kindly consented to allow members of the Association to 
inspect Betteshanger Park and Deal Castle respectively. 
Owing to the fact that two of the days usually given up 
to excursions are required for the visit of the French 
Association to Dover and the return visit of the British 
Association to Boulogne, the number of excursions ar- 
ranged for will be smaller than usual. The geologists 
and anthropologists have arranged a number of smaller 
excursions for the afternoons as usual, and these will, of 
course, not be interfered with. On the last day of the 
meeting (Wednesday) the Association is invited by the 
Dean and Chapter and Mayor and Corporation of 
Canterbury to pay a visit to that city to meet 200 
members of the French Association, who will have 
previously been entertained to luncheon there. The 
Mayor and Corporation will entertain the British Asso- 
ciation to tea. On the following day (Thursday) an 
excursion has been arranged to Rochester and Chatham 
Dockyard for those who do not care to go over to 
Boulogne. An opportunity will be given to visit the 
Agricultural College at Wye, near Ashford, which has 
been so successfully started by the County Councils of 
Kent and Surrey. The Principal, Mr. A. D. Hall, has 
invited members of the Association to pay the College a 
visit and inspect the experimental stations. It may be 
well to recall the fact that Wye College is especially in- 
cluded in the new University of London, though con- 
siderably outside the limit. For those members of the 
Association who visit Boulogne a most interesting pro- 
gramme has been arranged on the lines laid down in a 
former article(p. 181). The luncheon will be given by the 
civic authorities. The French Government has taken a 
great amount of interest in the gathering, and it is very 
likely that some prominent French statesman will attend 
to welcome the British Association in the name of the 
Government. In such case it is very likely that a similar 
compliment will be paid to the French Association on 
their visit to Dover. The French Government has also 
NO. 1555, VOL. 60] 
NATIURE 
371 
given instructions to the various Mayors and Prefects of 
the districts, through which the British Association will 
pass, in the five days’ excursion at the conclusion of the 
meeting, to take official notice of the tour. The motor- 
car exhibition arranged by the Mayor of Dover for the 
Tuesday afternoon has been declared by the Board of 
Trade an international exhibition, so that no patents will 
be invalidated by premature disclosure at the Dover 
show. The French Association intends to give a con- 
siderable amount of attention to the automobile. 
The Mayor of Dover will give a conversazione in the 
Town Hall and a garden party in the Connaught Park in 
addition to the reception at the motor-car exhibition. 
The programme of local arrangements will be com- 
pleted in a few days, and it will then be possible to- 
make a fuller statement of the entertainments prepared 
for those members of the British Association who may 
visit Dover. W. H. PENDLEBURY. 
“THE WEST INDIAN BULLETIN.” 
I? was on August 2 of last year that Mr. Chamberlain: 
announced in the House of Commons the decision of 
the Government, based on the recommendations of the 
West India Royal Commissioners, to create a special 
Department of Agriculture for the distressed Colonies, to 
be presided over by Dr. Morris, of Kew Gardens, who 
had acted as scientific adviser to the Commissioners. 
Immediately the proposals were sanctioned by. Parli- 
ament, active steps were taken to vigorously carry out the 
scheme. By the middle of September Dr. Morris had 
left for Barbados, which had been selected as the head- 
quarters of the new establishment, and tours were at 
once undertaken to ascertain the requirements of the 
several islands. The result was the organising of a con- 
ference of the authorities on agricultural matters in the 
West Indian Colonies, each island sending delegates to- 
attend the meetings, which were held, under the presi- 
dency of Dr. Morris at Barbados, in January last. On 
the first anniversary of the day on which the Colonial 
Secretary publicly set the scheme in motion there arrived 
in this country the first number of the West Indian 
Bulletin, the journal of the Imperial Agricultural Depart- 
ment for the West Indies, a publication which it is 
intended to supply [gratis to all residents in the islands 
who ask for it. Its prototype is, naturally, the Aezw 
Bulletin, but apparently it will not be issued at regular 
monthly intervals, only as occasion may require. The 
first part is a double number of 141 pages, devoted 
almost wholly to the proceedings at the agricultural 
conference of January already referred to, the subejcts 
dealt with being primarily of interest to the Colonists. 
In addition to the presidential address, dealing generally 
with the objects of the new Department, there were 
papers by Prof. d’Albuquerque on “Sugar-cane manurial 
experiments,” and “ The teaching of agricultural science 
at colleges”; by Mr. Bovell on the “ Field treatment of the 
diseases of thesugar-cane,” and the “Costof growing sugar- 
canes in Barbados”; by Mr. Fawcett on “ Agricultural 
instruction in agricultural schools in Jamaica,” ‘“ Practical 
field instruction in Jamaica,” and “The prevention of the 
introduction and spread of fungoid and insect pests in 
the West Indies”; by Mr. Francis Watts on ‘“ Central 
factories,” Mr. William Douglas also dealing with the 
same subject. The Rev. William Simms _ discussed 
“ Asricultural education”; Dr. Alford Nicholls, C.M.G., 
“Suggestions for agricultural development in the Lee- 
ward Islands”; Mr. Hart, ‘‘ Improvement in agricultural 
methods in the West Indies”; and Prof. Carmody made 
“Brief suggestions on Colonial industries.” The bare 
recital of the titles of the papers will show what a wide 
field of investigation and action was opened out, and it 
behoves all who are interested in the future welfare of 
