390 
The Presipent: The committee would report to the Inter- 
national Association, and its report would be printed for 
circulation among the members of the Association. Or, if it 
is judged desirable, if would be made as a report for adoption 
at the next International Congress. The reason for making 
the inquiry, as I understand it, is that it is thought that some 
consideration should be given to the question of the applic- 
ability of this Convention to tropical countries very few of 
which were concerned in drafting it. 
Sir Davip Prain: Then it would be necessary, I presume, 
for a resolution to be submitted to the Government of this 
country, and probably at an early date, because, so far 
as I understand the position, it is this—the Convention 
has been arrived at by a properly constituted conference of 
delegates representing various countries invited to attend, and 
the conference, having come to the conclusions which are 
embodied in that Convention, have presented those conclusions 
to their various Governments in such form that the Govern- 
ments concerned must either accept the Convention as a whole, 
or they must put it aside as a whole. Any suggestiom such as 
is made in this resolution seems to indicate that it is possible 
that that Convention can be modified. I do not think that it 
is possible for the Convention to be modified. I simply wish 
to call the attention of the meeting to that point before a vote 
is taken. 
The Prestpent: I do not think that consideration should 
affect our action, because in any case it is very desirable that 
it should be stated on good authority, if it is true, that the 
Convention, whether officially adopted or not, is not applicable 
to all tropical countries. This committee would not in any 
sense be an official committee; it would be a committee 
appointed by the Congress to add to our knowledge, and 
would not in any way conflict with any action that the Govern- 
ments affected by the Convention might deem it desirable 
to take. 
Sir Davip Prarn: Still, do you not think it a very good 
thing that the representatives of tropical agriculture should 
empower you, as President of the Congress, to transmit a 
copy of the resolution to the Government ? 
The Presipent: When the report is made it will still have 
to be considered, and if approved, adopted by the. International 
Association. It will then be a question whether it should be 
transmitted to the Governménts concerned and also to the 
International Agricultural Institute at Rome. But I do not 
think it is necessary at this stage that the committee should 
be instructed to send its report in any particular direction. It 
is for this meeting to decide what shall be done with the 
resolution it is now asked to pass. 
