512 TBANSACTIONS OF SECTION B. 



material required by the manufacturer is now generally recognised, and very con- 

 siderable progress has been made in recent years. The tea produced in India and 

 Ceylon has largely superseded the China tea formerly used in this country. 

 Similarly, cotfee is extensively grown in India, in the West Indies, and in several 

 of our African Possessions. The jute cultivation in India has been very success- 

 ful, and the demand for this fibre is so great that the question of its cultivation in 

 our West African Colonies is now under consideration. Indiarubber, hitherto 

 chiefly obtained from South America, is of increasing importance as a commercial 

 article, and the South American tree has been introduced with success in Ceylon, 

 the Straits Settlements, and the Federated Malay States, which are rapidly 

 becoming important rubber-producing countries whose produce is competing suc- 

 cessfully with that of South America. The cultivation of cotton, hitherto 

 principally carried on in the United States, is being vigorously proceeded with in 

 India, the West Indies, and in West Africa, as well as in Egypt and the Sudan, 

 and we may look forward in the future to these countries supplying the British 

 manufacturer with a large proportion, if not the whole, of the cotton he requires. 



There are, however, vast resources, both mineral and vegetable, in our Colonies 

 and Protectorates which are awaiting development for an exact knowledge of 

 their composition and properties, which can only be ascertained by scientific 

 means and chiefly through chemical investigation, whilst the Uritish manufacturer 

 is in need of increased and better supplies of the raw materials on which his 

 industrial activity depends. This demand for increased supplies now affects nearly 

 every industry in this country. Rubber and fibres are well-known examples ; oils 

 and fats for the manufacture of soap and perfumes ; and tanning materials, as well 

 as numerous minerals, are other instances in which our manufacturers are at 

 present anxious to discover new sources of supply. These sources can only 

 be discovered and their value ascertained by properly directed scientific investi- 

 gations. 



Wc have heard much recently respecting the assistance which science can 

 bring to the maintenance and development of the industrial efliciency of this 

 country, and the Imperial Government is being urged to give its help especially 

 by providing increased facilities for the education of scientific men, competent to 

 aid the manufacturers of this country in improving their methods and processes. 

 In this work the science of chemistry is one of the most important. There is 

 scarcely an industry to which it is not able to render immense service. Within 

 recent years this fact has slowly gained recognition, and the principle of State 

 assistance to industry is virtually admitted, both in respect of education and of 

 research. The most conspicuous examples of a recognition of the principle are the 

 grants made from the National Treasury to the new Technological College at South 

 Kensington and to the National Physical Laboratory. 



Not less important than the service which science can render to existing 

 industries and their extension is that which it can contribute to the Imperial 

 problem of ascertaining and rendering available for the manufacturer the vast 

 undeveloped resources of our own Possessions. Our own experience and the 

 example of other countries have shown that such work cannot be systematically 

 carried on by private enterprise. Upon its successful accomplishment depends, not 

 only the unrestricted supply of the necessary raw materials for which the manu- 

 facturer looks in increasing-quantity, but also the prosperity of the country which 

 produces these materials. This success can only be brought about by a combined 

 effort on the part of the manufacturer and of the Government. The manufacturer 

 can provide information as to the materials he needs. The preliminary work of 

 discovering suitable material by scientific means, as several foreign Governments 

 have already recognised, must be endowed, directed, and carried on with Imperial 

 funds. It cannot be expected that private enterprise will take steps to explore the 

 resources of little-known countries on the chance of a particular material being 

 discovered, nor can the work, as a rule, be successfully done by this means. 

 Experience shows that the most eflPective manner of promoting the commercial 

 development of a new country is for the Government to carry out systematically 

 with its own officers the preliminary work of exploration and examination of the 



