September, 1909.] 



259 



Miscellaneous, 



The first meeting of the General 

 Assembly was held on November 27th, 

 and of ninety-one delegates who had 

 been appointed by their respective Gov- 

 ernments, nearly all were present. His 

 Excellency Signor Tittoni, the Italian 

 Minister for Foreign Affairs, was elected 

 President, and the Hon. Sydney Fisher, 

 Canadian Minister of Agriculture, and 

 His Excellency M. Yermoloff, Secretary 

 of State and a Member of the Council 

 of the Russian Empire, were appointed 

 Vice-Presidents, The Statutes defining 

 the functions of the Institute were 

 settled at this meeting, and the organi- 

 sation of the Institute was completed, 



M. Louis Dop, delegate for France, was 

 elected Vice-President of the Permanent 

 Committee, which will be divided into 

 three Permanent Sub-Committees to 

 deal respectively with (1) Administra- 

 tion, (2) Statistics and Technical Infor- 

 mation, and (3) Co-operation and Labour. 



At the conclusion of the meetings of 

 the Permanent Committee, Sir Thomas 

 Elliot intimated that it had been decided 

 that he should retire from the Com- 

 mittee, and that for the present pending 

 a definitive decision as to the manner 

 in which this country should be re- 

 presented on the Committee, his place 

 would be taken by Mr. Percy C. 

 Wyndham, Councillor of the British 

 Embassy at Rome. 



The following extracts from Sir 

 Thomas Elliot's report may be quoted 

 as indicating generally the position now 

 occupied by the Institute, and the work 

 which it proposes to perform :—" The 

 magnificent generosity of His Majesty 

 the King of Italy, in the endowment of 

 the Institute, coupled with the almost 

 complete support which has been accord- 

 ed to the project by the various Powers 

 concerned, have placed the Institute in 

 a position of exceptional stability, and 

 the only question now is as to the 

 manner in which its resources can best 

 be utilised in the interests of agricul- 

 turists all the world over, within the 

 limits of the field of action defined by 

 the Convention. 



"It may be said generally that the 

 object of the Institute is to do inter- 

 nationally what the Intelligence and 

 Statistical Branches of the various State 

 Departments of Agriculture endeavour 

 with greater or less success, to do in 

 their respective countries. The work 

 of the Institute will mainly consist in 

 the collection, arrangement, co-ordina- 

 tion, and publication— with the utmost 

 despatch possible— of the material which 

 those departments can supply* This 



material differs very considerably in 

 value, in character, and in extent, and if 

 the work of the Institute is to be 

 carried out in its entirety, and with ac- 

 curacy and thoroughness, it must enlist 

 the active support and co-operation of 

 the various Governments with regard to 

 the extension, completion, and in some 

 cases the modification of their existing 

 machuiery. The task of the Institute 

 will in this respect be an exceedingly 

 difficult one, but it may be hoped that 

 through the exercise of the influence 

 of the various delegates on the Per- 

 manent Committee, obstacles may 

 gradually be overcome and the necessary 

 information obtained in gradually in- 

 creasing value and volume. Happily for 

 the immediate success of the Institute, 

 well-organised Agricultural Depart- 

 ments exist in a large proportion of the 

 countries whose agricultural position is 

 of importance, and the area from which 

 accurate information as to agricultural 

 matters can from time to time be 

 obtained will even at the outset be con- 

 siderable. 



" In this connection, I may mention 

 that the Government of Roumania, being 

 persuaded of the importance of the 

 objects of the Institute, has organised a 

 special Statistical Department for the 

 purpose of supplying to the Institute 

 all the information it requires, and that 

 the Belgium, Danish, and Hungarian 

 Governments have established depart- 

 ments for the express purpose of further- 

 ing its interests. These departments 

 Avill place themselves in communication 

 with all the various public and private 

 organisations concerned, with a view to 

 obtain information likely to be of service 

 to the Institute. 



" I had opportunities of explaining to 

 the Committee that in the opinion of 

 the Board it was essential that every 

 possible effort should be made to issue 

 information of such a character and at 

 such times, as to be of value not only to 

 the publicist, the statistician, and the 

 historian, but also, and mainly, to those 

 by whom agricultural operations are 

 actually being carried on, and to those 

 whose industry depends upon the pro- 

 duct of those operations. In this con- 

 nection I may say that during the three 

 years which have elapsed since the Con- 

 vention was signed, I have been greatly 

 impressed by the interest displayed in 

 the establishment of the Institute by 

 the International Federation of Master 

 Cotton Spinners' and Manufacturers' 

 Association, of which Mr. C. W. Macara 

 is the distinguished and trusted Presi- 

 dent, and by others, for whom at first 

 sight the woxk of the Institute would 



