T

NOTE ON THE WORK OF THE BOARD.

HE EMPIRE MARKETING BOARD, of which the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs is Chairman, was constituted in May, 1926, upon the recommendation of the Imperial Economic Committee, for "furthering the marketing in this country of Empire products." The cost of Empire Marketing Services is met from the Empire Marketing Fund (Class II, 6), which is now also available for defraying the cost of the Imperial Economic Committee and of any investigations undertaken, with a view to the development of inter-Imperial trade, by His Majesty's Government in consultation with one or more of the Governments of other parts of the Empire. Expenditure out of the grant is made on the sole authority of the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs. It will be accounted for in detail to the Comptroller and Auditor-General, and an account of receipts and payments will be appended to the appropriation account of the Empire Marketing Fund Grant-in-Aid.

Expenditure in the financial year 1926, brought to account at 31st March, 1927, amounted to about £103,000, of which some £67,000 was in connection with publicity and £22,000 in connection with research grants. It will be appreciated, however, that in making grants for research and investigation it is necessary in most cases to approve programmes extending over a period of years. The Board have in no case promised funds for periods in excess of five years, and then only subject to the condition that funds are made available by Parliament.

The sum voted by Parliament for the financial year 1926 was £500,000, and H.M. Government have promised that the amount of the grant-in-aid for the present and future financial years will be £1,000,000. As the grant-in-aid is non-surrenderable, the income not spent in any year can be reserved for employment in future years.

The Imperial Economic Committee expressed the view that the policy of the Board should be to stimulate the marketing in this country, firstly of home produce and, secondly, of the produce of the Empire overseas.

The work of the Board has fallen into four broad divisions:(A) The making of grants for scientific research into problems of production and marketing.

(B) The initiation and development of economic investigation and intelligence.

(C) Other schemes for the encouragement of production and

marketing.

(D) A publicity and educational campaign.

The Board has been largely guided by the Reports of the Imperial Economic Committee. That body has so far produced one General Report (Cmd. 2493) and three special Reports, on Fruit (Cmd. 2658), Meat (Cmd. 2499), and Dairy Produce (Cmd. 2725); research on problems affecting fruit, dairy produce, cold storage, and animal husbandry has consequently received special emphasis.

Further, the Board has sought to carry out the injunction that its funds should be disbursed through existing channels. The Research Grants Committee of the Board has dealt with a series of particular scientific problems, allocating them to the Departments or scientific institutions best fitted to explore them. Details of the grants made and promised are shown in the Appendix.

1. TROPICAL AND

SUB-TROPICAL

RESEARCH STATIONS.

AGRICULTURAL

With the increasing demand for tropical products, tropical and sub-tropical agricultural research becomes a matter of increasing significance to Empire trade. The key to important developments in this field lies in the establishment of a chain of research stations, and a grant has already been made on the recommendation of the Imperial Economic Committee to the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture, Trinidad. In this case the grant from the Fund has been matched by a contribution from the funds of the Empire Cotton Growing Corporation.

The reorganisation of the Amani Institute, Tanganyika, a pre-war German research station, is being taken in hand by the East African Governments and a grant towards the maintenance expenditure in the first years of its rehabilitation has been promised.

A further link in the chain of research stations has been the subject of preliminary discussion. The Commonwealth Government are contemplating the establishment of a Tropical Research Station in Northern Australia, and the Board have provisionally agreed to make a grant towards the capital cost of this station.

2. LOW TEMPERATURE RESEARCH.

The Imperial Economic Committee laid emphasis upon the economic importance in present circumstances of the various problems of cold storage, as affecting fruit, meat, and dairy produce. A grant has been promised towards the capital cost of extensions to the Low Temperature Research Station, Cambridge, and the increased maintenance charges resulting from the extension. Provisional approval has been given to a scheme for the erection of a new station at East Malling, Kent, for cold storage experiments on a semi-commercial scale. A grant has also been promised for exploring certain problems of fish transport. These items are financially administered by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (Estimates Class VI, 14, sub-heads C. 5 and F.).

The possibility of controlling ravages of insect pests upon crops by the artificial introduction of parasitic insects, their natural enemies, has received in recent years the special attention of agricultural entomologists. With the aid of a grant from the Fund, an entomological laboratory has been established, under the auspices of the Imperial Bureau of Entomology, for the purpose of producing for export under proper safeguards numbers of these beneficial parasites.

A grant, matched by contributions from the Government of New Zealand and the Cawthron Institute, has been made for work in a like field at the Cawthron Institute, New Zealand, viz., a study of the technique of the control of noxious weeds by parasites, as illustrated by the particular case of the blackberry in that country.

An investigation, financed by the Fund and the Commonwealth Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, has been carried out, by an officer of the Imperial Bureau, on the problem of insects in dried fruit.

An endowment has been promised towards the establishment of an Institute of Entomology at the University of Cambridge.

4. ANIMAL HUSBANDRY: PASTURE AND STOCK-REARING INVESTIGATIONS.

On the advice of the Committee of Civil Research, a grant has been made to further the study of those causes which, in widely separated pastoral areas of the Empire, underlie persistent symptoms of malnutrition amongst flocks and herds. The investigation is based upon the Rowett Institute, Aberdeen, already studying the problem as affecting the heavy mortality amongst sheep in Western Scotland. The financial administration of the work at the Rowett Institute is undertaken by the Board of Agriculture for Scotland (Estimates 1927, Class VI, 16, sub-heads A, M. 6 and P.). Intensive field work is now in progress in Kenya Colony, together. with a closely related research on native dietetics. Linked investiga-. tions of the same problem are being undertaken at the Waite Institute in Australia financed by the Fund, the Commonwealth Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and Adelaide University; and in New Zealand financed by the Fund and the New Zealand Government. An investigation of stock-rearing problems in Palestine is being financed by the Fund and the Zionist Organisation. Interchange of workers, correlation of scientific reports, and general co-ordination by the Rowett Institute make possible a concentrated effort towards the solution of a problem affecting vitally the Empire's stock raising, and open the way to an increase in the carrying capacity of the Empire's grasslands.

Faculty of Agriculture, Cambridge. Subject to the provision of substantial funds from other sources, a capital and maintenance grant has been promised to the Faculty of Agriculture, Cambridge, to develop research into certain problems of animal growth and reproduction.

University of Edinburgh.-A grant towards the endowment fund for the maintenance of a Chair of Genetics and the extension of the Animal Breeding Department at the University of Edinburgh has been promised, subject to the provision of large sums from other

sources.

6. ECONOMIC BOTANY, KEW.

A grant has been made available in order to provide additional workers at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, to free the staff for certain investigations on behalf of the Board and to provide for travelling botanists who will visit various parts of the Empire for the collection of plants of economic importance. The grant is administered by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (Estimates 1927, Class VI, 8, sub-heads M. 1, M. 4, and P.).

7. FRUIT GROWING.

Investigations of great interest to Empire fruit growers are being carried out at East Malling Fruit Research Station on the principles underlying stock and scion relationship in fruit trees and the standardisation of root stocks. A grant has been promised for this work and will be administered by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.

Investigations into the keeping quality of fruit and its relation. to the nutrition of the tree and to soil conditions are in progress at the Long Ashton Horticultural Research Station. A grant has been approved for this work, and will be administered by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.

On the advice of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, a grant has been made available for research at the Cheshunt Experimental and Research Station into certain horticultural problems of interest to more than one part of the Empire, viz., (1) Control of red spider, (2) Distribution of a chalcid parasite of white fly, (3) Control of cladosporium (tomato disease), and (4) Mosaic disease. The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries is responsible for the administration of the grant.

On the application of the Governing Body of the Imperial College, Trinidad, a grant has been made available for a piece of research on the problem of producing a banana immune from Panama disease, with a concomitant enquiry into the question of cold storage and transport. Seedling bananas are being produced at Kew Gardens and sent to the College for development.

Certain faults which occur in imported Empire dairy produce are being investigated at the National Institute of Research in Dairying, Reading, with the aid of a grant from the Fund, viz., (1) Red spot in cheese, (2) "Fishiness" in dairy products.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries is responsible for the administration of the grant.

Two schemes are in progress in Scotland

(1) Studies in milk feeding in schools; these are under the control of the Scottish Board of Health.

(2) Utilisation of milk residues; preliminary investigations are being made under the control of the Board of Agriculture for Scotland.

A survey of dairy research is being carried out under the joint auspices of the Board and the Board of Agriculture for Scotland.

9. VITAMINS IN FRUIT AND DAIRY PRODUCE.

In the Dairy Produce Report of the Imperial Economic Committee, reference was made to several problems on the subject of vitamins in fruit and dairy produce. These problems were referred to the Medical Research Council, on whose suggestion arrangements are now being made for investigations to be carried out at the Lister Institute. A grant towards expenditure on these problems has been promised from the Fund.

10. POULTRY RESEARCH.

A grant has been promised to further, at the Hillsborough Experimental Station, Northern Ireland, certain investigations into poultry nutrition and marketing. This grant will be administered by the Department of Agriculture, Northern Ireland. Part of the work will be undertaken at the Rowett Institute, Aberdeen, and the grant for this purpose will be administered by the Board of Agriculture for Scotland. A joint Committee, composed of representatives of the three agricultural departments, will ensure co-ordination, and the results of the research will be circulated at intervals to those Dominions which have a commercial interest in poultry problems.

(B) ECONOMIC INVESTIGATION AND

INTELLIGENCE.

1. ELIMINATION OF WASTE IN TRANSIT, ETC.

For carrying out the recommendations of the Imperial Economic Committee in the field of economic investigation and dissemination of market intelligence, the Board has engaged a small staff of economic investigators and statistical officers.