SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 
5. The Committee on Commercial and Industrial Policy after the 
War drew special attention to this question of raw materials in para- 
graph 122 of their final report (Cd. 9035). Much of the existing 
deficiency can be supplied by the tropical Colonies and Protectorates 
if their great potential resources are adequately developed, and one of 
the most sure and speedy agents in such development is undoubtedly 
scientific investigation. The war has furnished a striking instance of 
the correctness of this view. One of the conspicuous examples of material 
produced to an insufficient extent within the Empire, to which the 
Committee called attention, was bauxite, the ore of aluminium. At the 
present time this country is almost entirely dependent on foreign sources 
of supply, and there is reason to apprehend that these will remain both 
costly and insufficient. Aluminium is essential to a number of British 
industries, and the position would be serious if alternative sources of 
supply had not been found within the Empire. The scientific investiga- 
tions of the Director of the Geological Survey of the Gold Coast have 
recently resulted in the discovery of a very large deposit of the mineral 
in that Colony, and it is hoped that arrangements can be made which 
will enable it to be worked on a paying basis. Valuable deposits of 
bauxite have also been found in British Guiana, and are now being 
developed. Other deposits in the same Colony are now under investiga- 
tion. If these enterprises are successful, the position of the British 
industries in question will be greatly strengthened. 
This is a solitary instance, but it is typical, and could, if necessary, 
be supported by others drawn from different parts of the Empire. There 
can indeed be no doubt that a sound and adequate scheme of scientific 
investigation would be of the utmost value in developing the resources 
of the Colonies. 
_ 6. Another example of the need of research is furnished by the 
destructive agencies of various kinds, such as animal and plant diseases, 
insect pests, &c., which are responsible at the present time for an 
" enormous amount of damage in the Colonies. Such damage can literally 
be assessed in millions of pounds. Valuable work in this sphere has 
already been done and continues to be done in many parts of the Empire, 
but there is undoubtedly great scope for extended research. Such work 
is likely to prove exceedingly fruitful, since many of these destructive 
agencies are widely distributed, and scientific discoveries which have 
been made in one Colony can often be utilized elsewhere. The scale 
on which this destruction takes place is well illustrated by a recent 
despatch from the Acting Governor of the East Africa Protectorate 
reporting that “more scientific and progressive methods must be 
adopted in dealing with stock diseases in native reserves if the future 
welfare of the stock industry is to be secured. It would be difficult to 
estimate the annual loss from the ravages of stock diseases in native 
reserves, but if it were placed at the low estimate of 12 per cent. it 
would easily represent a sum of approximately £1,000,000 per annum.” 
7. In Colonies and Protectorates whose financial resources are on a 
smaller scale than in the one under your government, there has hitherto 
often been great difficulty in finding the means to carry out investiga- 
tions in themselves very desirable. I am glad to be able to inform you 
that, for the benefit mainly of such Colonies and Protectorates, I have 
404, 
