Miscellaneous. 250 [April 1907. 



proposals for the protection of interests common to agriculturists, aud for the 

 improvement of their condition ; but in view of the stipulation that questions 

 touching the economic interests, the legislation and the administration of individual 

 States shall be specifically excluded from the competence of the Institute, and that 

 the subjects to be discussed by the General Assembly of the Institute are to be 

 such as are approved by the adhering Governments, it would appear that the 

 difficulties and dangers which might attend the extension of the work of the 

 Institute in this direction are sufficiently guarded against. 



" Several of the leading agricultural departments already endeavour, so far 

 as is practicable, to collect and publish information as to the agricultural production, 

 prices and the wages in the countries of the world, and the value of such informa- 

 tion is universally recognised. The extent to which it is obtained, the methods of 

 collection and of publication, differ, however, very materially, aud it may be 

 expected that the establishment of the Institute will lead to a considerable 

 extension of the area from which full information is obtained and to greater uni- 

 formity as regards the manner of its collection and presentation. 



" It was fully recognised that the utmost promptitude must be secured if 

 information of the character in question is to realize its full value, and that free use 

 mnst be made of telegraphic agencies for this purpose. 



" The Institute will, moreover, afford to agricultural departments to the 

 various agricultural societies, aud to private individuals alike, a much more ready 

 means of obtaining information as to comparative agricultural conditions in a form 

 which will enable it to be safely and conveniently used than is at present available. 

 The difficulties attending the use of technical and statistical information, given in 

 foreign official publications, or obtained as the result of special iuquiry, are well 

 known, and it will be of distinct advantage that an international body should be 

 available for reference, charged with the duty of sifting and collating such informa- 

 tion for the assistance of those concerned. 



'• The publications of the Bureau should become invaluable to students and 

 writers on agricultural subjects and to the officers of the various agricultural depart- 

 ments and societies. Those officers, with the assistance of agricultural newspapers 

 and of the Press generally, may be trusted so to utilize and make known the work of 

 the Institute as to render it of the greatest possible practical value to the cultivator. 



"The expenditure of the Institute will to a material extent be met out 

 of the resources so graciously placed at its disposal by His Majesty the King of 

 Italy. The balance of the charge remaining to be borne by the various adhering 

 powers will be comparatively small, especially if the proposals receive the unanimous 

 support of the States represented at the Conference, and if those States take a 

 liberal view of their requirements as regards the choice of the group in which they 

 will be proposed to be included. The maximum expenditure of a State adhering to 

 the Institute as a member of Group I. will be, as we have already stated £960 during 

 each of the first two years of its existence, and £1,600 subsequently. We have no 

 hesitation in expressing the hope that the necessary provision will be made to 

 enable the United Kingdom to take its share in the work of the Institute, and we 

 believe the resulting benefits will be fully commensurate with the outlay proposed." 



The Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury have agreed to the 

 adherence of this country to the Convention for the Establishment of the Institute, 

 and the Signature of His Majesty's representative at Rome was accordingly affixed 

 on the 27th February, 1906. 



The Correspondence on the subject, together with the Report of the British 

 delegates and the Minutes of the Proceedings at the International Coference, have 

 been published as a Parliamentary Paper. (Cd. 2958. Price Is. 7d.). — Journal of the 

 Board of Agriculture. Vol. XIII., No. 3, June, 1906, pp. 129-134. 



