209 
for a period of two months from the time they first got to Penang 
until they reached their destinations,* during which time their 
quarantine charges were accumulating. 
Agricultural Department. 
The Department of Agriculture which should be of much use to 
the planting industry is slowly developing, but up to the present 
only one trained expert has been available viz: the’ Director, and he 
has to deal with all the routine of the Department as well as the 
important branch of such a Department's^work, the giving of advice 
as to the treatment of disease in plants and the prevention of its 
occurrence. Mr. Carruthers cannot be expected to.deal with the 
whole work of the Agricultural Department and at the same time 
visit the many estates where his advice on these questions would be 
of value. 
Your Committee is glad to learn that an assistant has been 
appointed who will devote himself chiefly to investigations of plant 
diseases and their prevention and cure,. The addition of an Ento- 
mologist and Chemist to the Agricultural Department promised by 
His Excellency the High Commissioner more than a year ago has 
not been effected, but an Entomologist and Chemist have been 
appointed attached to the Institute for Medical Research and their 
time is partly available for agricultural investigation. In a country 
where insect pests are so rife and multiply so rapidly there is more 
than work for one Entomologist in studyir^ the life history of 
diseases of cultivated plants. 
Considering the monetary value of such work, the Association 
regrets that Government do not see their way to allow the whole 
time of the Entomologist to be devoted to it. 
Requests for the services of the Entomologist to work at outbreaks 
of disease on estates have been refused as’ that gentleman was 
occupied with work of another character. 
Agriculture both European and Native in these States is 
profitable, and is a source of large revenue to Government, and the 
Department which controls and h$lps agriculture should be 
properly equipped for its work, and the Association takes this 
opportunity of respectfully urging on Government, that the 
scheme under which the Department was created should bd carried 
out and the Scientific Officials necessary should be appointed. 
The Department has as far as was possible carried on useful 
work in the direction of experiments for the manufacture of jCarbon 
Bisulphide to exterminate white ants, eradication of lalang by 
means of spraying, growing of camphor cuttings to use for catch 
crops, as well as by giving information and advice in answer to a 
large number of queries. 
At the Experimental Station in Kuala Lumpur there are a con- 
siderable number of 8-year old rubber trees, and your Association 
looks forward to many interesting additions to knowledge in tap- 
ping and curing when the laboratories of the Department are 
