204 



1. The minutes of the previous meeting were read and confirmed. 



2. A list of new members was read. 



3. Progress Report XVI was circulated. 



4. The Hon'ble Mr. H. Wace moved—" That the Board of Agriculture recom- 

 mends that the Government Dairy be moved from Colombo, and that experiments 

 be made at once in sterilization of milk ; that Government be asked to appoint a 

 Committee to be composed of the Government Analyst, the Director of the Bacterio- 

 logical Institute, the Government Veterinary Surgeon, and the Secretary, Ceylon 

 Agricultural Society to take steps to carry out these experiments." 



His Excellency and Dr. Fernando spoke on the motion, which was carried 

 unanimously. 



5. The Hon. Mr. John Ferguson read a paper entitled " The Ilukk Grass " of the 

 Sinhalese, and " Lalang-Lalang " of Malay ; being a paper by a Malay States planter 

 on the method adopted to get rid of grass in Sumatra with comments by Ceylon 

 coconut planters- 



Dr. Willis, Mr. Beven, Dr. Fernando and the Chairman spoke. 

 0. Mr. F. Beven read a paper on " Experiments at Talawe." 

 The Chairman, Dr. Willis, and Hon. Mr. Ferguson spoke. 



7. The Hon'ble Mr. H. C. Nicolle moved that — " Life Members of the Society 

 be elected on payment of a subscription of Rs. 50/ , such members to have no claim 

 to any refund in the event of the Society ceasing." Mr. Ward seconded and the 

 motion was carried. 



8. Dr. Willis moved "That three Agricultural Instructors— two Sinhalese 

 and one Tamil— be engaged on a salary of Rs. 40/ per month with a travelling allow- 

 ance of Rs. 4/- per diem." Mr. Daniel Joseph seconded. It was decided after some 

 remarks by Mr. Ward to omit the travelling allowance and leave this to be settled 

 subsequently by the Finance Committee. The motion so amended was carried. 



9. The Hon'ble Mr. Nicolle proposed "That the services of an Interpreter- 

 clerk be engaged on a salary of Rs. 30 per mensem." The Hon'ble Mr. H. L. Crawford 

 seconded the motion was carried. 



10. The Hon'ble Mr. John Ferguson, c.m.g., proposed :—" That the Society 

 vote a sum of Rs. 2000 per annum as remuneration to Dr. Willis, Director of the 

 Royal Botanic Gardens, for his services to the Society." 



The Hon. Mr. Nicolle seconded, and the motion was carried, 



The meeting terminated at 2 p.m. 



Agricultural Society Progress Report. XVII. 



The number of members of the Society is now 1,047, an increase of 23 

 since the last meeting. 



The proposal to elect Life Members on payment of a subscription of Rs. 50 

 was approved by the Board. The first Life Member of the Society was Framjee 

 Bhikajee & Co. 



Local Societies.— A new Society was started at Balangoda, at a largely 

 attended meeting under the presidency of the Ratemahatmaya, with a member- 

 ship of 45. 



There are now 42 Branches of the Society. Since the last meeting of the 

 Board I have visited the Branch Societies at Trincomalee and Matale. 



