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New Zealand, No. 209. My Lord,— Downing Street, 14th November, 1918. As Your Excellency's Ministers are aware, an Imperial Bureau of Entomology was established in this country in 1913, one of the objects of which was the encouragement and co-ordination of 'entomological work throughout the Empire in relation to agriculture. 2. The Committee of Management consists of some of the foremost men of science in this country, with Viscount Harcourt as their Chairman, and the Head Office is at the Natural History Museum in South Kensington. Reports on the work of the bureau have been presented from time to time to Parliament, and its periodical publications have no doubt been brought to your Ministers' notice. 3. The activities of the bureau have been manifold, and, without attempting to describe them in detail, I think that it is generally admitted that a vast amount of useful work has been accomplished, and that there has been ample justification for the contributions which different parts of the Empire were asked to make towards the cost of the upkeep of the organization. 4. It has, however, long been felt in certain quarters that an organization which has proved its value so fully should be supplemented by a bureau which would deal with the other great class of destructive agencies in agriculture — namely, the fungoid diseases of plants. A scheme for the establishment of a bureau dealing with this side of agriculture, and to be styled the Imperial Bureau of Mycology, was laid before the recent Imperial War Conference; and I enclose copy of the resolution which was unanimously adopted on the subject. The proceedings, and the memorandum laid before the Conference, will be found on pages 69-71 and 231-2 of Cd. 9177. As only a reduced programme of work could be undertaken during the war, it was considered that it would be sufficient, in the first instance, to provide a sum of £2,000 a year for three years for the upkeep of the bureau. The proposed contributions from the self-governing Dominions and India are set out in the memorandum. 5. Suitable accommodation can be found for the bureau at Kew, where it will work in close co-operation with the Director and Staff of the Royal Gardens, and will have at its disposal the Library and Mycological Museum of that institution. 6. I should be glad if your Government would arrange for the sum named in the memorandum as the proposed contribution from New Zealand—viz., £100 —to be paid in due course to the Crown Agents for the Colonies, and for similar payments to be made during the two succeeding years. I have, &c, WALTER H. LONG. Governor-General His Excellency the Right Hon. the Earl of Liverpool, P.0., G.C.M.G., G.8.E., M.V.0., &c.

Enclosure. VII. Imperial Bureau op Mtcoloqt. (Seventh Day; Monday, Bth July.) It is agreed that it is desirable to establish an Imperial Bureau of Mycology for the purpose of supplementing the work of the Imperial Bureau of Entomology, and to obtain the necessary funds for its maintenance by suitable contributions from the.lmperial Government, the Governments of the Dominions and India, and of the other oversea possessions, as suggested in the memorandum laid before the Conference.

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