1909.] International Agricultural Institute. 275 



tains a report by Sir Thomas H. Elliott, K.C.B., who was 

 one of the British delegates to the General Assembly of the 

 Institute, together with the correspondence which has passed 

 between the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries and the 

 Foreign Office on the subject.* 



By the munificence of His Majesty the King of Italy, a 

 beautiful building has been erected for the purposes of the 

 Institute in the grounds of the Villa Umberto I., formerly 

 the Villa Borghese. This building contains large rooms for 

 meetings in the central portion, while the wings contain the 

 offices, library, and the rooms which will be occupied by the 

 foreign delegates. It was opened by His Majesty in person on 

 23rd May, 1908, and subsequently the Permanent Committee 

 held several meetings at which the work of the Institute was 

 discussed, and various sub-committees were appointed. 



The first meeting of the General Assembly was held on 

 November 27th, and of 91 delegates who had been appointed 

 by their respective Governments 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 Excel- 

 lency 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 organisation 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) Administration, (2) Statistics and Technical Informa- 

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



At the conclusion of the meetings of the Permanent Com- 

 mittee, Sir Thomas Elliott intimated that it had been decided 

 that he should retire from the Committee, and that for- the 

 present and pending a definitive decision as to the manner 

 in which this country should be represented on the Com- 

 mittee, his place would be taken by Mr. Percy C. 

 Wyndham, Councillor of the British Embassy at Rome. 



* Further Papers and Correspondence relative to the International Agricultural 

 Institute. [Cd. 4727.] Price"9^. 



