240 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES. 



On the other hand, we have Mr. Speyer stating in Nature, January 12, 

 1929, with reference to the manufacture of nitrogen fertilisers from the air, 

 that if the nitrogen supply which is in prospect by 1931 were applied to 

 the main crops of Europe at the rate of -8 cwt. per acre, the population at 

 that date would not consume more than half of the extra food which would 

 thus be available. We have also Professor Stewart, formerly of the 

 Minnesota Agricultural College, asserting that since 1850 machine farming 

 developments have released approximately twenty-seven million workers 

 from agriculture. He also states that with two-horse machinery forty 

 hours of labour were required to grow a crop of maize, but now with modern 

 machinery less than four hours of man labour per acre are required. 



Whatever may be the significance of these opinions or the ultimate 

 value of these statements, one thing certain is that the development of the 

 agricultural resources of the Empire is of the first importance. 



The Opportunity. 



We have the only system of government in the world that can link up 

 research in countries with all kinds of soils and climates. We have the 

 finest and most varied laboratory in the world. We have the nucleus of 

 an organisation and we have the opportunity. 



Within the Empire is the Empire's greatest market for agricultural 

 produce and the Empire's greatest source of supply. The development 

 of agriculture would have an enormous influence in the development of 

 Empire trade. Co-operation in research leads to better understanding 

 between the Dominions, the Colonies, and the Mother Country. Con- 

 ferences of research workers and administrators lead to the discovery of 

 common aims and ideals, as was shown in the Conference of 1927, and the 

 pursuit of common aims is one of the most enduring of ties. But the 

 scientific man knows no boundaries ; he is one of the few real inter- 

 nationahsts in the world to-day ; the knowledge he obtains is subject to 

 no tariff, receives no bounty, is freely exchangeable throughout the world. 

 As a scientific man — if he is within the British Empire — he may engage in 

 the solution of larger problems than probably any other unit can provide. 



And what may be the end of his research ? One may speculate, but 

 the end should surely include an orderliness, a co-ordination of parts, and 

 a relationship of functions which should make for greater prosperity and 

 for greater stabiUty and freedom from temporary over- or under-pro- 

 duction of agricultural commodities. It is not suggested that the exchange 

 of commodities should be intra-imperial. Even if that were desirable it is 

 not possible. The trade of the Empire is shared almost equally between 

 the Dominions and foreign countries. (See Table VI.) It is not that the 

 Empire may be a self-contained and self-supporting quarter of the globe 

 that I make these suggestions. To succeed in such an aim would be to 

 end nowhere or to end in destruction. I make these suggestions because 

 the nations which make up the British Empire form a pohtical body which 

 faces an opportunity open to no other sj^stem of governments in the world. 

 This opportunity is the possibility that by taking thought and by organis- 

 ing the acquisition and the application of knowledge, the wealth of the 

 Empire can be greatly increased, and thereby, and necessarily, the wealth 

 of the rest of the world will be increased also. It is a far cry to an organised 



