o 
Mr. Long approached the Treasury in the matter, and the Lords Commissioners 
agreed to place on the estimates of the United Kingdom a grant for the assistance of 
the poorer Colonies and Protectorates in conducting the necessary researches. 
Instalments of the funds for this purpose have since been voted by Parliament. The 
conditions of the grant have been slightly varied from their original form. The 
present intention is that Parliament shall be asked to vote a sum of £100,000 in all. 
£1,000 has been voted for 1919/20 and £10,000 for 1920/21. The vote proposed in 
1921 /22 will be £10,000, and those proposed in subsequent years are not to exceed 
£20,000 each. 
Conditions of the Grant .—The grant is made on the understanding that, in the 
administration of the funds, the Secretary of State will utilise, as far as possible, 
the services of existing agencies, and will co-operate with such bodies as the Imperial 
Mineral Resources Bureau and the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. 
It is contemplated that the expenditure should proceed on the lines of supplementing, 
where necessary, the funds of the Colonial or Protectorate Governments immediately 
concerned, and that, when practicable, conditions should be imposed in order that 
expenditure on researches which produce results of economic value may be recovered 
from the industries which benefit by them. It was agreed that the Treasury should 
not be asked to sanction expenditure in addition to the proposed grant for anv 
purpose falling within its scope, and that care should be taken to avoid any duplica¬ 
tion of work or conflict of policy with bodies subsidised from public funds for 
assisting in or advising upon the economic development of the Empire. It was also 
agreed that, if any part of the grant were devoted to research into disease, it was 
desirable that the co-operation of the Medical Research Council should be secured. 
It was arranged that a report on the utilisation of the grant should be presented 
annually to Parliament.. 
The Colonial Research Committee .—.The Secretary of State decided to entrust 
the administration of the grant to a Committee, which took the name of the Colonial 
Research Committee. The first Chairman was the Right Honourable Austen 
Chamberlain, M.P., who resigned his post upon his appointment to be Chancellor 
of the Exchequer and never actually took up the duties. He was succeeded as 
Chairman by Mr. (now Sir Halford) Mackinder, M.P. The other members of the 
Committee are now, and have been from its inception, the two Assistant Fnder- 
Secretaries of State who deal with the Colonies and Protectorates, Sn Herbert Read 
and Mr G E A. Grindle; and a representative of the Department of Industrial 
Research Sir Frank Heath, the Secretary of that Department, is its representative, 
but Mr. Abbott, one of the Assistant Secretaries, has acted on several occasions as 
deputy for Sir Frank Heath. 
Policy and Methods .—At its first meeting, on the 10th of April 1919 the Com¬ 
mittee considered the general question of the policy and methods which they would 
adopt. It appeared to the Committee that their activities might ordinarily be 
employed in three ways :— 
' (1) By the employment of officers to conduct investigations under the super¬ 
vision of the Committee. ,01 1 1 i 
(2) By grants in aid of Colonial revenues or other funds, to be expended. 
usually by Colonial Governments, upon researches which had been 
approved "by the Committee. . . 
(3) In the case of Colonies whose financial position was such that they were 
themselves able to defray the necessary expenses, the Committee would 
endeavour to encourage research by means or enquiries, information 
and suggestions. 
As a preliminary step, the Committee decided to recommend that despatches 
should be sent to all the Colonies and Protectorates drawing attention to the need 
for a review of the activities carried on by, or on behalf of, the Colonial or Protec¬ 
torate Governments in scientific research and economic exploration and for the 
consideration of all promising schemes either for new work of this description, or 
for addin" to or widening the scope of work already in progress In the case c 
Colonies and Protectorates which are likely to be eligible for participation m the 
research grant, particulars of the grant, were added, with a request hat the C niu 
Administering the Government should send any proposals which he would wish to 
be laid before the Committee in connection with the grant. These despatches are 
reprinted in Appendix I. 
(31368-2) Wt. 28272-571 2000 2/21 H. St. G. 1 
gf ■•£«/$ 
