EMPIRE AGRICULTURE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3961, 11 February 1930, Page 79

EMPIRE AGRICULTURE.

EIGHT BUREAUX. APPROVAL OF DOMINIONS. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, December 23. At the second meeting of the Executive Council of the Imperial Agricultural Bureaux, held under the chairmanship of Sir Robert Greig, it was announced that despatches had been received from the oversea Empire Governments approving the establishment of the eight Imperial Bureaux, and agreeing to contribute funds to support them for five years. Al] eight bureaux are open, and inquiries from oversea scientific workers are received daily. To five of them senior officers have been appointed, who already have experience, or have received part of their training, in the Empire overseas. The object of the bureaux is to act as clearing houses of information for all research workers in the Empire in the eight branches of agricultural science with which they deal. Inquiries from overseas countries are dealt with through official correspondents nominated by each contributing Government, and correspondents have now been appointed in 27 Empire countries. The bureaux will also index, and where necessary, translate scientific papers from all over the world, and circulate summaries to oversea workers, so as to keep them in touch with the latest publications which might not otherwise be available to them. PERSONAL CONTACT.

One of'the functions of the bureaux will be to foster persona] contact between research workers visiting the United Kingdom. Arrangements have been made to advise the bureaux of visits of research workers to the United Kingdom, and in particular it is proposed to hold next year two meetings of workers in the Empire in soil science and fruit production The bureaux have all been set up at research stations, namely: Soil science at Rothamsted Experimental Station. Harpenden: animal nutrition at tlie Rowatt Institute, Aberdeen: animal health at the Ministry of Agriculture’s veterinary laboratories at We.vbridge: animal genetics at the animal breeding department of Edinburgh University: argicultural parasitology at the Institute of Agricultural Parasitology, St. Albans; plant genetics for herbage plants at the Plant Breeding Station, Aberystwyth; plant genetics for crops at the Plant Breeding Institute, Cambridge University; and fruit production at East Mailing, Kent.