THE TRUE TEMPER OP EMPIRE. 



305 



co-operating with Kew and the agricultural and forest depart- 

 ments of the colonies and India were well explained by the 

 Director, Professor Wyndham Dunstan, in his presidential 

 address to the British Association in 1907. The main object 

 of the Institute is to promote the utilisation of the commercial 

 and industrial resources of the Empire, especially of India and 

 the colonies, by the collection, exhibition, and description of the 

 products of its component parts, and by scientific, technical and 

 commercial investigation and trial of their uses. The Institute 

 has thus two principal branches or departments, the Department 

 of Exhibition for purposes of illustrating the present position 

 of the colonies and India in every aspect, as well as for scientific 

 and commercial reference, and the Scientific and Technical 

 Department for the conduct of investigations and the supply 

 of special information. The Institute now has a considerable 

 but insufficient staff of experts at work in these two depart- 

 ments. 



In the Department of Exhibition new and important methods 

 of displaying and describing the permanent colonial and Indian 

 collections have been constantly adopted with a view to making 

 them an adequate and intelligible representation of the resources 

 of the Empire, of value alike for educational and commercial 

 purposes. 



The methods of the Scientific and Technical Department of 

 the Institute may be briefly described. It ascertains, at first 

 through chemical investigation in its laboratories, the composi- 

 tion of every natural product of the Empire referred to it. The 

 results are submitted to some of the principal manufacturers in 

 this country, who assist in determining the technical value of the 

 materials investigated ; and finally, eminent merchants and 

 brokers report on their commercial value in the light of the 

 scientific investigation and technical trials. These methods for 

 determining the uses and market value of the products are 

 supplemented by surveys and investigations conducted in the 

 colonies by qualified experts acting under the supervision of 

 the Director of the Institute in order to ascertain the capacities 

 of the colonies or areas of origin. It is, in short, an expert 

 agency for gauging the value of the raw materials of our vast 

 possessions and advising on their utilisation. The staff consists 

 of men who have been scientifically trained with special reference 

 to the numerous branches of this work. 



The Scientific and Technical Department is now working in 

 co-operation with the Agricultural and Mines Departments in 

 the colonies. It supplements their operations by undertaking 



